This study examined the translation of neologisms in the fan and official translations of the first book of the The Irregular at Magic High School light novel series. It aimed to examine whether the choices of translation strategies differed between the two as well as how the word type and choice of translation strategy affected the end result. Additionally, it compared the results to trends in manga fan translation. The study was performed by reading the first four chapters of the original novel and writing down each unique neologism as well as its corresponding translations. Then, each case was categorized by word type and translation strategy. The study found that both translations had similar distributions of translation strategies, though the fan translation contained more omissions and mistranslations. Furthermore, depending on the type of word, different strategies were employed. For example, neologisms of non-Japanese origin were often transferred to English whereas Japanese compound words were often literally translated. In contrast, Japanese abbreviations caused difficulty and required a wide array of strategies to translate. Lastly, the study found some similarities and some dissimilarities to manga translation.

The thesis looks at fan translation of fiction, a phenomenon that, unlike fan translation of anime and videogames, has been mostly overlooked by translation studies until recently. More specifically, we examine fan translations of Harry Potter books. The thesis aims to address a wide range of aspects pertaining to fan translation of fiction. In the opening chapters, it gives a brief overview of the history of fan translation in general and of research papers dedicated to the subject. Based on comparison with fan translations of anime and videogames, the thesis defines functions of fan translations of fiction in relation to official translations. The phenomenon of fan translation of fiction is then set in a wider context, one chapter detailing its relation to fan communities and one addressing the question of copyright. The nature of fan translations of fiction is further explored through comparison with official translations, which in this particular case focuses on Czech translations of Harry Potter books. First, we compare the translation process in case of both official and fan translations and then chosen extracts from the last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. We also focus on differences between the collective fan translation and the fan translation done by an individual. We draw...