TRADUguide - Your Guide to Translators and Translation Agencies

212 months ago

Jutta Wappel (a guest user) asked this question:

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212 months ago

Rupert Kindermann   wrote:

He

My comment:

see the Wiki entry on the Goblin and the Saint - he is being referred to as a "he"

My references:

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Saint_and_the_Goblin

212 months ago

Rupert Kindermann   wrote:

Depends on whether they have feeling and thought - always difficult

My comment:

I think I remember that Tolkien's orks (spelled with a 'k' in the early editions) definitely were a "he", back then. "It" is very impersonal indeed, and implies a reduction of the capability to feel and think. This is similar to the way animals are referred to as "it" because they seem to be lacking feeling and thought. If, in your story, the goblins are rather devoid of personality and feeling, and do not exhibit any individual traits, then "it" is fine. If, however, your goblins are cunning little evildoers and possibly main characters in your story, then default to "he", is my advice. I'd always translate the Pumuckl-like "kobold" as "he", because Pumuckl definitely isn't an "it".

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212 months ago

Charles Warcup   wrote:

depends on the wider context

My comment:

There can't be a universally valid answer to this, unless somebody actually knows a goblin personally and can ask. Within a story written by a human, it would depend on how closely the story enters into the goblins' sociological framework and/or whether they are depicted as goodies, baddies or a mixture of the too. I seem to recall that Tolkien's orcs were always "it".