Hjørnager Pedersen (1980) operates with the parameters of time, place, culture and language when trying to assess the relative difficulty of different translation situations. This model is used in the following, which, however, is also indebted to Alice i Ingenmandsland (Andersen, 1993), where the translation problems encountered in Alice are also divided into a number of categories. Andersen's theory derives in particular from a discussion of Reiss's distinction between content-oriented problems on the one hand and time and space-oriented ones on the other (Reiss, 1993: 19ff), Newmark's distinction between 'transference' and 'componential analysis' (Newmark, 1988: 81) and Nida's concept of dynamic equivalence (quoted in Nida & Taber, 1974: 24). This in turn, forms the basis for the attempt, in the following, to split up the problems that a Danish translator of Carroll's work would encounter into a number of different categories, though we are well aware that there is considerable overlap, for example between cultural and linguistic translation problems. Many of the examples are taken from Andersen (1993).

Time

The translations span a period of 125 years from 1875 to 2000; the first is almost contemporary with the original, whereas the last is more than a century later. Needless to say, the first translator had some advantages in that many features of the receptor culture were similar to those of the original, such as insisting on a more restrained behaviour for girls than for boys, and having middle class families with resident servants. On the other hand, as we have observed above, in 1875 England was very exotic to Danes, and here we see the paradoxical situation that the closer we come to the present,

the more familiar does the English context become.

One problem that is very dependent on the time aspect is the relationship between the little girl and her nurse (or teacher):

LC: 'Miss Alice! Come here directly, and get ready for your walk!’

   ‘Coming in a minute, nurse!’ (p. 56).

1875: Naar Barnepigen sagde: 'Frøken Marie! Kom og gjør Dem i Stand til at spadsere!' – 'Jeg skal straks komme' (p. 35).

1946: Naar Barnepgen sagde: 'Alice! Kom her... og klæd dig paa, vi skal ud og spadsere!' – 'Jeg kommer straks!' (p. 36).

1972: 'Alice! Kom hjem med det samme og få dit overtøj på, vi skal ud at gå tur!''Jeg kommer om lidt' (p. 13f).

1982: 'Lille Alice, vil du straks tage overtøjet på. Vi skal ud at gå tur’ 'Ja, det skal jeg nok, frøken (p. 30).

1999: 'Frøken Alice, kom og få overtøj på til spadsereturen!' – 'Kommer straks!' (p. 27).

2000: 'Kom nu Alice, se at få frakken på, vi skal ud at gå tur!' – 'Ja-ja, jeg kommer lige om lidt ...' (p. 56).

In the 1875 translation, as well as in the original, the nurse addresses the child as 'Miss/Frøken'. This is dropped in 1946, and in 1972 the tone becomes more peremptory, whereas it grows milder again in 1982 ('Lille Alice'). It is not quite clear in 1982 and 2000 who Alice's interlocutor is. 'Frøken' of 1982 might indicate a teacher or kindergarten assistant, and in

any case the 'frøken' represents a reversal of roles: now it is the child who is respectful to an adult (in 2000 the respect is somewhat reduced). Thus the only translation offering full cultural (and linguistic) equivalence is the first, 1875, though the 1999 translation comes close by reintroducing 'Frøken' (Miss) as applied to Alice.

Place

Southern England is basically not very different from Denmark, consequently there are no difficulties of the kind encountered when translators have to convey an impression of arctic or tropical scenery unknown to untravelled Westerners. Moreover, fantasy literature often takes place in a non-descript world that cannot easily be located on a map. Nevertheless, there are some tricky references to England, which is the assumed background if not the actual scene throughout, the more so, because there is a greater tendency to localise literature for children than literature for adults

(cf. Hjørnager Pedersen, 2004: 69). One such reference appears in the lobster quadrille, with its longing for foreign parts: