Language

The web should be an inclusive place for anyone to be able to learn, no matter their background or location. However, despite global reach, a huge part of the web is only tailored for western audiences – 52% of all websites are in English, and of the 4.72 billion internet users, only 25.9% are English-speaking.

This article by Sophie Clifton-Tucker presents a whole range of considerations how to better consider varying cultural norms in design. It illustrates the difference between internationalization (i18n) as a "pre-launch" design phase task, and the "post-launch" localization (l10n), but most importantly provides an even broader perspective in calling for culturally aware design.

This includes aspects such as considering that not all third-party APIs may be available in all countries or awareness that the "hamburger menu" button is unknown in China, where instead a "Discover" button with a compass icon is used for navigation. I find these cultural considerations particularly interesting, and the author provides a link to another resource with more on that:

On the topic of China, I just recently ran into this eye-opening article about URLs:

Other than English or Finnish, languages with more gender-specific forms are facing broad (and at times heated) debates over how to write inclusively by using expressions that are gender-neutral. Since any deviation from the "generic masculine" – the traditional standard in many languages to predominantly use male forms only when referring to groups of all genders – makes texts more complicated to read, various camps argue passionately over which form is the best.

It's rare to find empiric data rather than just opinions and guesses, which is why this study by easy-language consultancy Capito is a rare gem: based on an observational study, the researchers validated the comprehensibility of five different forms of gender-neutral German texts.

I particularly enjoyed reading the summary in "easy language", as I found that to be both quite fitting and very interesting. Based on the results of the study and some general considerations regarding the inclusiveness of the alternatives, the authors generally recommend choosing neutral forms (like "Personen" or "Team"), or to use the common asterisk-form where the female ending is added after an asterisk ("Pilot*innen") for all but the most limited skill groups. Using both forms ("Piloten und Pilotinnen") is equally understsandable, but gets some critique for not being entirely inclusive, whereas the study recommends against using a colon ("Pilot:innen"). Most interestingly, the neutral substantivized forms (e.g. "Radfahrende" to describe people who ride bicycles) get dismissed for being most difficult to understand.

Tongue-in-cheek side note: I recently encountered a person actively using the "Entgendern nach Phettberg" method. A pity this niche approach was not part of the study? My hunch is that it is even harder to understand than the substantivized forms (as it throws off pretty much everybody I know).

Should current software not try to support all known variants, so that the institutional and societal debate is not hindered by the technical barriers? At least my answer to this is a yes.

Das Genderwörterbuch dient als Inspiration wie Sie GESCHICKT GENDERN können. Die alternativen gendergerechten Begriffe können in vielen Kontexten eins zu eins eingesetzt werden, in manchen passen sie eher weniger, manchmal haben die Begriffe leicht andere Konnotationen und ab und zu ist die Paarform oder das Gendersternchen die einzige Möglichkeit gendergerecht zu formulieren. Viele nützliche Infos zum gendergerechten Formulieren finden Sie auf der Unterseite Muss das sein?!

Seit dem 01. März 2020 ist das umfangreiche Genderwörterbuch der deutschen Sprache mit über 10.000 Stichwörtern verfügbar. Es unterstützt den GENDERATOR – ein Werkzeug zum schnellen Erzeugen genderneutraler Texte, der alsbald als Betaversion verfügbar sein wird.