Intracultural translation into an ideological language: the case of the Japanese translations of Anne of Green Gables

Abstract

In Japanese literature, both original and translated, a virtual language that is not used by actual Japanese-speaking people has been used since the late nineteenth century. The language is named “yakuwarigo [role language]” because it can be employed in different ways to create different images of the speaker. During the period, the feminine ideal was related to women’s language, which is a type of yakuwarigo, and girls were instructed about how women should behave and speak. The function of yakuwarigo has been strengthened and repeatedly imparted to children, and consequently it has helped to instil women’s language in readers’ minds, and arguably reinforced the subordinate role of women in Japanese society. Therefore, this paper first investigates the history of yakuwarigo since the nineteenth century, and then explores the link between yakuwarigo and ideology by analysing the three Japanese translations of one of the most influential examples of children’s literature in Japan, Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables, from polysystem and feminist perspectives.