An Investigation of Strategies for Translating Onomatopoeias and Interjections in English Comic Books into Persian

This qualitative research aimed to investigate and assess the strategies used for translating onomatopoeias and interjections from English comic books into Persian. In this regard, six issues of the Walking Dead written by Kirkman (2003) were selected to examine onomatopoeias, interjections, and the strategies for translating them into three different translations. The sounds in the comic book were categorized based on the model presented by Igareda (2017). All translation strategies were indicated in order to identify the frequency of each strategy. Afterward, descriptive statistics were utilized to indicate the most and least frequently used strategies. The results of this study demonstrated that maintaining the original as an English loan was the most prevalent strategy used for translating all onomatopoeic words. Equivalence and substitution, together, were the least common strategies used for the translation of onomatopoeias in speech balloons. However, when onomatopoeias were in the background, the least common strategies were omission, changing the meaning, and so on. For translating interjections, the most frequent strategy was translating interjections into corresponding interjections, and the least common strategies were repetition, changing the meaning, and so forth. The present research will provide practical assistance for translators of different proficiency levels such as advanced and novice translators to become more familiar with various strategies and gain deeper insight.