Why Is The Little Girl Missing? : A descriptive study on the cause and effect of translation shifts in the Swedish translation of Enid Blyton’s Five on a Treasure Island.

Abstract:

This essay will investigate the cause of shifts – changes made when translating – in the Swedish version of Enid Blyton‟s Five on a Treasure Island. It should be seen as a direct sequel to The Little Girl is Missing – a bachelor degree project written at Stockholm University. In said degree project the methods used when making the shifts was described, but now the reasons why the shifts were made and how they have affected the plot will be presented. To do so a number of theories concerning both gender studies and translation studies will be used.

The working hypothesis is that the shifts were made to rid the translated text of the original text‟s sexist content – to create "equality between women and men" (Lpo 94: 3) and making the translation fit the target culture i.e. today‟s Sweden. This claimed sexist content will be determined mainly with the help of the Swedish compulsory school system‟s curriculum, Lpo94, and Berit Ås‟s master suppression techniques. The intention is to bring the translation phenomenon of ideologically influenced translations into the limelight and start a debate. Besides that, this essay will also provide a didactic model for teachers wanting to work with translation dilemmas in class.