“I don’t recall saying I was a boy”: Translational Norms since 1995 as Seen in Takeuchi Naoko’s Sailor Moon

In 1995, Lawrence Venuti argued that domestication was the translational norm in the English-speaking world. Since then, the pollical stronghold of English has only strengthened. This paper aims to describe how these norms have shifted along with this increasing globalization through a comparative and causal approach. Particularly, it focuses on the influence of the English-speaking audience on media exported from the Sinosphere. While this paper primarily focuses on Japanese to English translations, the growing trend away from domestication is not limited to this exchange. It then concludes by discussing potential futures of translational norms.

Dmitri Schmidt

Dmitri is a triple major in Anthropology, Classical Humanities, and German Studies from southern Illinois. After they graduate, they plan on teaching English in Germany through their Fulbright award. Outside of their studies, Dmitri can often be found at SLUMA, the JARC, or one of the other local museums.

Dmitri would like to thank their faculty sponsor Dr. Mary Vermilion for their support of this project.