Investigating Translators’ Styles in The Little Prince: A Corpus-based Study

Abstract

The little prince is among the most renowned French novels that have been translated into numerous languages. In English, there are several translations available. Each translator inevitably infuses their unique style into their translations. This study aims to investigate the styles of the translators exhibited in two English versions of this novel and to identify the differences in the approaches adopted by the two translators using a corpus-based method. The translations by Irene Testot-Ferry and T.V.F. Cuffe have been selected since they were both published in the same year by two prominent British publishers. The parallel model is adopted as the primary methodology. The results suggest that Irene Testot-Ferry’s translation appears to be more oriented towards the source text. She tends to opt for English words that closely resemble their French counterparts, while T.V.F. Cuffe appears more independent in his word selection. Furthermore, T.V.F. Cuffe has a tendency to incorporate old-fashioned terms more frequently compared to Irene Testot-Ferry.