Abstract:
Japanese consists of many sets of word endings which can identify a certain aspect of
the speaker, such as being rich, poorly educated, manly, feminine, by being used. In particular,
a set of word endings known as women’s language is used extremely often in translated works,
while in reality women do not used women’s language frequently during conversation. This
thesis focuses on identifying possible factors which affect a translator’s language choice when
translating a women’s voice from a foreign language through an analysis of the Japanese
translation of “In the Company of Women: Inspiration and Advice from over 100 Makers,
Artists, and Entrepreneurs”. Through this analysis, I argue how gender norms which define
femininity, and values regarding sexuality in Japan are significant factors in a translator’s
criteria of whether to assign women’s language to a certain person or not.
