Translator’s Gender in the Target Text

Abstract

For the last three decades, the issue of translator’s gender and its representation in the target text has been actively researched in translation studies. Over the period there appeared numerous, sometimes contradicting views on markers of feminine / masculine / other types of speech, on whether the translator’s gender is revealed in the target text, and on the quality of translation depending on the translator’s gender. The present paper focuses on the translator’s gender markers in the target text. Taking into account the results of other linguists and my own observations, I consider the researched units being either definite or ambiguous markers of the translator’s gender. I want to bring to light gender differences in two Ukrainian translations (female translation by Natalia Tysovska and male translation by Viacheslav Brodovyi) of George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones. The semantic, pragmatic and stylistic shifts in the target text conditioned by the translator’s gender and gender stereotypes blur the sense of the source text. Thus, such shifts should be regarded as unwanted changes and better be avoided.