Epi.6-Note: Watashi - A Japanese First-Person Pronoun

With Episode 6, Yuka makes her appearance, and the core cast of Two in the Abandoned House is now complete.

In Japanese, Yuka’s first-person pronoun is Aashi. For the other characters: Sayuri uses Atashi, while Shinobu and Misaki both use Watashi. The difference is that Shinobu writes it in hiragana, and Misaki in kanji.

As you can see, Japanese has many first-person pronouns, and the impression changes depending on the written form.

Since I write in Japanese first and then translate, I often lined up only the dialogue, thinking, “From the subject and the sentence ending, readers will know who is speaking.”
However, once translated into English, it becomes almost impossible to tell, so I have recently been more careful about this.

It is true that there are many first-person pronouns in Japanese, but the ones actually used in modern times are rather limited.
Except for very young boys, using Watashi will usually suffice. In formal situations, most people will use Watashi.

By the way, for young boys, Boku is the general choice.

When translating Two in the Abandoned House into English, I decided to keep honorifics such as -san and -chan, because omitting them would have disrupted the intended effect.

In addition, I also debated what to do about the first-person pronouns.
Specifically, I considered whether to replace “I” with Watashi or other first-person pronouns, which would result in sentences like “Watashi is.”
This would be highly unnatural English, and since Shinobu and Misaki would end up sharing the same pronoun anyway, I decided it had no real meaning and chose not to do it.

Let me explain a little about the characters’ first-person pronouns.

The Watashi used by Misaki and Shinobu is the same, differing only in whether it is written in hiragana or kanji.
It is often used by reserved characters or those who behave properly, but if given to a deranged character, it creates a striking contrast.

Sayuri uses Atashi, which is a slight variation of Watashi.
Because the pronunciation is close, I think it can be understood without much difficulty.
While it can be used by reserved characters, it is more commonly used by somewhat lively ones.

Yuka’s Aashi is an even further variation, and quite unusual.
It is used only by a subset of young girls who are trend-conscious and often labeled as “Gals.”
This “Gal” has a different nuance from the English word; here it refers to the Japanese subculture sense of Gyaru.

In the story, Yuka is set to be twenty years old, which makes her a little old for this pronoun.
In my personal view, hardly anyone continues to use it regularly after graduating from high school.
And no one can say for sure whether this word will even remain in use in the future.

Now, let’s consider the opposite case.
When an English-language work is translated into Japanese, the original of course always uses “I.”
When rendered into Japanese, the translator must choose a first-person pronoun. Usually something safe is selected, but even then, debates can arise among fans.

A well-known example is Harry Potter, where discussion arose over whether Ron should use Boku or Ore.
For reference, Boku is often used by more modest characters, while Ore is used by stronger, more assertive ones.

As you can see, in Japanese the choice of first-person pronoun can easily change the impression a character gives.
When reading Japanese, I hope you will also pay attention to this freedom and playfulness of pronouns and enjoy it as part of the experience.