Translation Strategies of Proper Nouns in Novels: A Case Study of Three Romantic Novels by Jane Austen

One of the most challenging areas for any translator is the translation of proper nouns. Therefore, the translation of proper nouns requires a deep understanding of the linguistic and cultural components of the target and source languages. Whether or not proper nouns can be translated is a hotly debated topic among linguists. However, translators who prefer to interpret proper nouns because they feel there are no untranslatable terms might benefit from a variety of approaches. Whether or not proper nouns can be translated is a hotly debated topic among linguists. However, translators who prefer to interpret proper nouns because they feel there are no untranslatable terms might benefit from a variety of approaches. The corpus of the study was three romance novels Mansfield Park, Emma, and Persuasion by Jane Austen and their Persian translation. Based on Fernandes (2006) theory, this study tries to identify the sorts of strategies used in the translation of proper nouns. The research incorporates a variety of Fernandes recommended underlying procedures, including rendition, copy, transcription, re-creation, substitution, deletion, addition, transposition, phonological replacement, and conventionality. Finally, in the examination of all three stated novels by Jane Austen, it is obvious that copy is the most employed approach in the translation of proper nouns with percentages of 43.29% in the novel Mansfield Park, 51.89% in the novel Emma and 52.79% in the novel Persuasion. The least used strategies in translation, with a frequency below 1% in all three novels, are re-creation and addition.