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Article published In: Target
Vol. 38:2 (2026) ► pp.260–295

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Child and adult readers’ processing of foreignized elements in translated Chinese picture books

An eye-tracking study

ORCiD logo with link | Southwest University | Southwest University of Political Science and Law
ORCiD logo with link | University of Tartu
ORCiD logo with link | Southwest University
Published online: 10 February 2026
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/target.23024.li
Abstract
The impact of foreignized elements on child and adult readers’ comprehension of translated children’s picture books is a complex matter with numerous confounding variables. This study investigates how child and adult readers process foreignized elements in translated Chinese picture books. In an eye-tracking experiment, we found that while foreignized lexical items consistently affected the real-time processing at the initial stage, whether they induced processing difficulty during late-stage processing mainly depended on the context in which they occurred. Our results also showed that children relied more on pictures than adults in reading translated picture books, especially when the text was complicated. Finally, through an attitude test, we found that child and adult readers held different opinions toward foreignization, with children favoring foreignization when the text was relatively easy and adults preferring domestication irrespective of text difficulties.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Domestication and foreignization
    • 1.2Empirical studies on translated children’s literature
    • 1.3The role of illustrations in picture books
    • 1.4The present study
  • 2.Method
    • 2.1Participants
    • 2.2Materials
      • 2.2.1Eye-tracking stimuli
      • 2.2.2Comprehension and attitude questions
    • 2.3Apparatus
    • 2.4Procedure
    • 2.5Analysis of eye-movement data
    • 2.6Coding of comprehension results
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1Eye-movement results
      • 3.1.1Global text processing
      • 3.1.2Lexical items
      • 3.1.3Pictures
    • 3.2Comprehension question results
    • 3.3Attitude test results
  • 4.Discussion
    • 4.1Real-time processing of foreignized lexical items
      • 4.1.1Proper names
      • 4.1.2Weights and measures
      • 4.1.3Culturally loaded words
    • 4.2The role of illustrations in reading translated picture books
    • 4.3Child and adult readers’ attitudes toward foreignized items
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (60)
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