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Article published In: Babel
Vol. 66:3 (2020) ► pp.457–483

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Cultural adaptations

Translating politeness from Japanese to English

 | Schools of Isolated and Distance Education Western Australia
 | Curtin University
 | Curtin University
Published online: 8 June 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00170.bec
Abstract
Linguistic and pragmatic aspects of the translation of politeness in contemporary novels were examined under the theoretical framework of Descriptive Translation Studies (DTS) (Toury, Gideon. 1995. Descriptive Translation Studies. Beyond. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) and Newmark’s functional theory (. 1988. “Pragmatic translation and literalism”. Traduction, Terminologie, Rédaction 1 (2): 133–145. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar). The analysis revealed that linguistic expressions tied to socio-cultural meaning and values were often neutralised due to the avoidance of creating non-normal target text expressions. Normalising culture-specific expressions was a strategy adopted by translators, enabling target language readers to relate to the stories according to their own cultural understanding. Notable differences in strategies to render texts were found across translators. From an educational perspective, this research provides realistic examples for intercultural language teaching and learning. An important implication is that the findings highlight the fact that, unlike European languages that share roots with English, a universal theory and approach to translation is not viable due to socio-cultural meaning and values that are specific to Japanese culture. The study also contributes to social psychology and consideration of the role of culture in understanding universal and culturally specific values and the attribution of meaning in collectivist and individualist societies.
Résumé
Les aspects linguistiques et pragmatiques de la traduction de la politesse dans les romans contemporains ont été examinés dans le cadre théorique de la traductologie descriptive (Toury, Gideon. 1995. Descriptive Translation Studies. Beyond. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) et de la théorie fonctionnelle de . 1988. “Pragmatic translation and literalism”. Traduction, Terminologie, Rédaction 1 (2): 133–145. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar. L’analyse révèle que les expressions linguistiques liées à la signification et aux valeurs socioculturelles sont fréquemment neutralisées, car l’on évite de créer des expressions anormales dans le texte cible. La normalisation des expressions spécifiques à la culture est une stratégie adoptée par les traducteurs pour permettre aux lecteurs de la langue cible de se référer aux récits en fonction de leur propre compréhension culturelle. On observe des différences notables entre les traducteurs en ce qui concerne les stratégies de rendu des textes. D’un point de vue éducatif, cette recherche offre des exemples réalistes pour l’enseignement et l’apprentissage interculturels des langues. Une implication importante est que les résultats mettent en évidence que, contrairement aux langues européennes ayant des racines communes avec l’anglais, une théorie et une approche universelles de la traduction ne sont pas viables étant donné la signification socioculturelle et les valeurs spécifiques à la culture japonaise. L’étude apporte également une contribution à la psychologie sociale et à la prise en compte du rôle de la culture dans la compréhension des valeurs universelles et spécifiques à la culture et de l’attribution de sens dans les sociétés collectivistes et individualistes.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical foundations
  • 3.Methodology
  • 4.Data analysis
    • 4.1Japanese honorifics
    • 4.2General politeness
    • 4.3Formulaic expressions of politeness
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusions
  • References
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