Extremely Similar &amp; Incredibly Different: Measuring the retention of style in the Dutch translation of Foer's Extremely Loud &amp; Incredibly Close

The main aim of this thesis was to establish whether strong reactions such as ‘Oskar would never say that!’ and ‘That’s just plain wrong!’ to the official Dutch translation of the novel Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (Foer, 2005) could be caused by a loss of style in the translation. In order to measure the retention of style in the translation, a translation quality assessment tool that focusses solely on style was needed. However, such a tool did not exist. Instead it was opted to adapt a translation method that prioritises style. Such a method was found in Bovelander’s 2015 style-centred translation approach. The Bovelander method includes a thorough stylistic analysis followed by the selection of translation procedures that should be used to retain style (a greenlist) as well as a listing of procedures that should be avoided because they would cause a loss of style (a blacklist). These procedures are pivotal in the adapted Bovelander method: a comparative reading of the...Show moreThe main aim of this thesis was to establish whether strong reactions such as ‘Oskar would never say that!’ and ‘That’s just plain wrong!’ to the official Dutch translation of the novel Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (Foer, 2005) could be caused by a loss of style in the translation. In order to measure the retention of style in the translation, a translation quality assessment tool that focusses solely on style was needed. However, such a tool did not exist. Instead it was opted to adapt a translation method that prioritises style. Such a method was found in Bovelander’s 2015 style-centred translation approach. The Bovelander method includes a thorough stylistic analysis followed by the selection of translation procedures that should be used to retain style (a greenlist) as well as a listing of procedures that should be avoided because they would cause a loss of style (a blacklist). These procedures are pivotal in the adapted Bovelander method: a comparative reading of the source text and target text that reveals which procedures were used during the translation process. If blacklisted procedures occur considerably more often than greenlisted procedures, then there is a loss of style. The adapted Bovelander method suggested a severe loss of style in the Dutch translation of Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (Foer, 2005), which might indeed explain the strong reactions to the translation voiced by a number of translation students.Show less

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Extremely Similar & Incredibly Different: Measuring the retention of style in the Dutch translation of Foer's Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close