Translated fiction in Iran: Readers’ reception and expectations

Do translators know what kinds of translation their readers like and what kinds they dislike? The translator, like every author, has some readers in mind. Hence, in order for a translation to be acceptable, it needs to fulfil its readers’ expectations. The present study surveys readers’ expectations regarding literary translation (novels and stories), literary translators, as well as the peritext, the text and the format of such translated books. To this end, readers’ reviews in three sites, namely Fidibo, Taghcheh, and Goodreads, were collected and then coded and classified following the thematic analysis approach. Chesterman’s (۲۰۰۷) tripartite model of reception which studies readers’ reactions, responses, and repercussions was adopted as the theoretical framework. Readers expectations were classified into five main categories, namely ‘translational expectations’, ‘textual/linguistic expectations’, ‘peritextual expectations’, ‘formatting expectations’ and ‘good literary translators' features’. The results indicate that readers like translations that are both fluent and readable and are free from linguistic and textual abnormalities which are often the result of literal translation. Furthermore, the results of translational expectations specifically show that readers prefer translation methods and approaches that truly transfer the meaning, style, tone, register as well as culture-specific concepts. As to the peritext, readers preferred that an introduction and a literary criticism about the foreign work be included in the translation. Also, they defined a good literary translator as someone who is fully competent in the foreign language, able to comprehend the original text accurately and is well endowed with a writing ability.

Keywords:

Readers’ Reception , expectations , Readers' Reviews , Translated Fiction , Translation Readers