Effects of Translator Age, Gender and Ideology upon Translation Strategies: A Case Study of English-Japanese Translators in Community Translation

Several studies have explored the effects of translator ideology and/or background upon translated texts, viewing translators as active rather than impartial agents, in intercultural communication. However, only a few studies have examined the effects of gender as a sociolinguistic variable upon translations and their ideological implications and other sociolinguistic factors are left unexplored, resulting in a less holistic picture of translator background (Furukawa 2010; Leonardi 2007; Santaemilia 2005, 2015). The objective of this study is to examine the relationships between translators’ various social attributes (age, gender, intercultural experience and professional experience), ideological opinions regarding the text being translated and use of translation strategies in an Australian community translation setting. Thus, I conducted a quantitative, sociolinguistic case study of 15 English-Japanese translators who translated an NGO informative text dealing with the sex industry. In particular, the study showed the strong effect of age upon the relationship between translators’ shifting register and manifestations of their ideologies. It also found positive correlations between the use of register shift strategy and both translator ideology and the male gender. This paper reports on these findings and their implications for future studies on translator subjectivity and professional ethics.