The ATA Chronicle - May/June 2022 - 13

Identity plays a particularly crucial
role today in translating texts that
deal with or include vocabulary
related to race, women's issues, or
LGBTQ+ persons.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
defines mansplaining this
way: " When a man talks
condescendingly to someone
(especially a woman) about
something he has incomplete
knowledge of, with the
mistaken assumption that he
knows more about it than the
person he's talking to does. " 7
Machoexplicación in Spanish8
,
mecsplication or pénisplication
in French9
in German10
, and Herrklären
are translation
solutions for this term that
have already been adopted,
albeit informally. Is there
a way to express this very
specific kind of sexist behavior
in your target language?
Professions: When
translating the names of
various professions, does
the target language default
to a gendered word based
on social expectations? In
gendered languages, are
doctor, lawyer, and president
assigned masculine nouns/
pronouns, while nurse,
teacher, and secretary are
assigned female nouns/
pronouns? If the source
text doesn't make gender
assumptions about these
professions, can a translation
be faithful if they're
expressed as gendered in the
target language?
Pro-life, Anti-abortion,
Pro-choice: Can the
translator find ways to
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express the different nuances
of these terms when they
appear in the source text?
When a text is dealing with
attitudes and policies on
abortion, translators need to
carefully assess the context
and the author's intent when
using words like pro-choice,
pro-life, and anti-abortion,
since the terms themselves
may be used in different
ways. For example, pro-life
is used by some only when
referring to the unborn,
while others may use it in
a broader sense to express
support for groups such as
women, children, elders,
persons with disabilities, or
inmates on death row. A good
translator will take account
of these kinds of nuances
when choosing vocabulary in
the target language.
Feminism, Feminist: Do
the most commonly used
translations for these words
suggest judgmental nuances
in the target language? In
some countries, the word
feminism has inappropriately
been likened to misandry
(i.e., hatred, dislike, or
mistrust of men). Translators
should be careful to make
sure that nuances that aren't
present in the vocabulary
of the source text aren't
inadvertently transferred
into the target.
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The ATA Chronicle - May/June 2022

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