Tendency of Translating Educationally Valued Texts from Japanese Culture into Bangla Used in Reading Literacy

Abstract

No previous study has explored why the translators selected children’s literature while translating Japanese literature into Bangla. This study aims to identify the tendency of selecting Japanese texts for translation into Bangla1, which have educationally valued contents. It employed descriptive translation studies approach to prepare a periodized catalog of translated Japanese children’s literature in the quantitative section to develop a history. The qualitative part is conducted based on two recent concepts of the sociology of translations: sociology of translation process in functioning and interpreting and sociology of translation as a cultural product. This study reveals that the translators primarily select tales with moral values a child or an adult learns from the societal sectors other than the educational institutions. They intend to circulate those moral values in the target society because the contents are socially apposite and deemed socio-culturally necessary in the target region. Totto-chan is analyzed as a cultural product to explore why and to what extent it is circulated. The interpreted texts are used to enhance reading literacy in reading programs. This study establishes a fundamental basis for translation, society and education altogether in the target society focusing on Japanese literature translations. In future, this study could be used as a foundational work in the field of translation studies in Bangladesh.