Old and New Challenges in the Translation of Young Adult Novels

Abstract

Technological war transposed in real-life situations is at the core of Andy Briggs’s
contemporary series for teenagers HERO.COM and VILLAIN.NET originally
published between 2008 and 2010 and already translated into Romanian. This paper
revolves around the idea that in a century dominated by mass-media and globalization,
translators should be able to promptly respond to the publishers’ requirements and make
sure that they have chosen the best option for their future target readers.
In Andy Briggs’s novels, the never-ending clash between good and evil
acquires almost graphic representations embedded in a rather detailed vocabulary
related to war and modern technology. Translating such novels becomes a challenge for
those who have to bear in mind that nowadays teenagers all over the world have the
possibility to communicate on the internet and are thus accustomed to the kind of
language the characters in these novels use.