Gifted in translation (3): The Little Prince

The Little Prince by Joann Sfar, translated by Sarah Ardizzone

For those of you looking for Christmas books for children, two new translations of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s “The Little Prince” have just been published.

The one shown above is a sort of double translation, as it’s a graphic adaptation by Joann Sfar with translation by Sarah Ardizzone. It’s published by Walker Books (who really should credit the translator, tsk, tsk).

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, translated by Ros SchwartzRos Schwartz’s translation is from the original version. It’s published by The Collector’s Library (who do mention her name – so kudos to them!).

“The Little Prince” isn’t just for children, of course. I read it when I was at university, and now that it’s available in graphic form too its appeal will be wider still.

Writing in “The Blog at the Crossroads“, Paul Gravett, who works in comics publishing and promotion, had this to say about Ros and Sarah’s new translations:

“Translation is an underappreciated art [love you, Paul] and, having done a few comics translations myself for Escape Magazine, I know these sensitive wordsmiths deepened my admiration greatly”.

For those of you who read French, here’s the official website of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. And here’s the Wikipedia Saint-Exupéry page, for those of you who don’t.

By Marian Dougan

Published by Marian Dougan

Marian is a translator and editor (specialising in web content) currently based in Glasgow, Scotland. Marian previously lived in Italy for over 20 years, working as a language teacher, translator and policy analyst with the British Embassy in Rome. A qualified member of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI) and its Italian-language and ITI Scotnet networks, she is currently Scotnet's Convenor and Deputy Webmaster. From 2003 to 2006 Marian taught translation skills at the Italian Department of Glasgow University and now gives Master Classes as part of the new Masters in Translation Studies course. She also conducts web-writing and usability workshops to help people improve their websites and communicate more effectively with their readers, users and customers. In September 2014 Marian obtained User Experience Certification, with specialisation in Web Design, from the Nielsen Norman Group. She loves language, especially English, and is convinced that learning languages opens up people’s minds and horizons (and increases their brainpower!). To share her enthusiasm, she advises schools and educational authorities on language skills and enterprise. She gives talks to pupils on how to combine language studies with other subjects and so enhance their potential and increase their career options. Marian is an active member of organisations such as: Scottish Council Development and Industry (SCDI); Association of Scottish Businesswomen; Dunbartonshire Chamber of Commerce and the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Scotland. She also loves architecture, design, fashion (British Vogue!), cities and chocolate. She’s a great fan of Twitter and you can also find her on Linkedin.

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2 Comments

  1. I’m Sarah Ardizzone, the translator of Joann Sfar’s graphic novel version of The Little Prince, and – for the record – I’m very clearly credited by my publishers, Walker Books, on the inside title page. I can only imagine that Walker’s design is so in keeping with the original French title page that you haven’t noticed the translator’s name there?
    Kind regards.

    1. You’re most welcome.
      I don’t have a copy of your book, or of Ros’s for that matter. This wasn’t a review as such, just one of a series of posts with Christmas-gift suggestions for lovers of books and language. So I don’t get review copies of the titles mentioned.
      As regards the credit, I was referring to the Walker Books web-page for the book, where as far as I can see your name isn’t mentioned (if it is there and I’m missing it, please let me know). I’ll amend the post, but I do think you should be credited on the website as well as on the inside title page. Websites are very, very important.

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