Role Language in Translation: A Comparative Character Analysis of Maria Barring in Andrzej Sapkowski’s Chrzest Ognia

Abstract

This article presents an analysis of yakuwarigo 役割語 implementation in the Japanese translation of Andrzej Sapkowski’s Chrzest Ognia (Baptism of Fire). Focusing on the character Milva’s manner of speaking, the author analyses selected passages from the Polish original focusing on stylization (archaization, colloquialisms, vulgarisms). She compares them with corresponding passages from the Japanese translation by Yasuko Kawano, concentrating on the use of yakuwarigo in order to compare the character images of Milva in the two texts. Due to a weaker character image and the lack of linguistic markers indicating Milva’s background in the Japanese translation, the author juxtaposes those passages with their counterparts in the English translation by David French, which may have served as the source text for Kawano’s translation. Since Milva’s character image as presented in French’s work is the weakest and least distinctive of the three languages, this might explain the relatively low number of yakuwarigo expressions in the Japanese translation.