A Gender-based Analysis of the Choice of Translation Strategies Based on Flotow (2011): The Case

of Mrs. Dalloway

Abstract
The act of translation destroys language walls, cultivates associative thinking and illuminates the assertions, gestures
and utterances of other nations. In recent years, a considerable amount of academic literature has focused on the
concept of gender in translation (e.g. Von Flotow 2011, Simon 1996, and Chamberlain 1988). The present study
concentrated on the role of translator’s gender in the translation and tried to investigate whether there was any
difference in the translations done by the male and female translators or not. Regarding the issue, words, phrases and
sentences which represented feminist ideology were identified in the original novel “Mrs. Dalloway” and two
different translations, and then Flotow’s (2011) model of feminist translation strategies was applied on Persian
translations. The findings of this study show that in 19 cases female translators and in 15 cases male translators
don’t use feminist translation strategies. Moreover, as shown in tables, there isn’t any significant difference with
regard the choice of feminist strategies. Finally, in response to third and fourth questions, hijacking is a strategy that
would be used the most by females; the most frequent strategy by male was the use of supplementing.
Prefacing/Footnoting was the least strategy used by both male and female translators.
Keywords: feminism, Flotow’s model of feminist translation, gender
1. Introduction

Feminism is not an unfamiliar term, and many researches are worked on this issue however, our
main focus is on gender issues in feminist translation and how males and females use different
strategies to render the feminist tone of the texts. In spite of many researches in the field of
feminist translation, there are still many questions, which are unanswered. The history of
feminism and gender differences and attempts for abandoning discrimination between men and
women in all aspects goes back to long time ago, but in 1900s, protests against inequality
progressed.
Von Flotow (1997) believes that “in the mid to late 1960s, as post-war feminism began to
develop a certain momentum along with many of the other protest movements of the time in
western Europe and North America, the notion of gender evolved to complement and extend that
of biological sexual difference” (p.5).
According to Bressler (2007), in the 1970s male authors preferred men as their readers.
Simultaneously, many works were published emphasizing on the role of women and considering
them superior to men. Through 1970s and the following decades, Showalter (1985) opened up
new theories about feminism, she propounded the gynocriticism in which she believed that
critics should have female framework for discussing female literature and be free from male-
dominated canon. Gynocriticism suggested four models for critics, which are; 1) Biological
(refers to the female body), 2) Linguistic (refers to the female discourse), 3) psychoanalytic
(refers to the female psyche), 4) Cultural (refers to society’s effect on forming women’s goals
and attitude) (pp. 174-176).
Bressler (2007) also adds that the main purpose of feminist critics and theorists is to
equalize men and women in all aspects, for instance human rights, social status and literature. He
(2007) believes that feminist criticism gathers all people from different fields such as, writers,
philosophers, theorists and critics.
Feminist criticism uncovered female sense of old works and believe that men and women
are equal in all aspects of society. It views all texts from women’s point of view and provides
discussion about women’s rights and gender difference (pp. 182,185-186). So, women
participate in all aspects of society which appear in literature and translation. Actually translation
was a refuge for women to release and express their feelings and experiences in womanish vs.
feminist language.
Flotow (1997) argues that translation has long served as a trope to describe what women
do when they enter the public sphere: they translate their private language, their specifically
female forms of discourse, developed as a result of gendered exclusion, into some form of the
dominant patriarchal code (p. 12).
Translation and gender have many things in common, according to Baker (2001), the tag
“Les belles infidels” which was coined by Gilles Menage around 1954, starts gendering
translation. This tag shows that translation resembles women in beauty and fidelity; that is
translation must be either faithful or beautiful (p. 94).
The feminist translator, affirming her critical difference, her delight in interminable
rereading and rewriting, flaunts the signs of her manipulation of the text. Woman handling the
text in translation would involve the replacement of the modest, self-effacing translator. Taking
her place would be an active participant in the creation of meaning who advances a conditional
analysis. Hers is a continuing provisionally, aware of process, giving self-reflexive attention to
practices. The feminist translator immodestly flaunts her signature in italics, in footnotes – even
in a preface (1990, p. 94).
So in a monitored and cultural restricted condition, transferring the feminist tone of the text
and ideas behind the feminist works is a hard task. Therefore, this study made an attempt to
examine male’s and female’s choice of feminist translation strategies in Virginia Woolf’s work
who is a modern feminist. Thus, this quantitative study seeks to answer the following research
question:
Is there any significant difference between male’s and female’s translators’ choice of
feminist translation strategies?
1.1 The Framework of the Study

Flotow (2011) strategies for translation was applied to fulfill the objectives of this study which
are as follows:
Supplementing
Supplementing is a voluntary shift in order to create the feminist experimental effect. As von
Flotow (1991, p. 75) states “even if [a language] doesn't have exactly the same problems of
gender or etymology, there are other places in the text where a similar displacement of language
can be carried out”. Compensating for the differences between languages, supplementing is a call
for interventionist moves by the translator, thus it has a political facet
Prefacing/Footnoting
Prefaces and footnotes, constituting an important part of Para-texts, they are used in many
different translations for many different purposes. Most of the time, these are not gender-
conscious notes, or they do not underline a certain ideology. However, in feminist translation,
prefaces and footnotes remind the reader that this is a feminist political activity. They function to
make the translator visible, and give the robbed status back to the translator, emphasizing that
this is a writing project, challenging patriarchy, and that it is a co-work. As von Flotow (1991, p.
76) explains “it is becoming almost routine for feminist translators to reflect on their work in a
preface, and to stress their active presence in the text in footnotes.”
Hijacking
Another feminist translation strategy, suggested by von Flotow, is known as hijacking. Von
Flotow uses the term in order to indicate the interventionist role taken by the translator. Contrary
to supplementing, the source text is not necessarily a feminist one. A neutral even a sexist text
can be hijacked in order to feminize it. Briefly, it means appropriating a text whose intentions are
not necessarily feminist by a feminist translator for the purpose of creating awareness and
making the woman/translator visible.
2.Review of the Related Literature
3.Method
3.1Corpus
The corpus of the study was one of the works by Virginia Woolf’s novel namely “Mrs.
Dalloway” published on 1925. Also two translations of the novel were chosen, one of which was
by a male translator and the other translation by a female translator as follows:
1. ‫ نشر رواق‬،1362 ‫ سال‬،‫ ترجمه پرویز داریوش‬،‫ خانم دالووی‬،‫ ویرجینیا‬،‫وولف‬
2. ‫ نشر نیلوفر‬،1387 ‫ سال‬،‫ ترجمه فرزانه طاهری‬،‫ خانم َد ُلِو ی‬،‫ ویرجینیا‬،‫وولف‬
3.2Data Collection Procedure
In order to collect data, representations of feminist ideology were identified in the original novel
“Mrs. Dalloway” and two different translations were extracted, and then Flotow’s model was
applied on Persian translations. Next, the frequency of feminist items and use of strategies were
tabulated using descriptive statistics.
3.3Data Analysis
In order to answer the research questions, the strategies stated in Flotow (2011) were extracted
from translations by male and female translators and each gender’s strategies were tabulated.
Then results of male and female translator’s choice of strategies were compared using frequency.
4.Results
In tables listed below samples from ST is compared with that of TT by male and female
translators. The order of translations below is as follows: Farzaneh Taheri and Parviz Daryush.
Sample 1

ST TT(s) Analysis

A charming woman, Scrope Purvis thought her
(knowing her as one does know people who live next
door to one in West-minster); a touch of the bird about
her, of the jay, blue-green, light, vivacious, though she
was over fifty, and grown very white since her illness.
‫ه او را می‬nnnn‫روییس ک‬nnnn‫کروپ پ‬nnnn‫اس‬ Supplementing
‫ایه‬nn‫رکس همس‬nn‫ه ه‬nn‫شناخت همانقدر ک‬
)‫د‬nn‫تر می شناس‬nn‫اش را در وست مینس‬
‫ کمی‬. ‫ت‬nn‫ذابی اس‬nn‫ود گفت زن ج‬nn‫با خ‬
،‫ق‬nn‫ جی ج‬،‫ت‬nn‫ده هاس‬nn‫ه پرن‬nn‫بیه ب‬nn‫ش‬
‫ه‬nn‫ گرچ‬،‫رزنده‬nn‫ س‬،‫بک‬nn‫ س‬،‫بزکبود‬nn‫س‬
‫ از‬.‫ت‬nn‫ته اس‬nn‫اه گذش‬nn‫رش از پنج‬nn‫عم‬
‫فید‬nn‫ایش خیلی س‬nn‫اری موه‬nn‫ان بیم‬nn‫زم‬
.‫شده است‬
Scrope Purvis ‫اسکروپ پروییس‬ Footnote
‫ت (و او‬nn‫او را زن دلربایی می انگاش‬
‫ه در‬nnnnn‫ناخت ک‬nnnnn‫ان می ش‬nnnnn‫را آنچن‬
،‫د‬nnnnn‫ایه هم بودن‬nnnnn‫تر همس‬nnnnn‫وستمینس‬
‫یزی‬nn‫ند) در او چ‬nn‫دیگر را میشناس‬nn‫یک‬
 ‫به گون‪nn‬ه پرن‪nn‬دگان ب‪nn‬ود‪ ،‬چ‪nn‬یزی مانن‪nn‬د‬
‫زاغچ‪nnnn‬ه‪ ،‬س‪nnnn‬بزکبود‪،‬س‪nnnn‬بک ب‪nnnn‬ال‪،‬‬
‫برآش‪nn‬وب‪ ،‬آن هم ب‪nn‬ا ان ک‪nn‬ه س‪nn‬الش از‬
‫پنج‪nn‬اه اف‪nn‬زون ب‪nn‬ود و از هنگ‪nn‬امی ک‪nn‬ه‬
‫بیمار شده بود بسیار سفید شده بود‪.‬‬

‫‪Sample 2‬‬
‫‪ST‬‬ ‫)‪TT(s‬‬ ‫‪Analysis‬‬
‫‪And her old Uncle William used to say a lady is known‬‬ ‫و عمو ویلیام پیرش می گفت که ی‪nn‬ک‬ ‫‪Hijacking‬‬
‫‪by her shoes and her gloves‬‬ ‫خ‪nnnnnnnn‬انم را از روی کفش ه‪nnnnnnnn‬ا و‬
‫دستکشهایش می شود شناخت‬

‫و عمو ویلیامی ‪William‬داشت‬ ‫‪Supplementing‬‬

‫میگفت یک خانم را از روی کفش ها‬
‫و دستکشهایش می شود شناخت‬

‫‪Sample 3‬‬
‫‪ST‬‬ ‫)‪TT(s‬‬ ‫‪Analysis‬‬
‫‪The War was over, except for someone like Mrs.‬‬ ‫جنگ به پایان رسیده بود‪ .‬ج‪nn‬ز ب‪nn‬رای‬ ‫‪Supplementing‬‬
‫‪Foxcroft at the Embassy last night eating her heart‬‬ ‫کس‪nn‬ی چ‪nn‬ون خ‪nn‬انم فاکس‪nn‬کرافت ک‪nn‬ه‬
‫‪out because that nice boy was killed and now the‬‬ ‫دیشب در سفارتخانه داش‪n‬ت خ‪n‬ون دل‬
‫‪old Manor House must go to a cousin; or Lady‬‬ ‫می خ‪nnn‬ورد‪ ،‬چ‪nnn‬ون آن پس‪nnn‬ر ن‪nnn‬ازنین‬
‫‪Boxborough who opened a bazaar, they said, with‬‬ ‫کش‪nn‬ته ش‪nn‬ده ب‪nn‬ود ح‪nn‬ال ع‪nn‬ارت ارب‪nn‬ابی‬
‫‪the telegram in her hand, John, her favorite, killed‬‬ ‫ق‪nn‬دیمی بایس‪nn‬ت ب‪nn‬ه عم‪nn‬وزاده ای می‬
‫رسید‪ ،‬یا لیدی بکسبورو که می گفتند‬
‫تلگ‪nn‬رامی در دس‪nn‬ت‪ ،‬ک‪nn‬ه ج‪nn‬ان عزی‪nn‬ز‬
‫دردان‪nn‬ه اش‪ ،‬کش‪nn‬ته ش‪nn‬ده اس‪nn‬ت‪ ،‬ب‪nn‬از‬
‫خیریه را افتتاح کرده بود‪.‬‬
‫جنگ به پایان رسیده بود مگر ب‪nn‬رای‬ ‫‪Supplementing/footnote‬‬
‫کس‪nnn‬ی چ‪nnn‬ون خ‪nnn‬انم ف‪nnn‬اکس ک‪nnn‬رافت‬
‫‪ Foxcroft‬که دیش‪nn‬ب در س‪nn‬فارتخانه‬
‫خ‪nn‬ون خ‪nn‬ودش را میخ‪nn‬ورد چ‪nn‬ون آن‬
‫پسر خوب کشته شده بود و حاال خانه‬
‫اربابی نصیب پس‪nn‬رعموها می ش‪nn‬د ی‪nn‬ا‬
‫لی‪nn‬دی بکس ب‪nn‬ارو ک‪nn‬ه می گفتن‪nn‬د در‬
‫حالیکه تلگ‪nn‬رامی دردس‪nn‬ت داش‪nn‬ته ک‪nn‬ه‬
‫خبر کشته ش‪nn‬دن پس‪nn‬ر محب‪nn‬وبش ج‪nn‬ان‬
‫‪ John‬در آن ب‪nn‬وده‪ ،‬مراس‪nn‬م گش‪nn‬ایش‬
‫بازار خیریه را برگزار کرده است‪.‬‬

‫‪Sample 4‬‬
‫‪ST‬‬ ‫)‪TT(s‬‬ ‫‪Analysis‬‬
‫‪laughing girls in their transparent muslins‬‬ ‫دختران خندان‬ ‫‪Hijacking‬‬
‫دختران جوان خندان‬ ‫…‬

‫‪Sample 5‬‬

‫‪ST‬‬ ‫)‪TT(s‬‬ ‫‪Analysis‬‬

‫‪discreet old dowagers‬‬ ‫بانوان سالخورده‬ ‫‪Hijacking‬‬

 ‫بیوه زنان وظیفه گیر‬ …

Discussion
Gender actually has played the role in translation studies. The differences between male and
female language, varieties language influence the way of both male and female. But it is not
dominantly or significantly occurred. By knowing that “genderlect” points to the various
grammatical and vocabulary choices related to males and females, this study aims to investigate
that they are less sure of their speeches, talk too much politely, use euphemism in their talks,
swear less and apply indirect words and speeches (Stockwell as cited in Moghaddas, 2013). A
careful scrutiny of the previous studies on the males and females’ dialogues represents
interesting perspectives about the whys and wherefores of the males and females’ language uses
and differences. However, the findings of this study indicate that there isn’t any significant
difference with regard the choice of feminist strategies.
At this data has been analyzed, there are some aspects focused in order to know the
differences between male and female translation production. First, in 19 cases female
translators and in 15 cases male translators didn’t use feminist translation strategies. Second,
hijacking (with frequency 20) is a strategy that would be used the most by females; the most
frequent strategy by male was the use of supplementing (with frequency 22).
Prefacing/Footnoting was the least strategy used by both male and female translators.

Conclusion
In the preliminary estimate, as a strategy that would be used the most by females was labelled
hijacking; the most frequent strategy by male was the use of supplementing.

References
Baker, M. (Ed.). (2001). Routledge encyclopedia of translation studies. London and New York:
Routledge.
Bressler, Ch. (2007). Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice (4th ed).
(P.174-76). New Jersey, Pearson Education.

Chamberlain, L. (1998). Gender Metaphorics in Translation. In M. backer (Ed.) Encyclopedia of

Translation Studies (pp. 93-96). London: Routledge.
Moghaddas, B. (2013). The Effect of Gender in Translation Accuracy of Iranian English
Translators. International Journal of Management and Humanity Science:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281280126. Retrieved on 01 March 2016.
Flotow, L. von (1991). Feminist translation: contexts, practices, theories. TTR (Traduction,
Terminologie, Redaction), 4(2), 69-84.
Flotow, L. von (1997). Translation and gender. Translating in the ‘Era of Feminism’. Ottawa:
St. Jerome Publishing, Manchester and University of Ottawa Press.

Flotow, L. von (Ed.). (2011). Translating women. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press.
Showalter, E. (1985). “Feminist Criticism in the Wilderness.” The New Feminist Criticism. 243-
70. Print. ed. The New Feminist Criticism: Essays on Women, Literature, and Theory. New
York: Pantheon.
Simon, S. (1996). Translation and gender. The politics of cultural transmission. London
and New York: Routledge.

1. ‫ نشر رواق‬،1362 ‫ سال‬،‫ ترجمه پرویز داریوش‬،‫ خانم دالووی‬،‫ ویرجینیا‬،‫وولف‬

2. ‫ نشر نیلوفر‬،1387 ‫ سال‬،‫ ترجمه فرزانه طاهری‬،‫ خانم َد ُلِو ی‬،‫ ویرجینیا‬،‫وولف‬