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AlinWadhwa
WritingProject3
ChildrensStorytoNewsArticle
Whentranslatingpiecesfromonegenretoanother,themostimportantaspectisadapting
theconventionsoftheoriginalsourcetofitthenewone.Thereareaplethoraofgenresthatmay
seemdifferent,butareinherentlysimilar.Ibeganwithachildrensstory,TheFrogPrinceBy
BrothersGrimm,andtranslatedittoanewsarticle.Whilecreatingthistranslation,itwas
importanttokeepinmindthattheaudienceofthisstoryisyoungerchildrenwhilenewsarticles
haveamucholderadultaudience.Thedisparitybetweentheaudiencesisvast,thusspurringa
changeinnumerouspartsofthestoryinordertocatertothenewaudience.Iadaptedmanyof
theconventionstomakeitsuitableforthenewaudienceincluding,notonlythelanguageand
structure,butalsothedetailsofthestory.ThelargedifferencebetweentheaudiencesiswhyI
chosethistranslation;mygoalwastoshowthatgenresmayseemdifferentuponsurface
inspection,yetareconsistentlysimilar.Thegenresofchildrensstoriesandnewsarticlesseem
verydifferent,howeverthisismainlyduetodisparitybetweentheaudiences.Aftercompleting
thetranslation,Irealizedthatasidefromtheconventions,thesegenreswereverysimilar;they
bothtellastoryjustindifferentways.Thisisthecaseinmanygenres,howeverwenotrealize
thisduetothevaryingpurposesandaudiencesofwriting.WhentranslatingthisstoryIhadto
keepthesethingsinmindtoensurethatIproperlyadaptedtheconventionsandreachedthenew
audience.Theendresultwasthesamestoryinanaltogethernewgenre.
ThefirststepthatIhadtotakewhenbeginningthistranslationwasidentifyingthe
conventionsandaudienceofbothgenres.Whenitcametonewsarticlesitwasobviousthe

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audiencewasolderpeoplewhoareinterestedinoccurrencesaroundtheworld;thisledmeto
understandmanyoftheconventionsinthisgenre.SomeoftheconventionsIidentifiedas
importanttothetranslationincludedtheadvancedlanguage,uniqueformat,andfictionalevents;
thesewerethemostimportantconventionsbecausetheydictatedmanyofthechangesImadein
thetranslation.Inchildrensstoriestheconventionswerebasiclanguage,formatandnonfiction
events;theseconventionsareusedduetothefactthattheaudienceofthesestoriesareyounger
children.AfterIunderstoodtheconflictingconventionsandaudiencesofeachgenre,Iwasable
tobeginthetranslation.
Whenshiftingagenreintoanother,theaudiencethestoriescatertoplaysanintegralrole.
Iusedtheskillsofidentifyingconventionsingenres,developedoverthepastsevenweeks,to
identifyandchangetheconventionsofthischildrensstorytoanewsarticle;thebiggestchange
Imadewasadjustingthestorytomakeitmoreapplicabletoanadultaudience.Asmentioned
earlier,thedifferentconventionsIidentifiedbetweenthegenreswere:thelanguage,structure,
andfictionvs.nonfiction.Thelanguageusedinthisstoryisnotthesameasthelanguageused
innewsarticles.Forexample,IchangedphraseslikedearmasterandOpenthedoortothy
truelovehere!tomakethesyntaxmatchthatofnewsarticles.
ThenextchangethatImadewasthestructureofthewriting.Thecompositionandlength
ofapieceofwritingplaysanimportantroleinthegenre.Iformattedmytranslationtolooklike
anewsarticlebymakingatemplate.Iplacedthewritingintocolumnsandaddedaspectslikean
eyecatchingtitle,thedate,andthelocationofthenewsstory.Inthebeginning,thestorywas
overthreepages,muchlongerthanatypicalnewsarticle.Iremovedmanyofthespecificdetails
thatwerenotimportanttothestorytokeepitconciseandtothepoint,asnewsarticlesare.

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Transformingfantasytorealityisataskthatrequiresanindepthknowledgeofmultiple
writinggenres.Thefairytaleaspectshadtobetransformedintoamorerealisticconsolidationof
thekeyaspectsoftheoriginalstory.Inthestorythereisatalkingfrogthatsavesagoldenball
foraprincess.InthenewsarticleIchangedthestorytoawomanwholostagoldearringina
pondwhengoingforarunandafrogretrieveditforher.Thefrogcamehomewiththewoman
andafterlivingwithherforthreeyearsthewomanreportedthatthefrogactuallychangedintoa
man,andlaterbecameherhusband.Thesekeyaspectsofthefairytaletransformedintothemain
pointsofthenewsarticle.However,itwasdifficulttotranslatethefantasypartsofthestoryto
eventsthatcouldhavehappenedinreality.Also,makingsurethatthestoryflowedwelland
madesensewasachallenge.Afterrecreatingmanypartsofthestorytomakethemrealistic
occurrences,Ihadtoensurethateverythingmadesense.Itwasachallengetochangenumerous
partsofthestory,andmakeitallflowproperlywithoutchangingtheplot.Maintainingthe
integrityofthefairytalewhilebalancingitwiththerealityofanewsarticlemadethisprocess
challengingyetengaging.
Atthebeginningofthisquarter,webegandiscussinggenres.Sincethen,wehavebeen
buildingontheideaofgenresandexploringthemfurther.AtfirstIdidnotunderstandwhata
genrewas;IdidnotunderstandhowmoviereviewsofTheHobbitcouldpossiblebeagenre.
HoweverafterreadingKerryDirksNavigatingGenresitallbecameclear.Dirkexplainsthat
piecesofwritinghavecommonpracticesorconventionsthatdefinegenres(Dirk253).Piecesof
writingthatarepartofagenrecontaintheseconventions,forexamplesomeconventionsofa
newsarticlewouldincludeauniquestructure,eyecatchingtitles,andconcisewritings.Iused
theconceptslearnedfromDirksworktoidentifyandadapttheseconventionstotranslatea

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childrensstorytoanewsarticle.Ofallthereadingswehavedoneinthisclass,Ihavefound
thisonetobethemostuseful.Dirksexplanationnotonlyledmetoastrongunderstandingof
genres,butalsohasaffordedmetheabilitytotranslatebetweengenresbasedonconventions.
Whentranslatingonegenretoanother,theactualwritingisveryimportant,butsoisthe
structure.IfIconvertachildrensstorytoanewsarticle,butchangednothingoftheaesthetic,
thenitwouldbeanineffectivetranslation.InMichaelJ.KleinandKristiL.Shackelfords
BeyondBlackonWhite:DocumentDesignandFormattingintheWritingClassroomthe
authorsstateGooddocumentdesignintegratesthewordsonthepagewithappropriateimagery
tofullyillustrateyourmeaning.(Klein&Shackelford333)Afterreadingthispiece,itbecame
apparenttomehowimportanttheformatofwritingis.Thisarticleguidedmethroughthe
formattingofmytranslation.Ididmybesttoaccuratelyformmyworktolooklikeanews
article.IntheDesignElementssectionwhereKleinandShackelfordtalkaboutalignmentis
whereIgotmanyoftheideasIusedinmyformatting(210).Icenteredthestoryinthemiddle
ofthepage,andspanneditthreecolumnssoittookupthewidthofthepagesothereaderseyes
wouldreturntoaconstantlocation.Iplacedlessimportantinformationonthesidesinsmaller
font.Thisarticlemademeunderstandhowsubtlechangestotheformatcanhavealargeeffect
onhowreadersperceiveyourwork;duetothisIspentasignificantamountoftimefocusingon
thelayoutofmytranslation.
Onlysevenweeksago,Iwouldhavehadnoideahowtoapproachagenretranslation.
Afterweeksofdelvingdeeperintothetopicofgenres,Ifoundatranslationtobearewarding
task.Themostimportantpartofthisprojectwastheidentificationoftheconventionsofthenew
genre.Ithenadaptedtheoriginalstorytotheseconventionsandthenewaudiencewhile

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ensuringthewholeworkstillmadesense.Itwasapainstakingprocessmademucheasierbythe
experienceacquiredinWritingProjectsoneandtwo.WhilethetranslationofTheFrogPrince
toanewsarticlewasundoubtedlydifficult,alltheworkwehavedonewithgenresand
conventionsinWritingProjectsone,two,andthecoursereadingsmanifestedinthisunique
project.

WorksCited

Dirk,Kerry.NavigatingGenres.Writing2Reader.ParlorPress,2015.
Grimm,Brothers."TheFrogPrincebyBrothersGrimm."ShortStories.EastoftheWeb,n.d.
Web.18Nov.2015.
Klein,J.Michael,andShackelfordL.Kristi,BeyondBlackonWhite:DocumentsDesignand
FormattingintheWritingClassroom.Writing2Reader.ParlorPress,2015.

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