Problems with the Description of Words Relating to Gender and Sexuality in English-Japanese Learner’sDictionaries

By November 23, 2016,
Page 436-443
Author Yuri Komuro, Saeko Nagashima
Title Problems with the Description of Words Relating to Gender and Sexuality in English-Japanese Learner’sDictionaries
Abstract While English-Japanese learner’s dictionaries have developed relatively sophisticated ways of describing sexist terms, they are not fully successful in the treatment of words related to gender and sexuality as a whole. Our survey reveals that (1) some English-Japanese learner’s dictionaries translate non-discriminatory English words into derogatory Japanese words; (2) there seems to be no clear policy about providing translation equivalents with discriminatory English words; and that (3) non-derogatory words are given carelessly as synonyms of derogatory headwords. This paper will report mismatches and inconsistency in the selections and arrangements of translation equivalents for words related to gender and sexuality in current English-Japanese learner’s dictionaries, and argue that low awareness of the issues relating to sexuality in Japanese society underlies such deficiencies. It will also propose how those lexical items should be treated, suggesting immediate improvements to be made in order not to reproduce discrimination against sexual and gender minorities.
Session Bi- and Multilingual Lexicography
Keywords gender and sexuality; English-Japanese learner’s dictionaries; translation equivalents
BibTex 
@InProceedings{ELX2016-047,
author={Yuri Komuro, Saeko Nagashima},
title={Problems with the Description of Words Relating to Gender and Sexuality in English-Japanese Learner’sDictionaries},
pages={436-443},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 17th EURALEX International Congress},
year={2016},
month={sep},
date={6-10},
address={Tbilisi, Georgia},
editor={Tinatin Margalitadze, George Meladze},
publisher={Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi University Press},
isbn={978-9941-13-542-2},
}
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