Norms of Acceptability and Adequacy in the Translation of Children’s Literature: The Case of Robinson Crusoe

Robinson Crusoe is a literary text that raises moral and ethical issues related to violence and colonialism. The motivation of this study is to shine the light on the translation of children’s literature into Arabic and to open up a discussion about what is considered to be “good” or acceptable for the children to read. This study is primarily a comparative analysis which aims to specify how the translations by Kamil Kailani (2012) and Marwa Al-Haq (2013) deal with violence and colonialism, and to what extent the two translators were successful in respecting the values of Arab culture through the strategies they have adopted. In order to achieve this aim, the texts are analyzed based on: 1) their degree of acceptability and 2) their degree of adequacy to the ST (Toury 1995). The process of analysis adopts Newmark’s (1988) translation criticism plan as it explores textual elements like register and tone as well as cultural references. The results suggest that Kailani’s translation succeeds in being both acceptable and adequate through the use of the strategy of domestication. Similarly, Al-Haq’s translation succeeds in being acceptable but fails with regards to being adequate. These findings support the claim that children’s literature is governed by norms and values that promote and sustain the protection of young minds from offensive and distasteful topics, in this case, violence and colonialism.