The ATA Chronicle - January/February 2022 - 16

gender bias reveals itself in
a source text, what's a woke2
translator to do?
The subtle sexism we
usually encounter in our work
isn't mean-spirited, it's lazy.
But just because your client
didn't bother to think outside
the gender box doesn't mean
you should follow suit. This
is actually an area where
translators can add great
value. The line between lazy
and offensive is very thin, and
your nuanced understanding
of the source and target
languages might just save
your client-from themselves.
" Fortunately, " subtle
sexism follows certain
patterns, and once you see
them you can't unsee them
(sorry, not sorry!). Here
I break down the 10 most
common ones you're likely
to run across in your work,
color-coded by severity to
help you decide what, if
anything, to tell your client.
Green Light:
F
Subtly Sexist
Sources:
What's a Woke
Translator to Do?
10 Practical Pointers
for into-English Translators
By Rachel Pierce
16 The ATA Chronicle | January/February 2022
irst things first: everyone
is sexist. According to
a 2020 gender study
by the United Nations
Development Programme,
" close to 90% of men and
women hold some sort of bias
against women. " 1
Sticking
people into neat categories is
a subconscious strategy that
served our ancient ancestors
in the survival-of-the-fittest
scenarios they faced. But the
world is evolving, and we
should be too.
Societal expectations
around gender are codified
in different languages in
barely perceptible ways. And
the documents we translate
were written by people,
with all their flaws and
preconceived ideas. So, when
The Coast Is Clear
The first four examples
aren't sexism per se-they're
linguistic pain points in the
source language, usually
because of gender markers
for which English has easy
workarounds. There's no
need to draw your client's
attention to these issues.
1. Embrace the singular
" they. " " There's a new
CEO. I heard they start
Monday. " Grammar
sticklers may balk, but
the fact is there's no
longer a need for he or
she or, worse still, s/he,
when a person's gender
is unknown or irrelevant.
The singular they is a
deft solution long used in
everyday speech. With the
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