Foreign-sounding titles in the repertoire of contemporary Polish publishers of books for young people – fad or necessity?

Abstract

The increasing importance of literature for young people and the separation from children’s literature and romances increases the possibility of studying it as an independent subject. The article is devoted to books for young people, and in particular titles of those books. The study aims to check what percentage of books for young people published in Poland have titles in English. The analysis was performed using bibliographic and comparative methods based on a selectively chosen research sample from nine different publishing houses. The introduction assesses the importance of young adult and new adult literature in the Polish publishing market. The analysis took into account such elements as the translator, the original language, the publishing house, the year of publication, cultural affiliation, and the publishing series in the context of the title. The article is an attempt to decide whether the increasing tendency to give English titles to books published in Poland is a necessity of publishers or a fad.