Translation of cultural elements and character names from the source language to the target language: English-Turkish translation example

Translations of children's books from different cultures and languages play an important role in the process of exposing readers to a different culture and discovering their own culture. Translating children's books from the source language to the target language allows children to understand and expand their understanding of different cultures in our globalizing and shrinking world. Cultural harmony and preservation of the world of imagination are important. In particular, the translation of Alice in Wonderland into Turkish contains important data in terms of transferring cultural elements. Therefore, the names of food, animals and characters in the translation made by Kısmet Burian in 1946 constitute the focus of this study. The studies of Davies (2003) and Öztemel Akbay and Metin Tekin (2018), which constitute the theoretical framework of our study, also guide our research in terms of examining cultural elements. The source work is Lewis Carroll's original text, and the translation examined is the 1946 MEB edition. Our research aims to help children become acquainted with cultural diversity by emphasizing the importance of cultural translation in children's literature. However, in this research, unlike the studies of Öztemel Akbay & Metin Tekin (2018) and similar to Kumcu's (2008) article, the translation techniques within a single Turkish translation text were examined by focusing on food and animal names, objects, adjectives, adverbs, phrases and character names among cultural elements. In addition, Kumcu's (2008) comparative translation critique in terms of cultural motifs and the differences in cultural elements and translation strategies were discussed. Keywords: children's books, cultural elements, translation of cultural elements