On the translation of Japanese politeness into Cantonese

A case study of anime

Bibliographic Data

ID21822771
AuthorsPei Chun Shih (Hong Kong Polytechnic University, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume11
Issue2
Pages287-305
Publication date2020-11-24
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueChinese Language and Discourse An International and Interdisciplinary Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1877-7031 • E-ISSN: 1877-8798
PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing Company (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1075/cld.19009.shi
OpenAlexW3109627150
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited22

This paper utilizes the reconstructive nature of translation to examine how formal (neutral and honorific) and plain forms of Japanese are represented in Cantonese dubbing with the aim of exploring some common politeness features of Cantonese that the translator adopts in order to compensate for the difference between the two languages. Address terms that do not exist in the Japanese original, for example deferential terms and kinship terms, are inserted in Cantonese dubbing to represent different speech levels of Japanese. This paper further argues that such inserted address terms help to realize politeness by either recognizing the superior status of addressees or by including an addressee as an in-group member. Some cases of insertions also suggest strategic adoption of address terms in Cantonese. In addition to observing social norms and addressing each other appropriately, Cantonese speakers can also exploit address terms strategically to achieve specific pragmatic goals

Business · Computer security · Exploit · Honorific · Kinship · Linguistics · Politeness · Sociology · Computer Science · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Multilingual Education and Policy · Philosophy · Psychology

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