On 2026-02-17 22:37, Ludovic Courtès wrote:
Egun on,
Gabon :)
What you describe was discussed at the time on this very list; this is
the choice that the original translator made, and I’m not quite a fan of
it, but that’s where we are.
Very poor if you ask me. But the reason is coming next.
If somebody were to take over translation work in Castillan (which would
be nice!), I think the “e” suffixes, which I gather are getting some
traction in Iberia these days (?), would work fine (that is, “les
usuaries”, etc.).
That can also be confusing for people that are not in the Iberian
peninsula, or don't share our context. They are *most* of the spanish
speakers so my Iberian bias is dangerous here, and I try to be aware of
that.
Otherwise, there’s always the option, as in French, of using alternate
phrases like “las personas que hacen X …” instead of “las usuarias”,
things like that.
That's the option I would've used (I even wrote a book in that style).
It is inclusive, non-binary, understandable (for anyone, regardless of
their bias), etc. I would have even pushed for this option a few hours ago.
The RAE link in my previous message includes a very interesting example
everybody can think about. Something similar to this:
"El primer hijo de María es una niña"
This made me think. This is valid spanish, understandable by anyone and
widely used. It is a very simple sentence.
"Maria's first son is a girl" (the "literal" translation of the sentence
above) doesn't make any sense for an english speaker. Their solutions
don't work on our problems. These problems we may not have, even though
some people are very interested on making us believe we do.
Just because a word is written like another, it doesn't mean they mean
the same: "hijo" vs "hijo".
I wouldn't like to do the same and impose my problems on those that
don't have them. I'm just part of a very small group of the immensity of
people that speak Spanish as a mother tongue.
My 2¢. :-)
Ludo’.
Thinking about it trying to put my bias away, I'd say most of the
spanish speaking world is ok with using the inclusive form that looks
like the masculine and don't see any issue with it. It is inclusive!
But I'm ok with the "las personas que" or "quienes" or that kind of
structures as you suggested.
Maybe we should go for that. At least only to remove that inaccurate
explanation on how Spanish language works that is completely biased and
politically charged.
Best,
Ekaitz
