Hundraåringen som klev ut genom fönstret och försvann. : En analys av hanteringen av kulturspecifika "realia" i en svensk roman i italiensk översättning

This thesis examines the translation of cultural-specific elements known as realia from Swedish to Italian based on the theoretical framework of translation studies. Realia, often without correspondence in the target language and sometimes difficult to even distinguish in a text, are known to cause challenges for translators. The thesis focuses on the realia in the book Hundraåringen som klev ut genom fönstret och försvann, written by Jonas Jonasson in 2009. It examines which translation strategies the translator has used for the cultural-specific elements and the question is raised whether the translation is orientated towards the source culture (“adequacy”) or towards the target culture (“acceptability”). The initial hypothesis was that the translation of the book would be orientated towards the target culture (acceptability) and that in the Italian version the geographic-cultural element would be dominant to the plot, which would be a subdominant. The analysis is based on parallell reading of the original Hundraåringen som klev ut genom fönstret och försvann and the Italian translation Il centenario che saltò dalla finestra e scomparve, translated by Margherita Podestà Heir in 2011. Whilst reading the books, realia were collected, listed and organised in groups according to categories of realia as described by Osimo (2011) and the translation strategy used, again as described by Osimo. The analysis confirmed that the translation was orientated towards the target culture with an “acceptable” translation, rather than “adequate”. It was equally found that the plot was as important to the translator of the Italian version and hence a dominant also in the latter. The thesis highlights the importance of insight in the “language-culture” of the source language as the inadequacy thereof could contribute to failed translations of both realia and other words and phrases