Translating titles of literary works: A study based on Sherlock Holmes Stories translated by Chandana Mendis

Abstract

The title of a literary work shapes the view of the readers and makes them hold a preliminary conclusion on the composition they are about to read, by providing them with some indications of the content and plot. The purpose of the present study has been to examine the procedures utilized in translating work titles, with reference to Sherlock Holmes stories translated from English into Sinhalese by Chandana Mendis. A total of 191 translated stories published so far, based on Arthur Conon Doyle's canon of fifty-six short stories and four novels and 131 extracanonical stories written by different authors, were considered for the comparative analysis through which the differences between the titles appearing in the originals and translations were observed. Accordingly, it was revealed that three different procedures, namely, literally translating the original title, creating a target-language title relevant to the original title, and creating an entirely new target-language title that has no relevance to the original title, have been utilized by the translator. Creating a target language title relevant to the original has been the first-choice procedure, with 108 instances. Omitting and neutralizing some of the words appearing in the originals and adding new words are its primary attributes. Creating an entirely new target-language title has been the second most preferred procedure, with forty-seven instances. Although these titles are not relevant to the originals, they summarize the overall sense of the stories. These two procedures permit freedom and creativity to the translator and enable deviation from the original title to various extents. Literally translating the original title has been the least preferred procedure, with only thirty-six instances. These translations are grammatically accurate target language versions, produced by directly transferring the words of the originals. The findings of this study emphasize the free and creative nature of literary translation.