国内新闻翻译

“MeToo” focuses on German “sexism” and French is also a bit nervous.


[compiler / observer]

The Yin and Yang of German makes many foreigners headache, but the feminist movement “Me Too” will bring new challenges to German learners.

Recently, the “Me Too” campaign launched by the United States was “German”, accusing the language of “sexism”, and even the national anthem was paying tribute to the “father of the motherland”. However, there is more than German in the case of “sex discrimination”.

In July 9th, the American English media, the American English media without Yin and Yang, reported that most Germans thought they were the vanguard of the Gender Equality Movement. For instance:

From 2005 to now, Merkel, the German Iron Lady, has been in power for 13 years.

But what is the truth? It is reported that in Germany, women still lag behind men in real workplace. Female rights advocates believe that one of the biggest obstacles to the promotion of workplace women is the existence of sexism in the German language itself.

The article says that in English, male doctors and female doctors are called doctors (Doctor), and male lawyers and female lawyers are also called lawyers (lawyer).

But in German, professional titles and nouns can directly reflect a person’s gender. For example, a male doctor is called “Arzt” and a female doctor is called “rztin”.

Most of the German recruitment announcements were written only for the name of the male staff, and the national anthem was also a tribute to “Fatherland” (“the motherland”, “Vaterland”), and one of “Vater”, “father”).

With the rise of the “Me Too” campaign in Germany, the German language has entered the discussion center on gender equality in China.

“Me Too” campaign accused German sex discrimination report screenshots

Louise Ps (Luise Pusch), a German linguist who specializes in feminist remarks, believes that gender bias has penetrated into “every corner and gap of society”.

“Girls are often unaware that they are in the scope of recruitment, not only in grammar, but also the impression that they are imprinted on the job,” says PU.

Senta Goertler, an associate professor of German language at the Michigan State University, said, “when it comes to maternity leave, most German people think it is very advanced. But from the data of language and equal opportunities for men and women, the Germans are not really progressive.

The report quoted government statistics as saying that German women’s wages were 21% lower than that of men, slightly larger than that of men and women in the United States. In addition, many Germans are against the practice of working mothers.

A 2017 study by the organization for economic cooperation and development showed that the average pension for women in Germany was only half of that of men and the biggest difference among the more than 30 countries.

The article argues that up to now, most of the struggle for German neutralization has failed. Recently, the German orthographic committee responsible for formulating German spelling and grammar rules shelved a discussion on the subject. In March this year, a woman was defeated in a lawsuit against a German bank. Her demand was to get the right to be called by a female term.

It was reported that Merkel had not been able to help the movement, but also rejected the suggestion that the “Vaterland” in the national anthem was changed to “Heimatland”. But in 2012, another German speaking country, Austria, had revised the National Anthem of the controversial national anthem in the light of equality between men and women.

German National Anthem Lyrics from German media

According to the observer network previously reported, some German media also attacked the woman who put forward this idea, calling it “nothing to look for.”

Sena said that this kind of disorder is not surprising in Germany. “The Germans do not seem to be very conscious of the link between language and gender discrimination.

In this regard, the Germans have different views. A 33 year old Berlin entrepreneur believes that the gender balance in German is perfectly fine. Everyone should take part in some discussion and dialogue on equality, but we need to ensure that we are not lost. “

Another 40 year old university researcher and maternity leave expert said that language changes would greatly increase female employment opportunities.

She said, “these negative nouns have not been used for many years, and we never equate them with positive nouns. It is very meaningful for students to learn that nouns have two forms when they are young.

Pu Shi was pleased with the increase in the discussion of the German neutralization issues. “They used to say we were crazy,” the latter began to change German since decades ago. “But now, this topic has caused discussion in the mainstream society.”

In fact, it is not only a German language that is accused of sex discrimination, but French is no exception. French has the same Yin and Yang character as German. A Swiss also invented “no sex discrimination in French”.

A Swiss made a screenshot of a “sexist French” report.

What is more interesting is that English has not escaped the sexist accusation. With the example of “lawyer” and “doctor” in America today, the article points out that in real life, the scenes of the female lawyer (female lawyer) and the female doctor (female doctor) are also very common, not to mention a female proverb.

This article is an exclusive manuscript of observer network. It can not be reproduced without authorization.