著者

仲山 可那子

出版者

東京女子大学言語文化研究会

雑誌

東京女子大学言語文化研究 (ISSN:09187766)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.27, pp.137-159, 2018-12-25

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Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997), written by J. K. Rowling, is one of the most popular works of children’s literature. While it is a fantasy story, there are also some real aspects of British children’s lifestyles. The present article examines how some aspects of British children’s lives are represented in the Japanese translation by Yuko Matsuoka.First, in order to compare the original and its Japanese translation, some translated sentences containing the elements of British culture were selected. When choosing these sentences, additions and omissions in the translation were focused on. Next, these samples were classified into (1) school life, (2) daily life, or (3)connotation. Additions seem to explain and emphasize things peculiar to Britain. However, they are not always sufficient to explain and emphasize the significance of British culture in the original story, and some omissions appear to be unnecessary. In addition, it was found that the images evoked by characters’ names in the original language are sometimes difficult to retain in translation.The examination shows that Matsuoka was conscious of the importance of the cultural background of the story, helping Japanese readers to understand British culture, and thereby preventing certain significances peculiar to Britain from being lost in translation. Still, it is difficult to reflect the author’s intention in translation.