Toponyms in J. Rowling’s works and their translation specifics: a comparative analysis

Abstract

This article introduces a complex analysis of toponymic units in fiction and their translation into Spanish and French. The analysis focuses on preserving not only the linguistic, but also their extralinguistic components, which largely determines the success of the translation. The relevance of the article’s topic lies in the fact that toponyms in fiction carry the cultural code of the work, therefore, the preservation or distortion of the author’s intention depends on the choice of translation methods and strategies. An important aspect is the analysis of the possibilities of translation of culturally marked units and their existence within a different linguistic and cultural space. The purpose of our research is to determine the effectiveness of toponymic units’ translation and their correspondence when conveying the original artistic image through the means of the target language. Our study is based on J. Rowling’s works translated into French and Spanish. The objectives are: 1) to explore the features of translation of toponymic units in a literary work; 2) to analyze how successful the chosen method of translation, based on the examples of specific toponyms’ translation in the French and Spanish versions of the works, is in revealing the artistic image.