Paralanguage in the Translation of Children’s Graphic Novels into Arabic
Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21409189 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Julieta Alós (0000-0002-5566-2998, Qatar University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 56 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 256-272 |
| Publication date | 2025-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Children s Literature in Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0045-6713 • E-ISSN: 1573-1693 |
| Publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s10583-023-09558-4 |
| OpenAlex | W4388630606 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 35 |
Graphic novels are marketed as helpful for reluctant young readers. The supplementation of text with visual stimuli as part of a multimodal narrative is often claimed to improve reading comprehension and motivation in children and young adolescents. The translation into Arabic of Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, by comparison, fails to deliver an equally engaging reading experience. In the Arabic versions of Rodrick Rules and Hard Luck , language acts as an obstacle to comprehension due to the misrepresentation of textual paralanguage, broadly defined as the written representation of nonverbal aspects of communication including tone, stress and volume. As paralanguage is also involved in character portrayal, this translation approach paints a rather dull image of the series’ protagonist Greg. Using the textual paralanguage typology proposed by Luangrath et al. (J Consum Psychol 27:98–107, 2017), the case is made here for closer attention in translation to the pragmatic meanings contained in textual paralanguage. As the novel evolves to incorporate an ever-expanding array of multimodal elements, so should the translation strategies involved in rendering these texts into other languages
Art · Linguistics · Literature · Narrative · Paralanguage · Computer Science · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Philosophy · Psychology · Swearing, Euphemism, Multilingualism · Translation Studies and Practices
Thoughts and Utterances
Literacy in the New Media Age
Attitudes towards translanguaging
Writing in the Information Age
Describing Nonverbal Behavior in the Odyssey
The shallows. What internet is doing to our brains
Translation as Manipulation
Translation, Gender and Otherness
Multimodality, translation and comics
Actions Speak Louder Than Words
Towards a semiotics of multilingualism
Translating children's literature
Translating Children's Literature in the Arab World
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |