https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3136-3985
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ABSTRACT
As the boundaries between national and international news continue to blur, news translation has become an important site for examining how issues of language, culture, and risk influence how events are framed as they cross sociocultural and linguistic barriers. The current study contributes to the growing research in this area via showing how attention to sociolinguistic features like registers, indexes, and other markers of social meaning can further our understanding of the minutia – and ultimate outcome – of these translation processes. Data comes from Japanese coverage of two statements made by Joe Biden’s during the first 2020 US presidential debate which garnered international attention for their phrasing: ‘Will you shut up man?’ and ‘It’s hard to get any word in with this clown, excuse me, this person’. Comparing mainstream and independent translations, the study finds Japanese journalists translating each utterance via a diverse range of forms with links to distinct speech registers. However, mainstream and independent coverage shows broad distinctions in the forms they are willing to employ, and whether they neutralize or exaggerate the notable elements of Biden’s statements, with concerns of both risk and register impacting the way these quotes are framed for a new audience.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. Shimbun means ‘newspaper’.
16. Translation by the author
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Wesley Cooper Robertson
Wesley Cooper Robertson (@ScriptingJapan) is a senior lecturer in Japanese studies for the department of Media, Communications, Creative Arts, Language, and Literature (MCCALL). His research looks at how writing-restricted forms of variation become sites for stance taking, identity formation, and the negotiation of language ideologies - especially in Japanese. He is also interested in issues relating to translation and how language plays a part in subcultural scenes. His first book, Scripting Japan, was published in 2020, and he currently co-hosts the ethnographic podcast Lingua Brutallica.