Holidays instead of Christmas: EU Commission withdraws language recommendation
In its current form, the guidelines do not meet the standards of their authority, explained Dalli. She will take up the criticism and respond to the objections in an adapted version of the paper.
Dalli: European culture is diverse
The aim of the directive was to sensitize members of the commission to the linguistic consideration of the "diversity of European culture". This also included the different religions and life paths of EU citizens.
The guide that Dalli presented in October and that is available to the Italian daily Il Giornale criticized, among other things, the term Christmas time. This leaves EU citizens of other cultures outside. The term Christmas time often refers to the holidays in December. In this month not only the birth of Jesus, but also the Jewish festival of lights Hanukkah will be celebrated.
Directive advocated gender-neutral terms
Likewise, when choosing a name, the Christian tradition is often used . In fictional examples, biblical first names such as Maria or John are often to be found. For a more international design it could in future be called Malika and Julio, suggested the guideline.
She also urges the frequent use of words that are not gender neutral. Special gender pronouns can be used for people who do not identify as exclusively male or female. In German, for example, advocates of gender language require firefighters to speak instead of firefighters.
“Wheelchair bound” should become “wheelchair user”
The authors of the guideline also saw problems in addressing women in English with Miss or Mrs. Depending on your marital status, one of the two versions is used. For men, however, it is always called Mister.
The guide also called for the language to be more considerate when referring to disabled people. Instead of "John Doe is disabled" it could read "John Doe has a physical impairment". They also suggest not using terms with a negative connotation such as ‘suffering from autism’ or ‘wheelchair-bound’ and instead use ‘with autism’ and ‘wheelchair user’.
The aim of the directive was to sensitize members of the commission to the linguistic consideration of the "diversity of European culture". This also included the different religions and life paths of EU citizens.
The guide that Dalli presented in October and that is available to the Italian daily Il Giornale criticized, among other things, the term Christmas time. This leaves EU citizens of other cultures outside. The term Christmas time often refers to the holidays in December. In this month not only the birth of Jesus, but also the Jewish festival of lights Hanukkah will be celebrated.
Directive advocated gender-neutral terms
Likewise, when choosing a name, the Christian tradition is often used . In fictional examples, biblical first names such as Maria or John are often to be found. For a more international design it could in future be called Malika and Julio, suggested the guideline.
She also urges the frequent use of words that are not gender neutral. Special gender pronouns can be used for people who do not identify as exclusively male or female. In German, for example, advocates of gender language require firefighters to speak instead of firefighters.
“Wheelchair bound” should become “wheelchair user”
The authors of the guideline also saw problems in addressing women in English with Miss or Mrs. Depending on your marital status, one of the two versions is used. For men, however, it is always called Mister.
The guide also called for the language to be more considerate when referring to disabled people. Instead of "John Doe is disabled" it could read "John Doe has a physical impairment". They also suggest not using terms with a negative connotation such as ‘suffering from autism’ or ‘wheelchair-bound’ and instead use ‘with autism’ and ‘wheelchair user’.
Source: Junge Freiheit
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