When communicating across cultures, many of us use translation tools like Google Translate or AI. They’re what we hang onto when talking to someone we have no common language with or when taking the metro in a place where we can’t even read the alphabet. However, when using these tools, we’re essentially reducing language to isolated words stripped of context. And if there’s one thing that desperately calls for context it’s the grammatical gender. Because words only exist in context and context is social.

I’m a linguist at heart, so if the terms get too technical, just skip them. The point here is: when communicating across cultures — cycling or not — you can usually get your point across even without speaking a common language. Yet, I believe that the way people think is shaped by language, and languages are complex systems comprised of many variable parts. The grammatical gender is just one example of how language affects our thinking.

The grammatical gender in a nutshell

Words mean different things in different languages. Even if a word seems to translate, it will have different connotations in different languages. Just think about it: even in our own language we may interpret a word or a concept in a completely different way than our friends. This is because words carry meaning shaped by our personal and cultural histories. Moreover, each culture has its own linguistic expressions and concepts which simply cannot be translated. If you need proof, try translating a great culturally-bound joke into another language and see if anyone laughs (except for you).

Although a seemingly small thing, the grammatical gender makes translation across cultures highly demanding. To the non-linguists reading this, the grammatical gender is e.g. the masculine (der), feminine (die) and neuter (das) of German, or the masculine (il) and feminine (la) of Italian. And if you’re actually paying attention to what you just read, you spotted that German has three, Italian only two grammatical genders. So what if I told you that Finnish has no genders at all? Or that the Polish gender system is partly semantically motivated? I won’t dive deeper, but to give you a simple example, women and men conjugate verbs differently in Polish.

Why grammatical gender doesn’t translate

Studies in psycholinguistics suggest that grammatical gender can subtly influence how speakers describe objects — for example, associating strength or elegance depending on whether a noun is masculine or feminine. When reading books, we’re (still) lucky to be able to count on physical translators. They’re professionals who know the source language and the target language and put words and expressions into context for us. They don’t — and even couldn’t if they wanted to — translate things word for word, yet they choose the best possible options that reflect both cultures, while still conveying the original message of the source text. Still, even translators have a hard time with the grammatical gender. Here’s why.

Let’s take the word “death” as an example. In English the noun “death” is neutral (as most English nouns), yet the personification of death — how death appears — is more often than not male, if gendered. The same goes with German, where the noun “death” (der Tod) is grammatically masculine, and thus so is its personification. In both of these languages, if you asked a native speaker to draw a physical representation of death, they would most likely draw a male figure. So, how would you translate the personification of death into a language where the noun “death” is feminine, like in Polish?

Grammatical gender is sociocultural

Sociocultural changes are always reflected in language, and languages continue to evolve with their surroundings. For example, non-binary people are currently challenging the translation of grammatical gender much further than the typical binary gender system (like when adding feminine forms on nouns). The grammatical gender has to adapt to the changing social position of women in the form of new titles, terminology and political correctness, but also to the ever more prominent presence of non-binary people. One example of how language has changed regarding the LGBTQI+ community are the pronouns them/they, used by many queer people.

Due to the complexity and variation of grammatical genders and societies, it’s rather the norm than an exception that translating the grammatical gender poses challenges in communication. In the Polish context, feminine forms of masculine nouns and gender neutral pronouns are a beginning towards a more gender neutral language, yet they do not eliminate gender markings on e.g. verbs or inanimate nouns. In addition, as grammatical gender carries culture within it, translation is not just about words. It’s about translating cultures — with the most powerful tool we have: language.

Here’s what you can do

Before using translation tools in intercultural communication again, ask yourself the following questions for clarity:

• How are the linguistic and sociocultural gender tied together in your own language?
• Will Google or AI be able to translate you fully? If linguistic gender is important for your communication, is there a way around it?
• How could you bridge a linguistic gender gap?

These questions should be asked by all of us. Not only by translators, or by advocates of feminist and queer linguistics.

For more posts on languages, see e.g. WHY DO KIDS MIX LANGUAGES (AND HOW TO HELP)? or SOCIOCULTURAL LINGUISTICS: A WORLD SHAPED BY LANGUAGES.