Complaint: Pronouns in Manga Translations

Minato corrects Tsuge's use of a pronoun.

I recently came across a BL manga in which the American translators deliberately and consistently mistranslated a term to imply that a character was transgender rather than a cross-dresser. The two terms are not interchangeable. In fact, many gay men (not all, of course, since no "rule" applies to all individuals) will state that they experimented with cross-dressing when they were younger without wishing to give up their male biology (a decision that solidified when puberty hit).

Reviewers of the manga who actually knew Japanese and had read the translation in its original were ticked. They felt (correctly) that the translation was deceitful and disrespectful.

 

I feel the same when American translations insist on using "they" for the singular individual in Japanese manga. 

 

The problem is that "they," especially in American speech, is a generic pronoun that shows up (still) in lazy writing based on poor research:  "Oh, they said this. They think that." The pronoun becomes a kind of placeholder, not that different from the use of "it" in "it is raining." 

 

I am aware that individuals voluntarily apply "they" to themselves. That's a choice. I am pointing out here that Asian speech is rarely so dismissive and rude, even when people are upset.  

Not only do many Asian languages include honorifics, said languages will often use names when referring to people, not pronouns. Consider that in the video clip, Can clearly refers to himself in the third person: "Can will survive." He doesn't even use "I." (The Viki translation uses the third-person reference.)

 

Can is being cute. However, foregoing the first-person pronoun is preferred in many Asian languages. The choice of pronoun, when used, is the speaker's responsibility: how speakers present themselves, not how other people are supposed to react/think about the speakers. Can's mother calls him out for how he refers to himself in her presence.

 

As for honorifics, they are attached to nearly every single acknowledgement of the other person in the conversation--a part of speech, not an off-the-cuff, one-time "sir" or "ma'am" that is then discarded. A failure to use an honorific or the adoption of a more formal honorific is often noted--but the default is to revert to the proper honorific. And the use of honorifics is not one-sided--a speaker not only gives respect when it is due but submits to how the speaker is referred to by a senior or elderly person. Context is everything.

 

Translations that ignore these subtleties may be poor translations. Unfortunately, these days, they may be deliberately arrogant and dishonest translations. 

 

It amazes me how people who claim to love other cultures want to turn all those cultures into being entirely American. The narrow thinking here is astonishing.

That's me. I put the pronoun problem to The Translator. Below is the response:

The Translator: The default in Japanese is to eschew pronouns. No need for the execrable "they." Simply leave it out.

When social status is involved, use titles or honorifics. Your senpai or sensei isn't "you." Say "senpai" or "sensei" where you would say "you" in English. These relationships can continue for the rest of their lives. Even among equals, moving from last names to first names is a big deal. It is perfectly normal to use a third person reference instead of a pronoun.

The nonsense with English pronouns probably comes across as strange to most. There is a small contingent in Japanese society desperate to be as woke as their American counterparts, though this is as yet a powerless contingent, all bark and no bite. The sociolinguistics in a culture as deeply rooted as Japan's swats away such fads like an annoying insect.

Pronoun usage can inadvertently reveal a person's background and create a minefield of manners in the process. Again, another reason to avoid them.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpmO0nitGVw