The two faces of standardization: On the translation of regionalisms in literary dialogue

Non-standard language varieties such as dialect and sociolect are known to present serious problems for translators. The function(s) they serve in the source text can be weakened or lost in translation because there may well be no target-language variety with sufficiently similar situational characteristics. On the other hand, the common strategy of rendering non-standard source-language dialogue by standard target-language dialogue can lead to loss of the linguistic identity of the work and its author. This paper examines standardization through the English translation of one of the Finnish author Kalle Päätalo's early novels. It suggests that standardization is not necessarily only negative in its results, as target readers may be more interested in other aspects of the target text than its linguistic identity.