Lost in translation: An analysis of domestication and foreignization in Spanish-English bilingual children’s picture books

The usefulness of bilingual or dual language children’s books has recently become a point of attention for scholars. Though criteria exist to select multicultural literature for use in the classroom, little attention has been given to the phenomena of domestication and foreignization in selecting bilingual children’s books. Domestication, the act of translating in a way that is more accommodating for the target language, is an act of violence against the text and the source culture according to Venuti (1995). Foreignization leaves a sense of otherness in the text, something strange for the reader of the target language to consider. This study analyzed 75 Spanish-English bilingual children’s books, considering the phenomena of domestication and foreignization both in the text and artwork. The results indicated that, in the light of domestication and foreignization, three categories of books emerged: books strongly representative of Latinx students, generic and mainstream themed books, and books for emerging readers. The books that were strongly representative of Latinx students favored domesticating English in favor of Spanish, but the other two categories remained mostly neutral in translation.

Embargo status: Restricted until 01/2027. To request the author grant access, click on the PDF link to the left.