Our guide to using gender-neutral language

In this guide, you’ll find:

• An introduction to gender-neutral language
• Examining and understanding bias
• Working with gender-neutral language in your translation
• Spanish examples (note these are useful for Portuguese, too)
• French examples
• German examples
• Additional reading

An introduction to gender-neutral language

When using gender-neutral language, we’re aiming to promote a more inclusive and less biased world. As we know, words carry weight and shape our reality. They have a great impact on how individuals place themselves or others in specific contexts. They change our attitudes and perceptions. This is why, when referring to people, whether we’re talking about pronouns, job titles, groups of people, or abstract concepts such as “humankind”, we should be mindful of which words we choose to use so that we are not deepening already existing biases. By using gender-neutral language, you’re actively avoiding discriminatory word choices.

Please keep in mind that: 

• This article is a general guideline for more inclusive language that should be used whenever inclusivity is part of the client’s instructions. If the client doesn’t require it, you should only use the standard language guidelines.
• Whenever clients’ instructions contain their own gender-neutral language guidelines, please always use the ones from the instructions.

Examining and understanding bias

Gender biases are so deeply entrenched in everyday language, that if you are not determined to hone in on them, you might even miss them. Luckily, language is not immutable. And since the Internet and social media have come into play, the change is faster than ever. We discover, interpret, and are able to see how other people see specific terms. This is why every one of us should be mindful of what habits are inclined to perpetuate. The same goes for Machine Translation and Computed Assisted Translation tools. They’ve been fed by oftentimes biased data and are prone to replicate them. For them to change their tendency towards a more inclusive language, it’s up to you to provide them with a new, more inclusive language.

There are many ways in which you can use gender-neutral language, but when working in translation you should be particularly aware of the following biases and the ways in which you can work around them:

• MT biases

CAT tools and MTs sometimes work on biased data, therefore they are prone to reproduce it. There might be cases where, because a profession is widely associated with a particular gender, you’ll find the gender translated incorrectly, even if the name mentioned suggests otherwise. For example, even though the source text includes something similar to: “I know Anna, she is a great doctor.”, in the target text you might see translated: “I know Anna, he is a great doctor.” 

• Professions

Many professions are still seen as men's professions, so much so that they still have the word ‘men’ embedded. For example, you can replace “businessman” with “businessperson”; “chairman” with “chairperson” or “chair”;  “policeman” with “police officer”;  “stewardess” with “flight attendant” and so on. It’s recommended that you use the latter, even if you are referring to men, as in this way, you are training the CAT tool to stop projecting title stereotypes. I know it may be hard at first, and some titles may even sound unnatural, but every habit feels a bit strange at first. In the European Gender Neutral Guide mentioned above, you can find an appendix with recommended names of professions.

• Pronouns

Even if a name has been previously mentioned, you can’t assume that person's gender. This is why instead of using she or he, it’s preferred to use they, and instead of possessive “her” or “his”, try to use “their”. The United Nations also provides some examples of how you can deal with similar situations.

• Be mindful when dealing with abstract nouns that embed the word “man”

Of course, some of them will not have equivalents. But when you're tempted to use words like “mankind”, try to replace them with “humankind”.

Working with gender-neutral language in your translation

Below, we’ve provided examples for Spanish, French, and German, which are some of the languages that provide challenges with gender-neutral language. But if you’re working with a different language, you may be wondering what it is you should be aiming for as a general principle.

Gender-neutral language isn’t something that has been around forever, so to many people it can seem jarring. Part of your remit as a translator is always to make the target text sound as natural as possible, and this should be what you’re trying to achieve whilst also meeting the customer’s wishes for gender-neutral language. If you’re trying to decide between two options, consider this: if you were to line up a hundred native speakers of your language and show them each of the options and ask whether they see anything jarring or unnatural in the text, which option do you think they’d be least likely to notice? That’s probably the example you should choose, and the guiding principle we’ve used when compiling the guidance below.

Examples of use in Spanish, French, and German

SPANISH

Please note that although the examples below are given in Spanish, the same rules would also apply to Portuguese here.

If the client's instructions request a more inclusive/gender-neutral language, you can always try to rearrange the text in order to avoid gender altogether, as long as the meaning of the translation remains the same.

However, if that is not possible, you can use more inclusive options like the following:

Remember, whichever option you may find appropriate, you must make sure you are consistent throughout the entire translation.

Broadly speaking, unless there is a specific customer preference detailed in the client instructions, as long as you use the same one throughout the task or review, this will be considered correct at evaluation as long as it is used correctly.

You must, however, stick to official forms. As a general rule, this would be something you’d expect to see in a reliable source, like a broadsheet newspaper. It would not, for example, ever be appropriate to use amigx in place of amigo/amiga as this is not widely accepted.

Remember too, that:

• You can also hide gender visible if it's not needed:

•  You can use adjectives that don't have the gender marked

Let’s look at two examples for translating "youth unemployment"

FRENCH

French provides plenty of inclusive options. 

One very simple way to use an epicene word - one that does not have any gender. Examples of epicene words or mots épicènes include adulte, élève or géographe. If there’s a way to use one of these examples, that’s often the simplest and most natural way to find a translation. If this isn’t possible, then try rearranging the sentence and see if you can avoid having to go for more unnatural solutions.

If this isn’t possible, there are four main ways you could express gender neutrality in French nouns, as shown below. You might have a preferred one, and if so as long as you're consistent, you can stick to that. You can see them below:

Remember that the goal is to make the text seem as natural as possible.

GERMAN

German translation is often about translating one source word and having what feels like an infinite number of options to choose from, and unfortunately, gender neutrality fits this rule.

As with French and Spanish above, you should always look to see if you can rearrange the sentence to avoid expressing gender.

For example, when mentioning someone’s job title, you can use a more inclusive title by using suffixes such as “-kraft”, “-hilfe”, “-ung”, “-leute”. 

Examples:

• [Vorname, Nachname], Mitglied der Auswahlkommission, trat nach der Sitzung vor die Presse.
• Personen, die sich beworben haben, erhalten umgehend eine Bestätigung.
• Die Seminarleitung führt eine Redeliste.
• In diesen Feldern gibt es eine Fülle an qualifizierten Fachleuten.
• Für die Promotion brauchen Sie zunächst eine geeignete Betreuung.
• Informationen erhalten Sie bei der Leitung des Dual Career Service.

However, as with other languages, it’s quite often unavoidable that you will have to use some kind of form to differentiate. The Duden gives a comprehensive list of rules which are a good starting point, though rather complex. You can read this page here.

In summary, our position is that unless you are working in legal translation, translation of official documents, or there is a particular requirement from the customer, you may use one of the following forms provided you are consistent throughout the task.

• Lehrer und Lehrerinnen ✝
• Lehrer/Lehrerinnen ✝
• Lehrer/-innen ✝
• Lehrer(innen)
• Lehrer*innen
• LehrerInnen
• Lehrer_innen
• Lehrer:innen
• Lehrer/innen

Options market with an ✝ are considered by the Duden to be more official. They also note that the use of those with brackets is declining in use due to the inference that the feminine form is less important, and that the form with an asterisk is being used ever more frequently. 

Ultimately, though, for the purposes of working on Unbabel texts, all of the above will be accepted as long as they are used consistently throughout the task and not in contravention of the client’s instructions.

Note that there are grammatical rules to be considered, for example, names where a vowel change is required should not use abbreviations in their gender-neutral forms. Here, you should use common sense and refer to the Duden page above if in doubt.

❌Arzt:in

✅Arzt/Ärztin

Further tips can be found here.

Additional reading

And finally, if you want to learn more about how to use gender-neutral language, I recommend you read The international guide to gender-inclusive writing, which is part of The Gender-Inclusive Language Project. You can also find a comprehensive guideline video available in 12 languages.

Further information: https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/gender-inclusive-language/