1 The Translator as Writer of Children’s Literature - A Case of Mistaken Identity Mugur Zlotea University of Bucharest / IIT Madras mugur.zlotea@gmail.com Abstract In this article, I discuss the role of the translator in translating children’s literature and argue that the role of the translator is not that of a professional trying to find the “right” linguistic equivalent into the target language, but of a negotiator trying to identify or construct “the comparable” (Ricoeur 2006), which enables the translation process to succeed. The discussion will be based on the analysis of the stratagems employed by the translator to translate humor in the Romanian fairy tale Povestea lui Harap-Alb (The Story of Harap-Alb / Zhen Jia Taizi) into English and Chinese. Translation of language and culture- specific humor not only challenges the translator’s knowledge of both the source and target languages, but also requires him/her to employ a great deal of creativity to preserve the characteristics of the source text into the target culture and make sure that the readers can find in the translated text both “the familiar”, which ensures the ‘readability’ of the text, and “the unfamiliar”, which signals that the text was born outside the target culture. 1 Keywords: children’s literature, role of the translator, humor, negotiation, comparable, adaptation Translation as Negotiation As a child, I always believed that Little Red Ridding Hood and Snow White were Romanian fairy tales. I heard them at home, learned them at school, saw them on TV and at the puppet theatre. It came as a big surprise to learn, years later, that many of the fairy tales that had enchanted my childhood were actually translated into Romanian. And I was not the only one who thought so! I believe that when it comes to children’s literature, and especially to fairy tales, there are many people who are not aware that they come across a translated text and not the original. Little Red Ridding Hood and Snow White are perfect examples of translations replacing the originals in the target culture. The role of the translator and his/her (in)visibility have been discussed many times, in translation studies (Venuti 1995, Oittinen 2000, Bassnett 2002, Snell-Hornby 2006). However, the problem of translator’s invisibility is even more acute when translating children’s literature, with many translated texts becoming integral part of the target culture, totally replacing the 1 I am very grateful to Dr. Valerie Pallet, Newcastle University, Dr. Diana Yuksel, University of Bucharest and Laura Radulescu for their insightful comments on my paper.