1425-6851 May Reduction Serve Foreignisation or What Happened to Sierotka Marysia in English Translation Brzózka Aleksander author Kowal Ewa translator Uniwersytet Wrocławski, Polska, plac Uniwersytecki 1, 50-137 Wrocław Instytut Filologii Angielskiej UJ Correspondence to: Aleksander Brzózka Correspondence to: Ewa Kowal 04 03 2013 Issue 22-23/2009-2010 – Translating Fairy Tales Numery anglojęzyczne 133 146 Copyright © 2013 2013 <p>The translation of Maria Konopnicka’s <em>O Krasnoludkach i sierotce Marysi</em> (<em>The Brownie Scouts</em>) into English is an interesting fusion of two translation strategies usually considered mutually exclusive. At first glance, this careful and faithful rendering of passages describing Polish tradition, culture, history, geography and folklore is a good example of foreignisation. Taking the reader who represents a dominant culture on a trip to an unknown peripheral culture, it seems to counter Lefevere’s understanding of how cultural capital and asymmetries between cultures influence the translator’s decision to adapt the source culture’s exotic elements to the target reader’s horizon of expectations. Thus, her decision not to domesticate the original positions Katherine Żuk-Skarszewska (née Hadley) in a group of translators called <em>bridgeheads</em> by Cay Dollerup. They aim at familiarising the target language audience with most interesting and valuable aspects of the source language culture. Yet this assumption is undermined by Żuk-Skarszewska’s frequent use of reduction technique, which helps her to deal with the culture-specific elements she considers less important. <em>The Brownie Scouts</em> uses two strategies: the translator’s efforts to faithfully preserve some items and fragments characteristic of the source language culture are counterbalanced by her decisions to cut other elements and passages in order to make room for what she judges more worthwhile. As a result, reduction controls the intensity of the overall foreignising effect. This unusual strategy becomes even more interesting to observe, as the elements most readily given up are usually those related to the child (characters, subject-matter and folklore). Paradoxically, it is children who lose most in this translation of the book about them.</p> 1 Cieślikowski, J. 1978. “Baśń synkretyczna” [Syncretic Fairy Tale]. Maria Konopnicka. Ed. J. Baculewski. Warszawa: Wydawnictwa Szkolne i Pedagogiczne, 351–370. 2 Davies, L. and J.H. Stape, eds. 2005. The Collected Letters of Joseph Conrad, Volume 7, 1920–1922. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 3 Dollerup, C. 1995. “Translation as Imposition vs. Translation as Requisition.” Translation as lntercultural Communication. Eds. M. Snell-Hornby, Z. Jetmarova, K. Kaindl. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 45–57. Girlguiding UK. The Guide Association. 4 Jarniewicz, J. 2002. “Tłumacz jako twórca kanonu” [Translator as a Canon Creator].  Przekład, język, kultura [Translation, Language, Culture]. Ed. T. Dunin. Lublin:Wydawnictwo UMCS, 35–42. 5 Konopnicka, M. 1926. Le paysan Gratton et ses amis les gnomes. Extrait de Mariette et les Gnomes. Trans. H. Osuchowska and R. Bailly. Paris: Éditions des “Amis de la Pologne.” 6 Konopnicka, M. 1929. The Brownie Scouts. Trans. K. Żuk-Skarszewska. Warszawa: M. Arct Publishing CO. 7 Konopnicka, M. 2004. O krasnoludkach i sierotce Marysi. Kraków: Zielona Sowa. 8 Kuliczkowska, K. 1978. “Świat przeżyć dziecięcych na wyżynach sztuki” [The World of Children’s Experiences at the Heights of Art]. Maria Konopnicka. Ed. J. Baculewski. Warszawa: Wydawnictwa Szkolne i Pedagogiczne, 337–350. 9 Lefèvere, A. 1982. Translating Literature. Practise and Theory in a Comparative Literature Context. New York: Modern Language Association. 10 Lefèvere, A. 1998. “Translation Practice(s) and the Circulation of Cultural Capital. Some Aeneids in English.” Constructing Cultures. Essays on Literary Translation. Eds. S. Bassnett, A. Lefèvere. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 41–57. 11 Schleiermacher F. 1977. “On the Different Methods of Translating.” Trans. A. Lefèvere. Translating Literature. The German Tradition from Luther to Rosenzweig. Ed. A. Lefèvere. Assen: Van Gorcum, 67–91. 12 Venuti L. 2004. “Translation, Community, Utopia.” The Translation Studies Reader. 2nd edition. Ed. L. Venuti. New York and London: Routledge, 482–502. 13 Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary. Web.