Illness and disability
Some people object to phrases like Aids sufferer, mental patients, or the handicapped because they seem to emphasize the illness or disability, rather than the person. When referring to people who are ill or disabled, try to use the expressions that emphasize the person:
A person living with Aids;
A hospital for people who are mentally ill.
Flats for people who are disabled or people with disabilities.
SEXUAL PREFERENCE
Avoid old-fashioned and insulting terms when referring to people who have sexual relationships with members of the same sex. To avoid giving offence, use the word gay to refer to men who are sexually attracted to other men, and lesbian for women who are sexually attracted to other women. Use same-sex to describe relationships between two men or two women.
TITLES
One of the problems with the English language is that it does not have different titles for single and married men, but it does for single and married women. When addressing a woman, do not guess her marital status. If you do not know whether she is married or not, use Ms to address her, rather than Mrs or Miss.
SHORTISM
This word was created to convey the idea of prejudiced attitude or even discrimination of short people.
For example, ‘Since I am only 5 feet 4 inches I have difficulty persuading security firms that I am up to the job of security guard. There’s a lot of shortism about, you know.’
The word ‘shortism’ appeared at about the same time as ‘ageism’ (prejudice about old people),’ableism’ (prejudice about disabled people, ‘alphabetism’ (prejudiced attitude to the people whose surnames begin with the last letters of the alphabet).
SOLUTIONS FOR TRANSLATING “SENSITIVE’’ TEXTS
Both translation theory and common sense will agree that a good translation must rely on thorough cultural background knowledge on the part of the translator. Linguistic performance is never enough if it is not doubled by a detailed research on the general topic, as well as by an unbiased attitude towards “sensitive” topics. The most significant difficulty, in what politically correct terms are concerned, is the fact that they seem to grow in number by the day, and translators possibly regret the absence of relevant dictionaries, although these would probably be subject to endless add-ups and changes. In English, several topics arguably require constant updating to keep up the pace with public attitude: gender, religion (and the festivals and celebrations related to it), social status (including names of professions) and disabilities of any kind. Racial issues stepped further back from
the limelight once the reference to geographical specificity (Afro-American, Asian- American, Native American etc.) replaced the old pejorative words.
But what should a translator do when faced with job names such as “transparent-wall maintenance officer”, "sanitation engineer" or even "custodian" – that is, the current replacements for “window cleaner” or “janitor” respectively? Any previous knowledge on army and engineering matters or museum clerks can be of no help, and the translator must rely exclusively on his/her understanding of the context.
Translation difficulties are more obvious in cases such as the chains of terms(euphuism treadmill) related to certain disabilities. Bibliographical references cite widely known examples such as: "lame – crippled – handicapped – disabled – physically challenged – with differing abilities" – an impressive number of variants that would pose a challenge even for the brightest of translators. Such a translation would surely use archaisms and the technique of compensation in order to cover for the existing white spots in the target language corpus. However, other difficulties may arise when some of the above words are used in completely different contexts, as shown in the following quote from Wikipedia [5]:
“The word "lame" from above, having faded from the vernacular was revitalized as aslang word generally meaning "not living up to expectations". Connotation of a euphemism can also be subject-specific. The term "handicap" was in common use to describe a physical disability; it gained common use in sports and games to describe a scoring advantage given to a player who has a disadvantageous standing in ability, and this definition has remained common, even though the term as describing physical disability has mostly faded from common use. One exception to this is in the United States when designating "handicapped" parking spaces for such individuals”.
Due to space restrictions the following table presents only a few examples of the evolution of certain words or terms under the rule of political correctness, as well as a suggested translation into Romanian. However, the author has already gathered a significant number of such examples (as well as quotations and literary excerpts) which may be the basis for a future extended glossary on the topic. The effects of globalization could have certain effects on the development of this specific topic, and many words as we know them today could cease to be used, for the same reason.
THE LIST OF POLITICAL CORRECT LANGUAGE VOCABULARY
Part 1
Insensitive Words & Phrases AND Possible Alternatives
"Guys" (when referring to a mixed group)- Friends; folks; group
“Oriental” (when referring to people) - Asian (using the specific nationality, i.e. Korean is even better, when possible)
“Acting like wild Indians” - Out of control
“Girls (when referring to coworkers)” - Women
“Policemen/postman” - Police officer/mail carrier
“Manhole” - Utility hole
“Chairman” - Chair
“Handicapped” - People with special needs; people who are physically/mentally challenged; people with disabilities
“Retarded” - Developmentally challenged
“Gifted children” - Advanced learners
“Uneducated” when referring to adults - Lacking a formal education
“The little woman; the wife’”- Your wife; his wife
Old people Seniors - "Chronologically Advantaged"
Bitchy or "PMSing" - Assertive
“wheel-chair bound” - A person who uses a wheel-chair
“Jew down” - Negotiate
“Half-breed” - Multi-ethnic
“Manning the project” - Staffing the project
Part 2 (made up from other sources)
Insensitive Words & Phrases Possible Alternatives
He He/she, s/he - everybody
His His/her - their
“Mankind” - Humankind
“Steward /stewardess” - Flight attendant
“Salesman /woman” - Sales person
“Policeman” - Police officer
“Chairman” - Chairperson, chair
“Businessman” - Business person, executive
“Fireman” - Firefighter
“Black/nigger/negro/coloured/Afro-American” - African American
“Oriental/Asiatic” - Asian (Pacific Islander, Chinese American, Korean, Indian )
Indians Native Americans/’First Nations’ people
“Insane/idiot/crazy/mad” - Mentally challenged or ill
`An emotional cripple” - Difficult to express somebody’s emotions
“Deaf” - People with hearing impairments
“Mentally retarded” - Developmentally challenged
“Die” - Pass away
“Fat” - Overweight/Person of size/Differently sized person/Individual with an eating disorder/full-figured
“Prostitute” - Sex worker
CONCLUSION
Politically correct changes are occurring in English (and in many other languages) as a reflection of the ideas of tolerance and inclusion. In order to become competent users of English, we need to explore this phenomenon to become proficient users of tolerant and inclusive terms in particular situations.
According to the information which was found in the Internet, people’s attitudes to the whole movement are different. Thus, very few people feel totally positive about PC language reform and think it could change society. Nearly half of them think that it has no positive effect at all and is a waste of time. Some correspondents in this group pointed out that PC terms can be offensive or separating. Besides, the whole movement looks like a shallow ‘feel good’ attempt to avoid dealing with real problems in society. A large proportion of people being asked felt the movement is somewhat positive but has its problems and limitations. On the one hand, changing our labels is a good first step toward changing society. However many of the PC terms are too long and awkward. Moreover, some correspondents think that the movement has gone too far and too fast in its efforts. Finally, they point out that changing the language does not eliminate racism, sexism, etc.
As we can conclude, there are both advantages and disadvantages in PC language movement and there is the need for a more balanced approach to language reform. ‘Language can be used as a WEAPON, by the powerful against the powerless, by the powerless in fighting back. However, I believe language’s true and most noble purpose is to serve as a BRIDGE , as a TOOL for people to communicate with and understand each other. So far as language reform enhances sensitivity and understanding, I endorse it, but when the reform itself becomes repressive it’s time to step back and reassess. I think ‘political correctness’ in language is at this juncture and may recognize it. ….Language reform is one of the many fronts of social reform and hopefully, excesses will not derail good intentions.’(taken from the Internet)
All in all, PC changes to language have very positive and humanitarian motivations. In practice, however, PC language might seem like a stifling language tyranny that limits freedom of expression. For example, ‘metabolically challenged’ for ‘dead’ or ‘esthetically challenged’ instead of ‘ugly’. These examples show the ridiculous extremes to which PC can sometimes take language. Such cases are, of course, merely humorous parodies of PC language and are not to be taken seriously.
As it was said above, in our country the problem of PC language is not so urgent (as there were no feminist movement and such racism in it). Nevertheless, there are problems we have in common now and using PC language is one of the ways to solve them.
LIST OF LITERATURE
Material for the analysies:
Ellis Frank Political correctness and the theoretical struggle. — Auckland: Maxim Institute, 2004
Nida, Eugene, Toward a Science of Translation, Brill, 1964
Pinker, Steven C., Racist Language, Real and Imagined, in New York Times, Feb.2, 1999
Theoreticat materials:
4. Ruth Perry, "A short history of the term 'politically correct' " in Aufderherde, 1992
5. S. Ter-Minasova. Language, Linguistics and Life (A View from Russia). Moscow, p. 120-122, 1996
6. Toury, Gideon, In Search of a Theory of Translation, Tel Aviv, The Porter Institute for Poetics and Semiotics, 1980
General theoretical and practical works:
7. Development and Validation of an Instrument to Measure Attitudes Toward Sexist/Nonsexist Language Sex Roles: A Journal of Research. By Janet B. Parks, Mary Ann Roberton, March, 2000
8. Joel Bleifuss «A Politically Correct Lexicon». In These Times, Feb.6, 2007
9. Three Pigs Story Judged 'Offensive to Muslims' London Times. Published January 24, 2008
Electronic resources
9. Blog at WordPress.com http://aggslanguage.wordpress.com/the-impact-of-political-correctness-on-language-change/ Published March 28, 2013
10. Steven Pinker’s website http://pinker.wjh.harvard.edu, The website created feb., 2004
11.http://www.anvari.org/fun/Language_and_English/How_to_Address_a_Politically-Correct,_Non-Sexist_Business_Letter.html. Published February 18, 2013