Reading the Way, Translating the Way:
Finding and Translating
Books for ALL Children
Seminar Report
Bologna Children’s Book Fair, 1 April 2015
This seminar aimed to explore some of the findings from the project by exploring the challenges of translating books about and featuring disability including honouring the original text whilst also acknowledging issues such as cultural differences, varying attitudes to disability, and trends in language and terminology.
Speakers
Alexandra Strick, Facilitator - Outside In World
Daniel Hahn - writer, editor and literary translator
Lawrence Schimel –writer and translator
Enza Crivelli - a specialist in autism and co-founder of the publishing house Uovonero, Italy
Sante Bandirali – publisher (co-founder of Uovonero), translator and writer. Ursula Holler – publisher - Foreign Rights for G&G Verlag
Mathilde Chevre – editorial director at Le port a jauni, illustrator, writer and translator.
Facilitator Alexandra Strick of Outside In World welcomed the audience and gave an overview of the organisation.
Alex explained that the seminar would introduce some particularly interesting books identified by the project and offer the audience a chance to hear about the experiences of some of those involved in writing, publishing and translating them.
Alex introduced the panel:
Alex asked each of the panel to explain their involvement in the project and the book/s they worked on.
From left to right Sante Bandirali, Enza Crivelli and Alexandra Strick
Photo © Alexandra Strick
The audience were first introduced to El Cuento Fantasma (The Ghost Story) by Jaime Gamboa, illustrated by Wen Hsu Chen which was published in Guatemala by Grupo Amanuense. This title supported the written Spanish-language text with Braille. Outside In World discovered the book at the Bologna Book Fair two years ago and were very excited about it.
Daniel Hahn was asked to produce a new English translation for the purposes of the project, which was combined with English Braille to create a dummy for Outside In World to share with UK focus groups, including one with young visually impaired people. The dummy was created with UK specialist organisation Access2Books.
From left to right Lawrence Schimel and Daniel Hahn. Photo © Alexandra Strick
Danny described how he already knew the work of Outside In World and was a great supporter of their work.
Danny told the audience a bit about the book – which is a delightful and unusual story of a Braille book that thinks it is a "ghost" because its pages are "blank" and no one ever checks it out, until it is ‘discovered’ by a blind girl who visits the library and runs her fingers over its white pages to reveal the story it contains within.
Interestingly, Lawrence Schimel shared a connection with the book, having also done a translation into English directly for the publisher in Guatemala, for them to use to try and sell foreign rights. So far the book has appeared in translation in Japan and is forthcoming in Korea and Brazil. Lawrence mentioned that one of the peculiarities of Braille is the physical limitation of the number of dots that can fit on a page, so in adapting a book for a Braille edition this has to be taken into account.
One of Lawrence's own books as an author was also included in the Reading the Way project, Read a Book with Me, from Brazilian publisher Callis. This is a newly illustrated version of a book (Lees Un Libro Comigo) originally written in Spanish and published in Colombia. When it was chosen for IBBY's Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities, they praised the integral inclusion of a blind person in a book that was not about being blind.
Enza Crivelli talked about her background as a specialist in autism and how this had influenced her in the creation of the ‘pesci parlanti’ series for Uovonero which is a collection of classic fairy tales designed for children with autism but also suitable for pre-school children or with reading difficulties. The books contain picture communication symbols combined with simple text and are durable and easy to use accompanied by beautiful illustrations. There are currently seven titles in the series including Biancaneve (Snow White) and Riccioli d’Oro e i tre orsi (Goldilocks and the Three Bears) that have been included in the Reading the Way project.
Ursula Holler then introduced the audience to the work of Franz-Joseph Huainigg. His books are ‘informative’, aiming to help answer some of the common questions children have about someone who is disabled, questions the author himself has been asked many times. To help explain the books, Ursula shared a message from Franz-Joseph himself.
“My name is Franz-Joseph Huainigg and I am a sit-down comedian, a member of the Austrian Parliament, spokesperson for people with disabilities and a very famous author for children’s books (in the 14th district of Vienna). Only Kidding. But I am well known in Austrian schools.
When I roll around in my wheelchair, a lot of children approach me and ask me questions, such as “What’s wrong with you?“ “Why are you sitting in a wheelchair?“ “What happened to you?“
The parents are always a little embarrassed and tell their children not to ask such questions. But I believe parents and teachers should encourage children to ask all the questions that they have in mind.
This is why I started writing children’s books. To give them answers to all of their questions they have about disabilities.
For example how does a person in a wheelchair get dressed in the morning? Does a blind person switch on the lights, when he/she gets home? Can you smell or feel colours? How can you speak with your hands? Is it a secret code?
In my children’s books I tell the story of children with different kinds of disabilities.
Today many people talk about inclusion. But how does it really work in a classroom and in schools? Is this the ideal world without any problems and difficulties? I would say it isn’t, but inclusion is the key to a more open society, where everybody is judged by their abilities rather than their deficits. My book ‚ ‘Together we are Stronger’ gives a different view on living and learning together in one classroom. Of course there are always going to be difficulties, but we need to learn to find new solutions, dealing with them.
For me it is particularly important that disabled people and especially children can learn from my stories, to know that they are not alone with their worries and difficulties.
Through the UN-Convention for the rights of people with disabilities our society has already improved the lives of people with disabilities. My book ’My feet are my wheelchair’ was published in 1991. So I was happy to make some changes to the story in 2003 such as including a ramp to the entrance of the supermarket. But the main character Maggie still struggles, crossing the road and getting onto the sidewalk on the other side. Maggie is a confident young lady, who fights for disabled people’s rights. So Maggie points out the barrier to the policeman and he assures her he will get it fixed.
My books have been translated into many different languages, such as Spanish, Danish, Chinese and Korean. I would be delighted if my books could also be translated into English so that my stories can reach even more people across the globe.”
The audience were then introduced to the highly unusual She and the Others from Lebanon which was written by Nahla Ghandour also a disabled author. Mathilde explained how what makes the book so relevant for Reading the Way, is that the protagonist is missing part of one leg, which is not an important part of the plot of the book but is simply accepted as part of the character and her situation.
Alex went on to ask the panel about the challenges they experienced in translating and/or publishing the various books selected for the project.
Danny talked about the challenge of changing the climate in the UK in terms of considering books in translation. He stressed the importance of a project such as this in terms of starting to prepare the ground for books like these.
Danny said it wasn’t so much the challenge of translating The Ghost Story as how you can use a project like Reading the Way to take it to the next step and get publishers enthusiastic about it.
Lawrence talked about his experience in writing and translating his various books relevant to disability. He also mentioned how translation issues affect not just the text but sometimes the pictures as well, using as an example the recent Spanish language title Mil Orjeas, which had won a Ragazzi Prize from the Bologna Children's Book Fair. The cover spells the title in Spanish sign language, which uses a different signed alphabet than British sign language.
From left to right Lawrence Schimel and Daniel Hahn. Photo © Alexandra Strick
Lawrence also spoke about the difference between translating a book that will be monolingual (which can be adapted more easily into the target language, to make everything read more smoothly and naturally) vs. parallel/dual language text, when the translation must adhere as closely as possible to the original, especially since such books are often used for language teaching more than just to tell the story.
He mentioned that, especially with publishing in ‘minority’ languages, one of the most important things is for them not just to have folk tales but for them to have access to popular books, like Harry Potter, translated into these languages as well, for them to be able to read and enjoy them in their own (often home-use) language, instead of always via the dominant (public-space) language.
Enza spoke about the challenges involved in translating and adapting text into picture communication symbols. She also talked about the challenges involving the physical shape/format of the book to adapt them to be easy to use with autistic children, while at the same time letting these children feel they are reading a book which resembles the titles of their non-autistic peers. For this series, the edges of the pages are ‘graduated’ to allow for easier turning.
Alex commented that the PCS symbols had proven very popular with all children in the focus groups – not just those with learning or communication difficulties. The Outside In World team did not even need to translate the books from Italian because the children could make sense of the symbols (and recognised the familiar traditional stories such as Rapunzel and Goldilocks and the Three Bears). These books also served as a valuable ‘dual language’ tool, helping children to learn words in Italian.
Sante translated the successful UK title The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd into Italian. He talked about the challenges of ensuring the protagonist (who has Asperger’s Syndrome) had a suitably authentic voice. Sante described how he kept the character’s sentences as short as possible, and the particular challenge of idioms like “raining cats and dogs” and recreating how the protagonist always treats such idioms literally.
In Ursula’s case, one of the key challenges was simply that of making people aware of Franz-Joseph’s writing. His work is quite well-known in the German-speaking world, but she stressed how the work of Outside In is invaluable in terms of raising awareness of the books in the English-speaking world.
Photo © Alexandra Strick From left to right Mathilde Chevre and Ursula Holler
Mathilde described the challenges of expressing specific nuances and associations involved in the original Arabic. She explained how she tries to ensure that she accommodates the Arabic text (from right to left) and the French text in the bilingual books she publishes often coming up with innovative ways to do this.
Mathilde also talked about the particular challenges of translating She and the Others. She didn’t see the book as being about disability but rather about difference. Although the text was quite straightforward, the illustrations are full of symbols and metaphors which meant that it was important to ensure that the translation reflected this to some degree.
Alex finished by asking the panel whether there were any difficulties in terms of ensuring the ‘essence’ of the original book whilst also making it appropriate and up to date for their specific audience.
Lawrence Schimel – talked about how in both English and Spanish, the languages he works in, there isn't even a word to talk about the state of not being disabled, it is a state that is completely taken for granted even on a linguistic level, and that is often reflected in overlooking inclusion of these realities in the books that are produced.
He also commented on the translator's responsibility in terms of the use of derogatory terms or hate speech relating to mental health and disability, and when it is necessary to maintain these (as a negative object lesson) or to correct them.
Ursula talked about changes that were made to Franz-Joseph's books over time, such as the addition of dropped curbs and ramps to reflect improvements in terms of making the environment more accessible.
Mathilde spoke about using bilingual books that were not just parallel text and explained how in Abracadabra, the reading experience can be read from left to right in French but from right to left in Arabic. So it tells a story from each direction, not necessarily the same action on every page.
Alex concluded the session by thanking the panel for taking part in the seminar and for their valuable contribution to the discussion.
