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"Some clients ask translators to use both the masculine and feminine forms in French – 'user' becomes utilisateur/utilisatrice," she says. Clients' linguistic departments decide whether specific words should be translated as a masculine or a feminine, she adds (they tend to go for une URL, for instance). Back at Larousse, Nimmo stresses that their mission is to produce a dictionary that reflects the language as it is spoken and written, not to tell people what they should or should not say. "We give them as many tools as possible to help them choose their words although some – such as racist and sexist words – will never feature in the dictionary." That is quite a statement when some say the French language itself is sexist: students are still being taught that "the masculine prevails over the feminine form", although until the 18th century, the gender of the noun closest to adjectives and verbs took precedence, in accordance with la règle de proximité. Are recent changes likely to make a difference? "No, I do not think that the feminisation of words will have an impact on syntax," concludes Nimmo. "The masculine form is often used to express a neutral form, which does not exist in French." Vol/53 No/5 2014 OCTOBER/NOVEMBER The Linguist 29 SECTION HEADER OPINION & COMMENT we may be when it comes to vocabulary," she admits. "We do not usually follow the directives of the Académie Française unless they make a recommendation, for example when they ruled that hashtag should be translated as mot-dièse." Nimmo says the Académie does not advocate imposing feminine versions of adjectives and nouns. "A word like man- hater – more than 30 million occurrences in Google – would have to be translated into French with an explanation, as there is no equivalent," she says. Translators write to the Editorial Board with suggestions and these may be taken into account in the next edition. However, not all are happy with the status quo. "The Robert & Collins is terribly sexist: all negative words are illustrated with examples in the feminine form," says literary translator Hélène Collon, who only uses monolingual dictionaries, including the Merriam Webster, so she can think up her own equivalents. "I support all-out feminisation – I use auteure, for instance. When I am translating, I strive to respect the letter and the spirit, as well as the reader, but it is not for me to promote a language change. That is the job of authors, publishers, thinkers and philosophers. Translators have a duty to translate faithfully and elegantly." In contrast, technical translator Marina Rivalland only uses the masculine form "to avoid cluttered and inelegant sentences" when clients do not state any preference. The feminisation of French words reflects a change in society – but will it have an empowering effect? The introduction in French of words in the feminine form reflects a change in society. Until recently, there were no feminine equivalents for many masculine nouns and adjectives. Words have been created because there was a need for them, with women taking up professions and jobs that had traditionally been the preserve of men. Dictionaries now include décideuse (a female decision-maker) but there is still no entry for a feminine equivalent of imposteur in Le Larousse, although a Google search yields more than 3,000 occurrences of impostrice and nearly 6,000 of imposteuse. Why not? "We are still debating whether a feminine equivalent of imposteur should enter the dictionary but amatrice (a female amateur) has made it," says Claude Nimmo, Editorial Board Director at Larousse-Harper. "We decide to include a new word in the dictionary if we come across it in the media and in literature." Nimmo and her colleagues monitor the web but, she says, it is sometimes difficult to tell where a word has been coined – in France or Quebec, for example. The criteria are different on the two sides of the Atlantic: femme-grenouille ('frog woman') is acceptable in Montreal but it is not in Le Larousse. "We try not to be influenced by English syntax but In my opinion… Beatrice Murail is a freelance journalist and a qualified translator and interpreter. TL BEATRICE MURAIL © ISTOCKPHOTO CONTENTION 'Femme-grenouille' is not widely accepted in France