日本語とジェンダー【日本語とジェンダー講演第15号（2015)

採録】

Translation: Inter-lingual Construction of Gender
翻訳がつくる日本語
Momoko Nakamura
中村桃子[日本語要旨]翻訳の日本語には、日本人がふだん話す日本語とはまったく異なる独特なことば遣いが見られる。一つは、非・日本人女性による「女ことば」。翻訳小説や映画の字幕で、ヒロインはいかなる場面でも「あら」「まあ」「～だわ」「～のよ」「～かしら」と話し続ける。たとえば『風と共に去りぬ』で勝気なスカーレット・オハラが「いやだわ、お父さん」、『ハリー・ポッター』の友達・ハーマイオニーも、今どきの女の子らしからぬ「まあ、あんまりうまくいかなかったわ
ね」、そしてドストエフスキー作『カラマーゾフの兄弟』では、14 歳の少女が「どうして～なさったのかしら」、そして極めつけは『エイリアン』の字幕。宇宙生物との決死の戦いに勝利する
ヒロインの “you, a son of bitch!”という雄叫びも、「やっつけたわ！」と女ことばで訳される。翻訳の女ことばは、日本語の女ことばと同様に、日本人、非・日本人にかかわらず、国籍や人種を超えた共通の女性性を構築する。
もう一つ、男性性を構築する、翻訳ならではの日本語がある。「やあ、どうしてる？」「ぼくもさ」「はら、へってないかい？」。このようなくだけた話し方は、アメリカの人気番組『ビバリーヒルズ青春白書』の男子高校生や『カラマーゾフの兄弟』の若者のセリフとしてだけでなく、英会話の教科書の例文や新聞インタビューにおけるハリウッド俳優やスポーツ選手、中年のボサ
ノバ歌手の受け答えにまで及んでいる。興味深いことには、「やあ」「～さ」は非・日本人男性だけに使われ、日本人男性の発言には一切出てこない。また、日本版『ビバリーヒルズ青春白書』の中で使われるジェスチャーに注目すると、日本人コメディアンの演じる擬似・アメリカ人高校
生は、会話の途中で時々、両ひじを脇につけ、手の平を上に持ち上げながらひょいと肩をすくめてみせる。このしぐさと「恋とダンスとロックに夢中な平均的ティーンエイジャーさ」のセリフ
で、西洋人を皮肉たっぷりにおちょくり、笑いを誘う。このように、翻訳では、カジュアルな非日本人男性を、日本人男性とは区別して描写する時がある。
以上のように、翻訳が非日本人のジェンダーを表現する方法は、女性性と男性性で異なる傾向がみられる。
＊この採録は、2015 年 4 月 23 日（木）、ウェスタン･ミシガン大学（Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo,
MI U.S.A.）にて行われた講演を、講演者の承諾を得て書き起こしたものです。編集の都合上、一部省
略した部分もあります。
中村桃子教授の講演を企画されたカラマズー大学（Kalamazoo College）
・杉森典子助教授、また講演の司会を務められたウェスタン･ミシガン大学・曽我ジャパン・センター長・吉田俊准教授に御礼申し
上げます。

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日本語とジェンダー第15号（2015)

Professor Yoshida (MC):Thank you so much for all participating in this evening’s talk. I am Takashi Yoshida, Directorof Soga Japan Center, Western Michigan University. We are pleased to have Professor Momoko
Nakamura, a premium scholar of Japanese language and gender. Professor Nakamura has authoredmore than seven monographs in Japanese, such as Sex and Japanese Language 『 性 と 日 本語』,published in 2007, Women’s Language and the Japanese Language,『女ことばと日本語』 in2012, and Constructing the Japanese lLnguage through Translation,『翻訳がつくる日本語』in 2013.
Her 2007 book Constructing Women’s Language 『女ことばはつくられる』won the Yamakawa
Kikue Prize, which was established to honor Yamakawa Kikue, one of the forerunners of thewomen’s movements in early 20th century Japan. Professor Nakamura was the first linguist who
received this award.
Her English books and chapters include: The Language and Sexuality Reader published in
2006, “Femininity, Feminism, and Gender Discourse” in 2010, and Gender Language and Ideology,
which just came out in 2014. In addition, she has written numerous articles in both scholarly andnon-scholarly genres and just like Yamakawa, she has been actively educated not only the students but
also the general public in order to construct new interpretations on gender ideology in Japan andbeyond its borders.
This evening Professor Nakamura will talk on translation and gender to examine howtranslations of English into Japanese have influenced gender identity in Japan. Please welcome
professor Momoko Nakamura.
Professor Nakamura:Thank you very much for a wonderful introduction, Professor Yoshida. It’s my pleasure to beable to talk about my interest with you. Today I’m going to talk about my book, a Japanese bookpublished in 2013, Honyaku ga tsukuru Nihongo『翻訳がつくる日本語』. This book sold well –– one
week after the first print came out, the publisher decided to make the second print. I think there were
two reasons why this book sold well. First, a book review on this book appeared in the front page ofthe book review column for Asahi Shimbun, one of the nationwide newspapers in Japan. Second, it isbecause of my strong claim in this book that the translated speech of non-Japanese speakers plays animportant role in constructing the Japanese language, even though many Japanese nationals believethat their language is made by only native speakers of Japanese.
There are so many topics I covered in this book, but today, I would like to focus on gender.
There are two points I would like to talk today. One is about non-Japanese women’s speech, which
has been translated into stereotypical women’s language. I’m going to show you many examples ofthis type of speech, translated speech of non-Japanese women into Japanese. I emphasize again, thistype of speech is translated into stereotypical women’s language. The other point I want to maketoday is that the “friendly speech” of western men, a specific style translated to use only for
non-Japanese men. None of the native speakers of Japanese speaks this style. It’s a style of speaking
in Japanese translation, which can be used only by non-Japanese in the text.
The Translated Speech for Western Women
Let’s look at women’s language first, the speech translated for non-Japanese women. Many ofyou know that the many Japanese speakers have a belief that there are women’s language and men’s
language in Japanese. Stereotypical women’s language is characterized by several linguistic features,such as interjections, ara あら and maa まあ . These are considered to be typical feminine
interjections. The first person pronoun atashi あたし is also considered to be the typical feminine
first person pronoun in Japanese. In addition, there are many sentence final forms, such as kashira かしら, wa わ, dawa だわ, which are also considered to be feminine.
What I mean by stereotypical women’s language is the language that not all Japanese women2

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日本語とジェンダー第15号（2015)

speak. I’ve talked to some of you before this lecture, then, I realized that many of you have been to
Japan. You know that not many Japanese women speak in this way. [some audience nods] This issomething related to a language ideology.
Ideology of a style of speaking assigns gender to a person. Many integral studies have shownthat Japanese women, especially young women, do not speak women’s language. They show that
sentence final forms kashira かしら and dawa だわ are dead language as they are rarely spoken by
any Japanese women. Some older women do speak kashira かしら and dawa だわ in someoccasions when they want to make special effect on their speech. That is only an exception. Manyother empirical studies have shown that these features have pragmatic meanings, which are unrelated
to gender. For instance, sentence final forms such as wa わ, ne ね and yo よ have their own
pragmatic meanings –– to make distance towards the hearers, to make an assertion, and to havecertain epistemic stance towards what you were saying. Depending on the tone that you’re making,they produce many other pragmatic meanings. However, in Japan, there are still many ideologicalfeatures associated with femininity to perpetuate the stereotypical notion of women’s language.
Scarlet O’Hare, Gone with the Wind『風と共に去りぬ』
Now, let’s look at how this stereotypical notion of women’s language is used in the translationof speech of non-Japanese women. The first example is from Gone with the Wind『風と共に去りぬ』.
How many of you know this story? Many of you do. Gone with the Wind is an old story, but this isvery popular in Japan even now. In 2011, Gone with the Wind was played at The Imperial Theater tocelebrate its 100th anniversary. The story is that popular even though it’s old.
Let’s look at how the speech of Scarlet O’Hare has been translated into Japanese.
(1) No, dad [dawa]. I [atashi] am not talkative like Suellen.
Iya dawa, otoo-san, atashi, Sueren mitai ni oshaberi dewa nai kotoyo.
(2) Oh [Maa], great! Three thousand dollars?)Maa, sugoi! 3zen doru?
（マーガレット・ミッチェル『新版世界文学全集 25

風と共に去りぬ』大久保康雄・竹内道之助訳、新潮社、1957 年、p.40、42）

Please do remember that dawa だわ is the stereotypical feminine feature. Scarlet calls herself
atashi あたし, a feminine first person pronoun. Her “oh” is translated into maa まあ, which is astereotypical interjection for women. Here is another example.
(3) Mother got married to father when she was fifteen [yo]. I [atashi] am already sixteen[dawa].)
Okaa-san ga otoo-san to kekkon nasutta nowa 15 no toki yo. Atashi wa moo 16 dawa.
（同上、p.44）

In the above, her speech is translated into a kind of women’s language. Many Japanesewomen, especially young women, actually didn’t speak that way. Tthis translation was done in 1957,
long before I was born. . . no, I was already born at this year; this is the time when you’re supposedto laugh. [Laughter 笑]
Hermoine Granger, Harry Potter 『ハリーポッター』
Let’s look at the recent work, Harry Potter『ハリーポッター』. We see the young girl in the3

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日本語とジェンダー第15号（2015)

Harry Potter series, Hermoine Granger. It’s surprising how she (the actress) has been grown up.
She’s been turning into a nice lady now. Let’s see how her speech is translated into what kind ofJapanese translation. This is from the scene when Hermoine Granger met Harry Potter and her friendin the train for the first time.
(1) Well [Maa], it’s not very good, is it [wane]? …
Maa, anmari umaku ikanakatta wane. …
(2) it’s all worked for me [wa] …
minna umaku itta wa. …
(3) Nobody in my family’s magic at all [no],Watashi no kazoku ni mahozoku wa daremo inaino.
(4) it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter [wa]”Dakara, tegami o moratta toki, odoroitawa（J. K. ローリング『ハリー・ポッターと賢者の石』松岡佑子訳、静山社、1999 年、p.15）

Again, these are a kind of women language you don’t hear from Japanese women anymore,
especially from young girls like Hermoine Granger. If a young girl like Hermoine Granger speaks like
this, she will lose her friends [Laughter 笑]. She sounds so snobbish or seems to say “I’m different
from you guys” or “I’m such a feminine nice girl.” This is not women’s language you would hear inJapan from a young girl like Hermoine Granger.
The Brothers Karamazov, 『カラマーゾフの兄弟』
The next example is from the Russian literature, The Brothers Karamazov『カラマーゾフの兄弟』. How many of you know this work? [a little pause] Thank you. Only older people including
myself know this work. [Laughter 笑] This work is very popular in Japan. There are many different
versions of Japanese translation. Today I picked up the latest one, the 2006 translation by Kameyama
Ikuo. This translation actually became the bestseller in 2006.
There is a 14 year old girl in the story. Let’s look at how her speech is translated into
Japanese.
(1) Why doesn’t he want to come and see us [kashira]?
Dooshite uchi ni kitagara nai no kashira.
(2) Don’t you let him [no]?
Anata ga ano hito no koto o hanasa nai no?
(3) You see, we [atashi tachi] know that he goeseverywhere [noyo]…
atashi tachi chanto shitteru noyo…
(4) Why have you put that long cassock on him [kashira]?”nan datte, anna susonaga no fuku o kisetari nasatta no kashira（ドストエフスキー『カラマーゾフの兄弟Ⅰ』亀山郁夫訳、光文社、2006 年、p. 155）

You can see kashira, in the sentences (1), (2) and (4). In the sentence (3), you see “we, atashi
tachi,” the plural form of atashi. Even in the new 2006 translation, the 14 year old girl is speaking invery stereotypical women’s language.
Ripley, Alien 『エイリアン』
The last example for women’s language is the speech of Ripley, the role in a horror film Alien.

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日本語とジェンダー第15号（2015)

Has anyone of you seen this film? Did you like it? [Some audience nods]. I couldn’t watch it at all
by myself as I don’t like a horror film! I had to ask my children to watch with me, and it took me 3days to finish the whole film! [Laughter 笑]
Alien is a story about a fight against alien in the spaceship where six astronaut members areon board to travel in the space. The alien is killing the member one by one –– it is so scary. Ripley
is a strong independent fighting heroine as she finally kills the alien. She set up as an icon offighting women in Hollywood. You have noticed that she is here at the cover of my book [showing
her book to the audience]. I asked the illustrator to draw a figure that models Ripley for the cover of
my book. I used an illustration because I was not permitted to put a picture of the film due to the
copyright.

© 白澤社

After she escaped from the spaceship and got into the small shuttle, Ripley finally killed thealien. She said,
I got you [wa]. you son of a bitch [noyo](Yattsuketa wa, bakemono! Tasukatta noyo).
（『エイリアン』リドリー・スコット監督、1979 年）

What a polite feminine “you son of the bitch”! What a contradiction it is, It doesn’t makeany sense to put wa and noyo at the end of “your son of the bitch.” It seems that the translator
couldn’t help but putting these sentence-final forms such as wa and noyo, even though they haverestrictions that they can put only limited numbers of letters on the screen.
These wa and noyo are
not the only examples all the way through this film. Repley speaks with many other feminine final
particles. I don’t know what to say, but perhaps something must have happened to the translator. In
fact, this translator is not an exception. In my book, I examined two other Hollywood films that arefeatured by strong female protagonists, but, all their speech are also translated with these final
feminine particles.
In conclusion of this segment, I argue that there is a strong tendency that non-Japanesewomen’s speech is translated into women’s language in Japanese. There are many implications you
can draw from this result. One is that by using the stereotypical Japanese women’s language for the
speech of both non-Japanese women and Japanese women, Japanese translation has constructedfemininity as if the feminine feature can be shared by all women beyond national and ethnic
boundaries. This is one of the important implications we can draw from my analysis.

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日本語とジェンダー第15号（2015)

The Translated Version of “Friendly Men’s Language”
What about masculinity? There are many translations, like those in which the speech of
non-Japanese men is translated into Japanese men’s language. I particularly pay attention to a specificstyle of speech; I call it “friendly or casual men’s language.”
The friendly men’s language style is characterized by a greeting, yaa やあ and a sentence
final form sa さ. Men are not supposed to greet each other konichiwa こんにちは or anything other,
but to greet by yaa やあ, which is a translation of an English “hi” or “hey.” Young men usually use
personal pronouns, boku, kimi, and ore. They are the personal pronouns considered to be Japanese
men’s language. A sentence final form that these young men tend to use with the Japanese men’s
language is sa さ. Sa さ is very conspicuous and is sometimes interchangeable with kai かい and dai
だい. A typical example of this style of speech is “Yaa, boku wa John sa. Genki kai? “Hi, I’m John,
How are you?” Let’s look at some examples of these sentences used in the Japanese drama.
Brandon and Dylan, Beverly Hills 90210
The first example is a conversation from Beverly Hills 90210 (c.f. the original was shown in
1990-2000; the Japanese version in 1992-2013). How many of you know this TV drama? It is old, so,only old people. . . . well, no, there are many young people raise their hands, too. This is a story oftwin brother and sister, Brandon and Brenda, who came to Beverly Hills High School from Minnesota.
This is Dylan [the professor points the presentation screen], who became friends with them. It seems
Brenda and Dylan are a boyfriend-girlfriend. This drama was very, very popular in Japan. There is aJapanese version of the original 1 to 6 episodes shown on Japanese TV.
Although many Japanese people liked this program, I was looking down on this kind of TV
show. However, after watching it, I found it was very well-made. I got an impression that it’s muchbetter than I expected. Today I want to focus on conversations of Brandon and Dylan and am
showing you how their speech is translated into Japanese. This conversation is from the scene, inwhich they met for the first time.
Brandon: (Hi [Yaa]. My name’s Brandon Walsh.)
Yaa, boku wa Burandon Worushu da…
Brandon: (By way of Minnesota [sa])Minesota keiyu sa….
Brandon: (Are you hungry [kai]?)
Hara hette nai kai?....
Dylan: (Field trip [sa].)
Fiirudo torippu sa.
（『ビバリーヒルズ高校白書』シ－ズン１、Vol. 1、パラマウント・ジャパン）
Brandon’s “hi” is translated into yaa やあ. Both Brandon and Dylan are speaking and putting
sa さ at the end of their speech. Brandon agrees with Dylan, saying yaa やあ. These forms are usedby the two young high school boys in California.
Rakitin and Alyosha, The Brothers Karamazov
Now, let me go back to the 2006 translation of The Brothers Karamazov, 『カラマゾフの兄弟』and see the language of the two young characters Rakitin and Alyosha. Rakitin is one of theyounger theology students of Father Zosima at the church. As you know, there are three brothers inthis work and Alyosha is the youngest and purest brother. Rakitin and Alyosha meet each other andthey are talking about father Zosima’s behavior. Rakitin is waiting for Alosha outside of the room.
Alosha asks Rakitin, “Are you waiting for me?” and Rakitin answers “Yes.” Here is their

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日本語とジェンダー第15号（2015)

conversation continuing as below.
(Yes [sa],… Tell me one thing, Alyosha, what does that vision mean [dai]?)
Masani kimi sa…. Arette ittai, nan no otsuge dai?
Alyosha: (What vision [sa]?)
Arette nani sa?....
Rakitin:（ドストエフスキー『カラマーゾフの兄弟Ⅰ』亀山郁夫訳、光文社、2006 年、p.203）

They both talk using sa さ. As I told you, there are so many translated versions The Brothers
Karamazov. I checked one translation by Yonekawa Masao in 1917. I was surprised that exactly thesame sa さ, yaa やあ, dai だい and kai かい are used in the 1917 translation of The Brothers
Karamazov. The style of speaking, phrases with yaa やあ, kai かい and dai だい has been used to foryoung non-Japanese men for a long time, ever since 1917.
I also show the fictional dialogues in English conversation textbooks. As many of you who
have been to Japan know, numerous English conversational textbooks are published in Japan every
year. It’s usually consistent that English dialogues are put on the left page, while Japanesetranslations on the right page. I have picked up one of the conversation textbooks on Business English.
The dialogue below is between Hiro and Jake. Hiro came across Jake in a coffee lounge. The dialogue
is situated on business, but it sounds very casual as they are in the coffee lounge. Hiro, 34 year-old
Japanese operation manager, and Jake, 37 year-old American marketing manager may not be “young”
enough for you. But they are described as the youngest members in this textbook. It is okay
because it is in a business world.
Jake: Hey [Yaa], what’s up, Hiro?
Yaa, Hiro, doo shiteru?
Hiro: Hi [Yaa], Jake. Nothing much, but I need to have a lot of coffee to get started thismorning!
Yaa, Jeiku, tokuni kawari naiyo. Demo, kesa wa shidoo kaishi ni koohii ga takusan
iru naa.
Jake: Ditto [sa]. TGIF.
Boku mo sa. Aa, yatto, kinyoobi da.
（ジョン・K・ギレスピー＆嶋川洋一『入門ビジネス英語 ベストプラクティスⅠ』NHK出版、2009 年、p.46－47）
This is a casual conversation between two young male workers in the coffee lounge. As you
can see, they greet each other with yaa やあ and then Jake puts sa さ at the end of the talk, “Boku mosa.” Young people use this style of speech in many other English conversation textbooks as well.
Actors, Athletes, Singers
I also checked some translated speech of real people, such as actors, athletes, and singers, innewspaper interviews. Their speech also tends to be translated into Japanese remarks with sa さ.
The first example is Johnny Depp in the Japanese advertisement of his new film The Libertine.
Johnny Depp says:
Atonimo sakinimo shoogai de ichido shika meguriawanai sakuhin sa.
[This is] the sort of work [you] come across only once in a lifetime [sa].)（映画『リバティーン』（2006）日本公開時の宣伝キャプション）

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日本語とジェンダー第15号（2015)

This Japanese remark is a constructed one in an advertisement, not necessarily what heactually said. It’s considered that he was supposed to speak a sentence with sa さ.
A professional soccer player Ronaldinho is speaking,Baruserona no kankyoo, saikoo sa.
(The environment in Barcelona is the best [sa].)（『朝日新聞』2006 年 4 月 25 日）
This is a headline of the newspaper. This is not what he was actually speaking, but in theheadline, athletes are supposed to speak with sa さ.
A musician Sergio Mendes, a 65 year-old Bossanova singer whose song. The Girl from
Ipanema (1964) is very popular. In his interview, he says,
Enka myuujikku sa.
([Bossa nova] is like Japanese popular ballads [sa].)（『朝日新聞』2006 年 10 月 6 日）
Even though he’s old musician, he is also speaking with sa さ.
Sa さ Constructs the Casual Identities for Non-Japanese Men
Let me summarize what sa さ is. According to Nangasaki (1998), sa さ represents the coollaid-back style of the speaker in casual conversation. In putting sa さ at the end of the speech ofactors, athletes and singers, these newspaper translations construct the casual people, or assign thecommon casual identities to these people. This is a kind of strategy that the Japanese newspapertranslation does towards the speech of non-Japanese male actors, athletes and singers. I don’t know
how common this strategy is, though. Interestingly, Japanese men do not use sa さ in the newspaperinterviews. According to Reynolds (2001), she found no of being interviewed by newspaper reporters.
instance of sa さ in the sentence final position in 4,289 utterances of Japanese college students. Also,
Yamanashi (2003) reports that the utterances of non-Japanese men athletes are translated with sa さ innewspaper interviews, but Japanese athletes do not speak with sa さ even in the same situations
The Japanese Parody of Beverly Hills 90210
Why do not Japanese men use sa さ? We may be able to find the reason in a Japaneseparody of Beverly Hills 90210. Dylan plays a role of a Japanese tutor, and Catherine –– she doesn’t
appear in the original drama –– is his girlfriend. As you can see [in the presentation screen], they are
all Japanese comedians. Some of them wear blonde or brown wigs and put on a plastic fake high nose.
They pretend to be American high school students [Laughter 笑]. This is so funny. The title of thisparody is Dylan & Catherine: Bibarii hiruzu seiten hakusho,『ディラン＆キャサリン:ビバリーヒル
ズ晴天白書』which literally means “Dylan & Catherine: Beverly Hills Weather Reports.”
This fake Dylan’s style of speech does not always consist of linguistic features that I havementioned, but the style is considered to be multi-modal and multidimensional. It consists of clustersof linguistic and other semiotic practices (Copland 2007). This is what I call “the translated version ofmen’s language,” which consists of not only linguistic features such as yaa やあ and sa さ, but also
particular gestures. The comedians, who wear big brown or blonde wigs and high plastic noses,
incessantly shrug their shoulders. Shrugging is not included in Japanese body movement. Whenever
the Japanese comedians try to pretend to be Westerners, the first thing they do is shrugging. If they do,
the Japanese audiences immediately know that they are going to pretend as Westerners. Now I willshow you a video clip of the parody. Please listen and pay attention to their gesture, too.

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日本語とジェンダー第15号（2015)[The video clip is shown](My name is Dylan McKay. [I’m] an average teenager crazy about love, dance, and rock[sa].)
Ore no namae wa Dylan Makkei. Koi to dansu to rokku ni muchuu na goku heikinteki natiineijyaa sa.
（『ディラン＆キャサリン ビバリーヒルズ晴天白書』よしもとアール・アンド・シー、
2008 年）This is the Japanese Dylan. Did you hear how he was introducing himself? He puts sa さ atthe end of sentence. They greet each other with yaa やあ. It is supposed to be on high school campus
in California. Please listen.
[The video clip is shown]
Dylan: Yaa, Kebin (Hi, Kevin)
Kevin: Yaa, Diran (Hi, Dylan)
He goes on to introduce his friend, Kevin.

Please listen.

[The video clip is shown]([He is] a nice guy who has an incredible dream to get a job at NASA and launch a shuttle in
the future [sa].)
Shoorai wa NASA ni shuushoku shite shatoru o uchiagetai nante tondemonai yume o motta
naisu gai sa.
（同上）
Did you hear “a nice guy sa さ”? Did you notice that Kevin was also using sa さ, too? Did
you also notice they kept shrugging like this? [the professor shrugs her shoulders] [Laughter 笑]
Stereotypical American Young Men Speaking with Yaa やあ and Sa さ
Japanese men avoid using these yaa やあ and sa さ because this is the part of Japanesestereotype about Westerners. They show us how awkward the Japanese can be if they try to behave as
if they are stereotypical Westerners. . That’s so funny. In general, Western young men are consideredcasual, laid-back and friendly, but not serious and polite. For instance, Dylan introduces himself that
he is an average teenager who is crazy about love, dance, and rock. This is really a stereotype. Do theaverage teenager only crazy about love, dance and rock? [Laughter 笑] This is a Japanese prejudice
toward American young men.
In conclusion about masculinity, I have shown you that the Japanese translation has invented
a specific speech style of non-Japanese young men since the 1910s, if not oldest.
By using theinvented style, translators distinguish the young Japanese masculinity from the young non-Japanesemasculinity along with the ethnic national boundaries. You have seen that the specific Japanesetranslation has been used as non-Japanese speech styles. In the translation, Japanese men tend to avoid
using the non-Japanese styles.
In conclusion of my whole talk, I would like to point out the distinction between femininity
and masculinity. Researchers have claimed that femininity has been associated with nature, tradition,and land, while masculinity is often associated with progress and modernity. The results of myanalysis are significantly related to this old categorization between femininity and masculinity. Thankyou very much.
[Audience applauses]

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日本語とジェンダー第15号（2015)

Questions and Answers (Selected)
Audience 1::When you talked to the translators about the problem of translating gendered speech,
what did they say about it? Was it just a problem of characterization for them or something other?
Professor Nakamura: That is a very interesting question. Thank you very much. All of them said thatthey tried to translate the speech into a natural Japanese language. They all know that their translated
Japanese doesn’t sound so natural. However, if they translate the [non-Japanese] speech into natural
Japanese, then it will sound strange for the Japanese audiences and readers. They are used to readgendered styles of speech in fictions, non-fictions, TV dramas and films. If the translators don’t use
them, then their clients will complain that this doesn’t sound right.
I would like to add that there is an interesting research in Japan by Dr. Satoshi Kinsui. He
talks about “virtual Japanese.” Virtual Japanese are the styles of Japanese that no Japanese speaks but
all Japanese knows. Let me talk about an example, a wise man in a fictional story like Professor
Dumbledore in Harry Potter. There is a specific style of speech in Japanese which used to fool thatwise man who is supposed to give wisdom to the hero. He is supposed to call himself, “washi,” afirst-person pronoun. “[Washi] wa . . . [ja]”. “Washi wa Dubledore ja”. This is a kind of speech usedby many fictional wise men in films and novels in Japanese nowadays. Even though there are many
doctors and professors in Japan, none of them speaks like, “[Washi] wa . . . [ja]” [Laughter 笑].
Audience 2: I am curious of how you could manipulate these gendered languages purposefully insome occasions. My mother sometimes uses masculine language when she scolds me. She uses
feminine language in some other situation. Even the same person can use languages characterized
by different genders, masculine or feminine.
Professor Nakamura: That’s a great question to me. Thank you! Japanese speakers use bothfeminine and masculine language features to accomplish their actual interactions. We have many
language resources, such as Osaka-ben, a regional speech, women’s and men’s language, gendered
speech. Japanese speakers use all these resources depending on various situations. Many researches
have been done on actual usage by Japanese speakers. Japanese speakers –– not only Japanese but
also English speakers too, I guess –– use a lot of linguistic resources to accomplish a certain
interactional goal in a specific situation.
Your question reminds me that there is a large change about the use of women’s language
recently in Japan, especially in the use of women’s language in comics. Several researchers havefound that the young female characters in comics shift to women’s language when they make strong
assertions, for example, when they criticize or scold somebody. Why do they do so? One of theresearchers says, because the female characters try to make themselves look calm and intelligent even
if they get really angry. If they use rough language when they are upset, they look so emotional. In
order to show that they are calm, those female characters get angry in women’s language. Anotherresearcher says that because there is a strong norm that women are supposed to speak in a polite way;
therefore, they use women’s language when criticizing somebody. Is this not being polite
anyway…? They do the opposite things simultaneously, being polite and criticizing somebody byusing women’s language. There are many possible interpretations about this phenomenon.
Today, I talked about Japanese translations and gender. There are many studies about how
women and men use actual language and there are so many factors related to the way Japanese people
use those linguistic resources. I did not have time to cover all these topics, but I hope you enjoyedtoday’s talk and will get interested more in Japanese language and culture. Thank you very muchagain.
[Applause]

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日本語とジェンダー第15号（2015)[参考文献]
Coupland, Nikolas. 2007. Style: Language Variation and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
長崎靖子 (1998)「江戸語の終助詞『さ』の機能に関する一考察」『国語学』192:13-26.
Reynolds, Akiba Katsue. 2001. “Direct quotation in Japanese: A site for stereotyping.” In Charles
Chang, Michael J. Houser, Yuni Kim, David Mortensen, Mischa Park-Doob, and Maziar
Toosarvandani (eds.), Proceedings of the twenty-seventh annual meeting of the Berkeley
Linguistic Society, 215-28. Berkeley Linguistic Society.
山西正子 (2003)「現代語における終助詞『さ』の性格」『目白大学人文学部紀要』10:1-14.
（なかむら

ももこ・関東学院大学教授）

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