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Hiroko Furukawa

-The title: Bridget Joness Femininity Constructed by Language: a comparison between the Japanese translation o Bridget Joness Diary ! and the Japanese subtitles othe ilm-"uthors name: Hiroko Furukawa

-" iliation: #h$ student! %chool o Literature and Creati&e 'riting (ni&ersity o )ast "nglia! (* -)-mail address: h+ urukawa,uea+ac+uk -#ostal address: #h$ student! %chool o Literature and Creati&e 'riting (ni&ersity o )ast "nglia! orwich! ./ 0TJ! (* ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bridget Joness Femininity Constructed by Language:" comparison between the Japanese translation o Bridget Joness Diary ! and the

Japanese subtitles o the ilm

Hiroko Furukawa1(ni&ersity o )ast "nglia2

AbstractThe language ound in Japanese translation and original iction is &ery di erent

rom that used by Japanese women in their real li&es+ #resent-day Japanese women do notuse literary language or so-called authentic womens language3 howe&er! they read it as

emale characters speech! particularly those in non-Japanese no&els and stories+ Thistendency has become a kind o con&ention in Japanese translation+ 4n addition! Japanese

has a wide &ariety o language choices depending on the speakers percei&ed le&el oemininity or masculinity+ %o a translators language use greatly a ects the image o thecharacters! and their emininity le&el is constructed di erently in each translation+

4n this paper! 4 will analyse the Japanese translation o Bridget Joness Diary andthe Japanese subtitles o the ilm &ersion to e5plore the di erences in Bridgets

emininity rom a linguistic perspecti&e+)&en in a contemporary no&el such as Bridget Joness Diary ! an e5aggerated

emale igure can be seen+ " linguistic analysis o the Japanese translation o Bridget Joness Diary and real womens discourse shows that the eponymous protagonisto&eruses eminine and sophisticated orms in the translation+ Bridget is a 67-somethingworking woman in London! and her speech style is modern and collo8uial+ Hence! there

is a striking gap between Bridget in the original and that in the Japanese translation+ Themoti&ation o this paper is to in&estigate how di erently Bridget was percei&ed by theaudience o the ilm and the readers o the translation+

The markedly eminine igures in Japanese translation are created by sociale5pectations o an 9ideal eminine speaking style! and translation unctions to rein orcean ideal model o how women should speak+ 4 will urther argue that translation is ashaper o gender ideology+

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mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Hiroko Furukawa

Key WordsLiterary Translation

Film subtitlesFemininityJapanese 'omens Language

Bridget Joness Diary

1. Introduction

The language ound in Japanese translation and original iction is &ery di erent

rom that used by Japanese women in their real li&es+ #resent-day Japanese women do not

use so-called authentic womens language in con&ersation+ They do! howe&er! read it as

used by emale characters! particularly those in non-Japanese no&els and stories3 its use is

a con&ention o Japanese translation 14noue! ;7763 akamura! ;770b2+ 'omens language

in this sense is neither simply a linguistic construct! nor is it real Japanese womens

language+ But this is 9a culturally salient category and knowledge 14noue ;77


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Hiroko Furukawa

strongly masculine2+ That is! one sentence can con&ey a characters strong emininity!

moderate emininity! strong masculinity! or moderate masculinity+ There ore! when a

translator renders a oreign characters speech! she or he has to decide how eminine or

masculine the character is in the original te5t! and choose the appropriate le&el o

emininity or masculinity+ Hence! a emale characters emininity le&el may be di erent

in each Japanese translation i the same no&el is translated by se&eral di erent translators+

This paper uses stylistic analysis o translation and actual speech! ocusing on

gender marking in the Japanese translation o Bridget Joness Diary 1 BDJ1 i! translated by

>oshiko *amei in ??@2 and the subtitles o the ilm &ersion 1 BDJ2 ! ;77 2+ 4t considers

two 8uestions: + How and to what e5tent do emale characters speech patterns in the

Japanese translation o Bridget Joness Diary and the Japanese subtitles o the ilm

&ersion not re lect Japanese womens contemporary language practiceA ;+ How

di erently was Bridget percei&ed by the readers o the translation and the audience o the

ilmA

There are some analyses on the arti icial use o womens language in literature3

howe&er! there has been no empirical study+ This paper! there ore! e5plores the gap

between emale characters speech patterns in Japanese translation and Japanese

womens contemporary language practice using numerical data+

Bridget Joness Diary is a contemporary no&el and the characters con&ersations

are held mostly in an in ormal situation+ %o this is an appropriate te5t to compare with

real Japanese womens dialogues+ BJD s eponymous protagonist is a single working

woman in London! in her thirties! and her speech style is modern and collo8uial in the

original+ This no&el was a worldwide bestseller with sales o o&er two million copies!

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Hiroko Furukawa

garnered the ??@ British Book o the >ear! and was adapted into a ilm in ;77

1 emmott! ;77


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Hiroko Furukawa

masculine! and neutral 1 kamoto and %ato! ??;: /@7-/@;2+ This methodology is also

applied to the ne5t comparison+ kamoto and %atos analysis is based on the in ormal

two-person con&ersations o three emale homemakers! who are close riends aged ;0-6/!

rom middle- or upper-middle-class background+ They were born in Tokyo and li&ing

there when the sur&ey was conducted+ "lthough their pro essions are di erent rom

Bridget Jones! and there is a si5-year time di erence o these data! kamoto and %atos

study is a use ul benchmark to see the gap between emphasised eminine speech style in

BJD1 and Japanese contemporary womens actual con&ersations+

Considering the date in Figure 1 ! there is a striking gap between Bridgets

language use and that in real discourse+ 'hen e5amining eminine orms in the two sets

o data! it is ob&ious that Bridgets language use is much more likely to be seen as

eminine than real Japanese womens speech+ .egarding masculine orms! BJD1 seems to

a&oid masculine orms intentionally+ Contemporary Japanese women used masculine

orms at /E in kamoto and %ato! whereas there is only one masculine orm in BJD1 +

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Hiroko Furukawa

Figure 1 Use o Gendered !entence" inal #or$s % BJD1 and Real Language&ractices'----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------%entence- inal Forms Total Tokens (sed 1E2 kamoto and %ato BJD1

1 ??;2 1 ??@2----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#e$inine or$s 2() (*.22)-%trongly eminine orms ;E ;@+07E- oderately eminine orms ;E oung Japanese Females! in1eds+2 Hall! *ira! ary BucholtI and Birch oonwomon+ Locating Power: Proceedings of the Second

Berke ey !o"en and Language #onference$ %&ri ' and ($ 1))2$ *o +1 ! Berkeley and Cali 3 Berkeley'omen and Language roup: /@6

ote 1/2: "s all igures in BJD1 are rounded o to two decimal places+

%econdly! let us compare the two sets o data with the data rom BJD2 under the

same conditions+ 4n this analysis! Bridgets con&ersations with three close riends: Tom!

Jude and %haIIer! a new character in the ilm in place o %haron! are compared+

Figure 2 shows a similar tendency in Bridgets language use+ The proportion o

eminine orms in BJD1 is / +;;E and that in BJD2 is / +77E+ The re8uency o neutral

orms in BJD1 is 6+? E and that in BDJ2 is + 7E+ Considering the data in more

detail! we notice that BDJ2 shows more use o arti icial language+ Bridget in the ilm

subtitles only uses strongly eminine orms or neutral orms+ There are no moderately

eminine orms or masculine orms o either type+

The language use o Japanese women has become less eminised! and nowadays

there are ew emale sentence- inal orms which are actually used by women 1 iIumoto!

;77 3 )ndo! ??02+ otwithstanding this tendency! Bridget shows a strong inclination

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Hiroko Furukawa

towards eminine orms+ The enormous gap between Bridgets language and real li e

language is noteworthy+

Figure 2 Use o Gendered !entence" inal #or$s % BJD1 , BDJ2 and Real Language&ractices'----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------%entence- inal Forms Total Tokens (sed 1E2 kamoto and %ato BJD1

BJD2 1 ??;2 1 ??@2 1 ??@2

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#e$inine or$s 2() (*.22) (*. )-%trongly eminine orms ;E ;@+07E / +77E- oderately eminine orms ;E oung Japanese Females! in1eds+2 Hall! *ira! ary BucholtI and Birch oonwomon+ Locating Power: Proceedings of the Second

Berke ey !o"en and Language #onference$ %&ri ' and ($ 1))2$ *o +1 ! Berkeley and Cali 3 Berkeley'omen and Language roup: /@6

ote 162: "s all igures in BJD1 and BJD2 are rounded o to two decimal places! and there is a systematic error whenthey are totalled+

'hen we compare Bridgets language with that o her two close emale riends! it

becomes clear that the no&els central character is not supposed to be particularly

9womanly+ 4n Figure , ! 4 analyse %harons and Judes con&ersations with Bridget in

BJD1 + Both o them are independent working women in London o around the same age

as Bridget+ Their characters are described as more decisi&e than Bridgets in the no&el+

%haron is strongly in luenced by eminist theory+ Jude has a success ul career and hires a

personal shopper+

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Hiroko Furukawa

Figure 3 Use o Gendered !entence" inal #or$s %Bridget, !3aron and 4ude in BJD '----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------%entence- inal Forms Total Tokens (sed 1E2 Bridget %haronJude----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#e$inine or$s (*.21-) (*.-- ) ( .0 2)-%trongly eminine orms ;@+


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Hiroko Furukawa

*K i akanos &ersion 1;7762Dand three translations o /""a 1by Jane "usten! irst

published in @ bastard 1ibid2+ Howe&er! most o them were modi ied in the Japanese translation:

9 0okudenashi M" good- or-nothingO 1*amei:


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Hiroko Furukawa

Japanese subtitles+ For e5ample! 9 h! bugger bugger is not translated at all and there is

no subtitle or the line+

%ome other e5amples can be seen in the Japanese subtitles+ 'hen Bridget is

preparing or her birthday party and cooking or her close riends! the sauce o&er lows

rom the mi5er and causes a mess+ Then she cannot ind tuna in the re rigerator+ 4n her

anger she says: 9'here the uck is the ucking tunaA This sentence is simply translated

as 9 suna ha dokodakke3 M'here is the tunaAO+ "lthough this Japanese phrase is airly

collo8uial! Bridgets oul-mouthed character is lost+

4n the last scene! $arcy &isits Bridgets lat and inds her diary+ 4t says 9$arcy is a

boring person+ The wi e who le t him was right! and so on+ $arcy lea&es the lat! and

Bridget says 9 h! shit This is rendered as 9 aihen M h my od O+ The nuance is

modi ied in the subtitle+ Bridget then runs a ter him in a hurry without putting on her

shoes! though it is snowing outside! and she e5claims: 9Bollocks This word is translated

as 9 su"etai4 M4ts cold O+ This subtitle e5plains the conte5t3 howe&er! it does not e5press

her despair at all+ There is only one literal translation o 9 h shit 9 -uso4 MshitO

throughout the ilm+ Howe&er! Bridget does not use other swear words at all in the

Japanese subtitles+

(. Wo$en6s Language as Ideology ii

odern use o womens language was promoted politically during the ei i

period 1 @


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Hiroko Furukawa

to Japanese modernisation! gi&en that it was during this time that Japan became an

industrialised society+ Capitalist de&elopment and state centralisation were mutually

related and occurred at the same time 14noue! ??/: 6;/2! and they also in&ol&ed the

construction o a gender ideology through the new education system+ The notion o

womens language can thus be seen largely as a conse8uence o political moti&ation

1 akamura! ;77 : ;


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Hiroko Furukawa

contrast! there is no Japanese word or 9good husband and wise ather+ This act also

indicates that this kind o suppression was only aimed at the education o girls+ 4n the late

ei i period! the elementary school moral book 1published in ?76! by the inistry o

)ducation2 denied womens in eriority to men or the irst time in an educational

publication+ Howe&er! it still clearly instructed that there were di erent roles determined

by gender3 the book says that you should not orget that mens duty and womens duty are

di erent and each should ul il his or her own duty 1)ndo! ??0: ;/2+

%uch eminine training! including speech training! was to ensure women

e5pressed their emininity and learned that modesty demanded o&erall reticence! a so t

&oice! a polite and eminine style o speech! an a&oidance o e5posing the oral ca&ity 1the

wide-open mouth should be co&ered with a hand2 1)ndo! ??0: /;2+ Through training! the

ei i go&ernment supported the 9genderiIation 1Tanaka! ;77/: ;


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Hiroko Furukawa

%pender 1 ?@72 e5plores womens language in )nglish and indicates that mens

language is the standard! and womens language is marginal+ 4n Japanese! there are

distincti&e disparities between how men and women speak+ 'hen standard Japanese was

established! the concept o the language was 9mens standard language: the Japanese

go&ernment adopted the language o middle-class educated males in Tokyo as the

standard Japanese language at the turn o the ;7 th century 1 akamura! ;770b: /6-/ 2+

'omens language! though! is a &ersion o standard Japanese which emphasises

emininity 1 akamura! ;770b: 6 2+ Because the establishment o standard Japanese was

closely related to nation-building 1 cConnell- inet! ;776: ;0@2! standard Japanese is or

men! and womens language is considered marginal+ The characteristics associated with

Dbeing polite! ormal! sympathetic! so t-spoken! indirect! hesitant! and non-asserti&e

14noue! ;77


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Hiroko Furukawa

1Tanaka! ?@


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Hiroko Furukawa

in act are already passQ among contemporary Japanese women! as indicated abo&e

1 iIumoto! ;77 2+ Furthermore! >abe 1;77 : 0


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Hiroko Furukawa

general beha&iour and aspirations+ Japanese readers are used to stereotypical eminine

speech in iction and translation! and the in luence o stereotypes on womens speech!

and on their &iews o themsel&es! has not been discussed enough in Japan+

*. 7onclusion

This paper has analysed the enormous gap between real Japanese womens

discourse and both the Japanese translations o Bridget Joness Diary ! and the Japanese

subtitles o the ilm &ersion+ "lso! the translation o swear words has been e5amined+ To

sum up! there are three conclusions in this study+ Firstly! both the Japanese translations o

and the subtitles or Bridget Joness Diary incline towards the strong use o gender-

marked womens language+ %econdly! Bridgets use o swear words is modi ied or

deleted in the translation and the subtitles+ "s a result! this new igure o emininity!

especially her oul-mouthed aspect! is not shown to the Japanese readers and audience+

"nd lastly! translators create and rein orce the consensus as to how women should speak!

and their translations and no&els mediate the reproduction o womens language as

ideology+

Re erences8

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Hiroko Furukawa

%sahi+co" +! 9;azateisen e %n&oriketsugisaitaku: Bei$ -yohiken wo 7atsud


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Hiroko Furukawa

4noue! + 1;77nnakoto5a ha sukurareru M'omens Language has beenConstructedO+ Tokyo: Hitsu i %hobo+

akamura! + 1;770b2 ?Sei to 8ihongo M9 ender and the Japanese LanguageO+ Tokyo: ihonhoso %huppankyokai+

- @ -
http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2006-06-20-chick-lit_x.htmhttp://wwwsoc.nii.ac.jp/gender/journal/no5/3_mizumoto.htmhttp://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2006-06-20-chick-lit_x.htmhttp://wwwsoc.nii.ac.jp/gender/journal/no5/3_mizumoto.htm


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Hiroko Furukawa

akano! * 1tran2+ 1#ocket-siIed! ;77 2! "usten! J+ /"a M)mmaO! &ol+ and ;+ Tokyo:Chikumashoten+

akano! * 1tran2+ 1#ocket-siIed! ;77

7enken M#ride and #re udiceO! &ol+ and ;+ Tokyo: Chikumashoten+

akano! > 1tran2+ 1#ocket-siIed! ;770! irst published in ?oungJapanese 'omen! in Hall! * and BucholtI! 1eds2 ender "rticulated: Language and

the %ocially Constructed %el + ew >ork and London: .outledge: ;?0-6; +kamoto! % and %ato! %+ 1 ??;2 9Less Feminine %peech among >oung Japanese

Females! in Hall! *! BucholtI! ! and oonwomon! B 1eds2 Locating #ower:#roceedings o the %econd Berkeley 'omen and Language Con erence! "pril / and !

??;! Rol+ + Berkeley and Cali : Berkeley 'omen and Language roup: /0@-/@@+

.owling! J+ *+1 ??02 Harry #otter and the #hilosopherUs %tone+ London: Bloomsbury+

%hinmeikai Japanese $ictionary 1


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i The abbre&iation BJD1 is used or the Japanese translation o Bridget Joness Diary ! BJD2 or the subtitle o the ilm Bridget Joness Diary in this paper+ii #lease note that this section is similar to Furukawa ;7 7 1 orthcoming2+iii 9MiOt is clear that language not only re lects social structures but! more important! sometimes ser&es to perpetuatee5isting di erences in power3 thus a serious concern with linguistic usage is ully warranted 1Frank ?@?: 7?2+

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