Gendered Language in Translation: Strategies, Patterns and Cultural Implications in English, Hindi and Nepali

Gender plays a crucial role in shaping language use and its interpretation across cultures. This study examines the strategic negotiation and ideological implications of gendered language in translations among English, Hindi and Nepali. Grounded in Feminist Translation Studies (FTS) and sociolinguistic analysis of grammatical gender and honorifics, it analyzes a trilingual corpus of literary and journalistic texts. The core challenge arises from typological asymmetry: English features natural (lexical) gender, whereas Hindi and Nepali employ compulsory grammatical gender and socially determined honorifics. A mixed-methods approach identifies four primary translation strategies: Neutralization, Amplification, Compensation and Ideological Default. Quantitative findings reveal a prevalent masculine default (GMD) in Hindi and Nepali target texts when translating gender-ambiguous English sources, especially in non-literary domains, reflecting patriarchal cultural norms. Conversely, gender compensation (GFC) occurs most frequently in official documents, signaling a gender-aware shift. Qualitative analysis shows that translators act as critical cultural mediators, whose choices shape the visibility and representation of women in the target culture. This study contributes to comparative sociolinguistics and translation pedagogy by providing an empirical model for understanding the interplay between linguistic structure, translation ethics and gender ideology in the South Asian context.