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Subject:The Gender Issue (PC) From:Carole Bell <carolebell -at- COMPUSERVE -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 18 Jan 1999 15:38:55 -0500
David,
>>do you French, German, Italian (et cetera) writers live
with the genders as part of your language? Or do you also have a similar
challenge to be politically correct and avoid trying to fight it? Do you
resort
to other tricks (such as always writing in plural) to comply with the
issue?
"Politically correct " is, I believe, an American notion. When the
concepts
of a society are built into their language, as is so with the languages you
mention,
I believe speakers might not comprehend -- and might perhaps laugh -- at
the suggestion.
I've personally found that in some countries with these languages, women
are
respected in professional ways not found in the U.S. Perhaps it's not
necessary
to be vigilant with what language might imply in these cases.
BTW, Japanese native speakers have a great deal of difficulty with the
concepts
of "a" and "the," which come so clearly distinguished to a native speaker
of English.
