#Blog Translation

[aoihono96]

2023/08/24 - Hirano Ryo's Twitter post

The curtain has rise for

Musical "Moriarty the Patriot - Op.5 - The Final Problem".

With a sigh of relief, I'll run thought it again starting tomorrow.

Source: twitter

[aruruzuki]

12 Mei 2023

大作戦 (Strategi Hebat)

こんにちは Hallo semuanya

、、、

懐かしいね。宝物です。ありがとう☺️ Betapa nostalgianya~ berharga bukan? Terima kasih.

📖「The NEW ERA Book / Spring ＆ Summer 2023」

掲載していただいています🧢 Aku akan mempublikasikan tentang 「The NEW ERA Book / Spring ＆ Summer 2023」

普段からNEW ERAさんの帽子を 愛用させていただいているので とても嬉しかったです、、！ Aku merasa sangat senang karena selalu menggunakan topi dari New Era!

発売中です～～みてね～～ Sekarang sudah dijual~ jangan lupa untuk melihatnya~~

ツアーで撮った写真 たくさんあるので載せます📸🧸 Foto yang kuambil saat tour. Karena banyak sekali, maka aku akan mempostingnya.

まだまだあるので またどこかに送りますね☺️ Karena masih ada beberapa, nanti akan aku kirimkan kembali ya.

ほなね！ Sampai jumpa!

櫻坂46 田村保乃 Sakurazaka446 Tamura Hono

Translasi oleh: @NutrilonSooya

[metamorphesque]

"I love you", Husik Ara (translated by Tathev Simonyan)

[atissi]

hadn't seen anyone post the full comic about laios + falin's family on tumblr yet so. here you go source is from the reddit

[christadeguchi]

happy year of the dragon from this guy…

[originalartblog]

Apparently much-needed reminder that reposting artists' art (by saving the images or screenshotting them and reuploading them yourself) on other platforms without the artists' expressed permission and without credit is theft and an insult to their passion and craft. You are profiting (in views, in attention, in feedback) from someone else's work and ideas, who do not get that feedback for sharing their creation.

If you are an art reposter, you are a thief and I have no respect for you.

[haru-dipthong]

Gendered pronouns in Japanese vs English

In Revolutionary Girl Utena, the main character Utena is a girl (it says so in the title), but very conspicuously uses the masculine first person pronoun 僕 (boku) and dresses in (a variation of) the boys school uniform. Utena's gender, and gender in general, is a core theme of the work. And yet, I haven’t seen a single translation or analysis post where anyone considers using anything other than she/her for Utena when speaking of her in English. This made me wonder: how does one’s choice of pronouns in Japanese correspond to what one’s preferred pronouns would be in English?

There are 3 main differences between gendered pronouns in Japanese vs English

Japanese pronouns are used to refer to yourself (first-person), while English pronouns are used to refer to others (third-person)

The Japanese pronoun you use will differ based on context

Japanese pronouns signify more than just gender

Let’s look at each of these differences in turn and how these differences might lead to a seeming incongruity between one’s Japanese pronoun choice and one’s English pronoun choice (such as the 僕 (boku) vs she/her discrepancy with Utena).

Part 1: First-person vs third-person

While Japanese does technically have gendered third person pronouns （彼、彼女） they are used infrequently¹ and have much less cultural importance placed on them than English third person pronouns. Therefore, I would argue that the cultural equivalent of the gender-signifying third-person pronoun in English is the Japanese first-person pronoun. Much like English “pronouns in bio”, Japanese first-person pronoun choice is considered an expression of identity.

Japanese pronouns are used exclusively to refer to yourself, and therefore a speaker can change the pronoun they’re using for themself on a whim, sometimes mid-conversation, without it being much of an incident. Meanwhile in English, Marquis Bey argues that “Pronouns are like tiny vessels of verification that others are picking up what you are putting down” (2021). By having others use them and externally verify the internal truth of one’s gender, English pronouns, I believe, are seen as more truthful, less frivolous, than Japanese pronouns. They are seen as signifying an objective truth of the referent’s gender; if not objective then at least socially agreed-upon, while Japanese pronouns only signify how the subject feels at this particular moment — purely subjective.

Part 2: Context dependent pronoun use

Japanese speakers often don’t use just one pronoun. As you can see in the below chart, a young man using 俺 (ore) among friends might use 私 (watashi) or 自分 (jibun) when speaking to a teacher. This complicates the idea that these pronouns are gendered, because their gendering depends heavily on context. A man using 私 (watashi) to a teacher is gender-conforming, a man using 私 (watashi) while drinking with friends is gender-non-conforming. Again, this reinforces the relative instability of Japanese pronoun choice, and distances it from gender.

Part 3: Signifying more than gender

English pronouns signify little besides the gender of the antecedent. Because of this, pronouns in English have come to be a shorthand for expressing one’s own gender experience - they reflect an internal gendered truth. However, Japanese pronoun choice doesn’t reflect an “internal truth” of gender. It can signify multiple aspects of your self - gender, sexuality, personality.

For example, 僕 (boku) is used by gay men to communicate that they are bottoms, contrasted with the use of 俺 (ore) by tops. 僕 (boku) may also be used by softer, academic men and boys (in casual contexts - note that many men use 僕 (boku) in more formal contexts) as a personality signifier - maybe to communicate something as simplistic as “I’m not the kind of guy who’s into sports.” 俺 (ore) could be used by a butch lesbian who still strongly identifies as a woman, in order to signify sexuality and an assertive personality. 私 (watashi) may be used by people of all genders to convey professionalism. The list goes on.

I believe this is what’s happening with Utena - she is signifying her rebellion against traditional feminine gender roles with her use of 僕 (boku), but as part of this rebellion, she necessarily must still be a girl. Rather than saying “girls don’t use boku, so I’m not a girl”, her pronoun choice is saying “your conception of femininity is bullshit, girls can use boku too”.

Through translation, gendered assumptions need to be made, sometimes about real people. Remember that he/they, she/her, they/them are purely English linguistic constructs, and don’t correspond directly to one’s gender, just as they don’t correspond directly to the Japanese pronouns one might use. Imagine a scenario where you are translating a news story about a Japanese genderqueer person. The most ethical way to determine what pronouns they would prefer would be to get in contact with them and ask them, right? But what if they don’t speak English? Are you going to have to teach them English, and the nuances of English pronoun choice, before you can translate the piece? That would be ridiculous! It’s simply not a viable option². So you must make a gendered assumption based on all the factors - their Japanese pronoun use (context dependent!), their clothing, the way they present their body, their speech patterns, etc.

If translation is about rewriting the text as if it were originally in the target language, you must also rewrite the gender of those people and characters in the translation. The question you must ask yourself is: How does their gender presentation, which has been tailored to a Japanese-language understanding of gender, correspond to an equivalent English-language understanding of gender? This is an incredibly fraught decision, but nonetheless a necessary one. It’s an unsatisfying dilemma, and one that poignantly exposes the fickle, unstable, culture-dependent nature of gender.

Notes and References

¹ Usually in Japanese, speakers use the person’s name directly to address someone in second or third person

² And has colonialist undertones as a solution if you ask me - “You need to pick English pronouns! You ought to understand your gender through our language!”

Bey, Marquis— 2021 Re: [No Subject]—On Nonbinary Gender

Rose divider taken from this post

[harumichiii]

SAILOR MOON S: Episode 18 - 「芸術は愛の爆発!ちびうさの初恋」

[theyellowcoin]

5 Profits of Blog Translation Which You Should Understand

5 Profits of Blog Translation Which You Should Understand

Working on blogs can be difficult, but with translation services, these blogs can travel worldwide, making the business grow and reaching customers without any language barriers. Today’s world is multilingual, so translating a blog will open the door to the business in front of customers of diverse languages, cultures, and countries. This will allow the audience to understand the content better.…

[tshortik]

I love you messy artstyle i love you visible brush strokes I love you textures and rough edges I love you imperfections I love you roughness and colour blobs I love you scratchy sketches and bold stylisation and dirt and imperfections I love you ugly and raw emotion!!!!! ❤️

[la1npilledg1rl]

[bettyclampkin]

Websites and blogs produced in one language are no longer sufficient for businesses. Targeting a wide audience has become increasingly important in today's corporate environment in order to maximize profit. With more than 53% of all web pages being written in English, you may be surprised to learn to Continue reading for translation for every sector that English is the most aggressive language to publish in when it comes to content.

[aruruzuki]

11 Mei 2023

最近の濱岸ひより (Hamagishi Hiyori akhir-akhir ini)

こんばんは、濱岸ひよりです Hallo semua, aku Hamagishi Hiyori.

ミーグリの時にきたプードルのパジャマです これを初めて見た時私の愛犬のるのんちゃんに似すぎてて運命的な出会いだ！！と思って即ゲットしちゃいました～🐩 Pajama Poodle dari Meguri. Pertama kali aku melihat pajamanya, aku pikir itu mirip dengan anjing kesayanganku yang bernama Runon-chan, rasanya seperti kami ditakdirkan untuk bertemu! Lalu aku langsung mendapatkannya~

ほら、！！！ Liat!!

ちょっと似てませんか？？ Terlihat mirip bukan??

ばいころまる～ Sampai jumpa~

Translasi oleh: @NutrilonSooya

[gushuwa]

04.04.24 next step will be translating texts which means I’ll stay at the library until 8 pm. Then I’ll go eat sushi and contemplate the meaning of life 🍵

[literatureaesthetic]

recent purchase 💸 i've been trying to slow down with my book buying this year (it's not going well), but ever since i saw 'the house on via gemito' on the international booker longlist, i knew i wanted to read it. especially because italy is one of the countries i'm focusing on this year for my "read around the world" challenge!!

[rainy-heart]