Let’s talk genders in German

Dear Readers (or, as they say in German, Liebe Leser, or Leserinnen und Leser, or Leser*innen, or Leser:innen),

Let’s talk genders in German. Does the very thought of the variations listed above make you want to run away, stick your head in the sand and play dead in case you end up making a mistake?
My take on this topic at the moment: try not to pander to everyone (it won’t work!). Instead, try to step on as few toes as you can. Sounds impossible? It’s not, I promise.

The problem – and opportunity – is that we are operating in a rule-free space across the gender spectrum. The Duden, the definitive German-language dictionary, for once doesn’t tell us what to do! I know. This reality has caused veritable panic among the proofreading guilds. So how’s the end customer supposed to feel?

First, let’s get our facts straight: the Duden isn’t to blame here. Some of you might be unaware, but the Duden doesn’t actually make the rules. It’s the Rat für deutsche Rechtschreibung, the Council for German Orthography, that does. They observe the German language and develop it, clarifying any issues that come up, with the overarching goal of ensuring the standardisation of German spelling. Okay, if they are the ones in charge, why aren’t they doing their job and establishing a reliable set of rules?

Steady on! They are in fact doing their job. They’re observing. It’s important not to rush things when it comes to language. This doesn’t mean that the council doesn’t want to tackle the topic of gender; au contraire, there is a plethora of questions to be considered. Which form applies to whom? What are the target groups saying? How does the gender spectrum impact the flow of text? Which of the new symbols – asterisk, hyphen, colon, interpunct – are incidentally discriminatory towards other target groups, such as the blind or visually impaired, for example? And now, all proofreaders in unison: WHAT’S WITH THE GRAMMATICAL ENDINGS?

As you can see, gender is its own beast. There are innumerable aspects to consider, and we certainly don’t want answers that are half-baked or inexact. So let’s give the Rat für deutsche Rechtschreibung time to do their job.

And what should you do in the meantime? It’s not like we can put this topic on the back burner for the next two years and sit around twiddling our thumbs. It’s a hot topic and we need to address it.

Well, you should do what you’d normally do – give it your best shot and seek advice when you find yourself in a quandary. Who is your target group? What possibilities do current spelling rules offer? How can you use the new symbols in the interim without ignoring the rules of grammar?

I know. It’s a lot to digest. If you would like to better understand this topic, I’d be happy to talk to you about it or take a look at your current in-house guidelines. Don’t panic, there are solutions for every target group. And what’s more, they are also grammatically correct. So stay curious and stay tuned!