#nonbinary pronouns

[redgoldsparks]

Hi maia i just wanted to thank you for genderqueer i found it the other day in my library and translated into my language no less! There isn't a lot of progressive talk about trans issues in Poland and the translation of your book was the first book about nonbinary person in my language that i think i've ever seen. I never thought i would ever get to read it because the shipping prices are so high so i genuinely cried while i saw it on the shelf. I don't know how involved you are in translation process but it was such a well done job and the note the translators wrote at the beginning tought me more about nonbinary culture in my country than i've ever hoped i would get to know. Also I was wondering do you consult with translators what set of pronouns to use in other languages? I imagine it's a hard decision when the gender neutral pronouns don't have a direct counterpart. Sorry for rambling and thank you once again for this amazing book and for sharing your story <3

Thank you so much for this message! I am so glad you were able to find a Polish version! Polish and Czech were some of the very first foreign translations we sold, and I remember being very surprised, but very happy, because it was a few years ago when I was starting to hear about a rising wave of conservative politics in Poland. But a publisher took a chance on it and I'm very grateful <3

Yes, I generally consult on every single translation, for exactly the reason you pointed out: pronouns are different in every language! Some languages already have a widely used gender neutral pronoun set. Some languages have one that's new, but being developed by trans and nonbinary people today (like elle in Spanish). Some languages don't have any gendered pronouns to begin with! Because the English edition contains two different nonbinary pronoun sets (they/them/theirs and e/em/eir) we also have to decide how to distinguish between the two. What I always tell the translation team is: I would rather the translation be useful than faithful. I don't want to try and replicate the English. I want the book to demonstrate a pronoun set that could be practically used in the language it's being read in.

Generally, the publisher hires a professional translator and then often a second person who is trans or nonbinary to read over the translation and to write a forward, such as the Polish edition has. I believe the French edition has a forward as well. The only other language aside from English I can read halfway decently is Spanish, so I am always really glad to hear from someone who has read any of the other versions saying it was well done!

And for anyone else interested in Gender Queer in other languages, currently it has been released in Spanish, Polish, Czech, French, Italian, and Dutch with Norwegian, Portuguese (Brazil and Portugal), German, Japanese, and Korean forthcoming.

[ihasafandom]

So I keep thinking, they/them notwithstanding as a perfectly fine solution on its own, that English already has an existing unused pronoun set that could easily fill the nonbinary pronoun gap that we keep trying to fill with e/em and ze/hir and bun/bunself, if we wanted to resurrect it.

Cause most neopronouns have at least one of the following issues:

unintuitive or non-obvious pronunciation

homophone with other words

unintuitive tenses

not obviously a pronoun

doesn't really fit in with the other pronoun sets

and of course, getting everyone to know about and agree to use a certain set is the biggest one

And while I can't solve the latter, and we get the new problem of making Thor sound like he's never talking to you directly instead of just being overly familiar/condescending in an old-fashioned way, I think there is some merit to bringing back thee/thine but as a third person singular pronoun this time.

Everyone already knows it's a pronoun and has a decent idea of how to pronounce and conjugate it, it doesn't overlap with any other words in writing or speech, it fits with the extant pronouns, since it was originally meant to be there.

he / him / his / his / himself she / her / her / hers / herself it / it / its / its / itself they / them / their / theirs / themself thou / thee / thy / thine / thyself

or

thee / thee / thy / thine / thineself if we wanted to parallel the others more and simplify a little.

[prideful-palace]

My Chihiro Fujisaki Pride Headcanons!

Pronouns - They/He/She

Nonbinary

Asexual Panromantic

Neurodivergent - (Autism & Anxiety)

[scary-flag]

A question to people whose native language is not English: how does your language deal with nonbinary people that use they/them in English? How did it work in OFMD?

Asking because in Polish there's absolutely no pronoun that can be used, as "they/them" is exclusively plural and either male ("oni") or female ("one") anyway. Polish, like most Slavic languages, is very gendered, to the point where there is barely any way to express something in a gender neutral way, as only the present tense and in some cases the future tense can be used that way.

For example if I'd want to say that "Jim was great in that episode" there is no gender neutral way to say that. I can say either that Jim was "świetny" (male) or "świetna" (female).

The only way that is gender neural is rodzaj nijaki (neuter), but it is a grammatical gender used to describe objects and non-humans, like "krzesło" (chair) or "zwierzę" (an animal). The only exclusion here is "dziecko" (a child). For obvious reasons it is not a preferred way to refer to nonbinary people and characters.

However, that leaves us with no way to address them or refer to them correctly, and the Polish nb community does not use any common pronoun as well - some people use the grammatical gender that matches their assigned at birth one, some switch between using female and male, some use neuter one or invent a neopronoun for themselves, like "onx" (sorry, no translation here, but works similarily to latinx). However, here is no set rule for media and fictional characters, because it is pretty much a personal thing.

Did any of you have any info on how did the translations into such languages deal with Jim's pronouns? Does your language have a better way of dealing with they/them characters?

I'm super curious about that :)

[annikathewitch]

Been thinking about. Pronouns. again. And, hmm. It/its as in "the council has made its decision" really is a vibe.

[sad-klown-syndrome]

*grabs your hands and speaks to you in a tone that is so gentle* they/them pronouns stop being universal once you learn a person's pronouns. Sometimes that person's pronouns will include they/them and in that specific case you are allowed to keep using those pronouns for that person. In any case where you learn a persons pronouns and that person doesn't use they/them, you should no longer use those pronouns for that person. If you continue to use they/them pronouns knowing that person doesn't use them, you are now misgendering that person. Kindly stop doing that please. Thank you, I love you.

[amaliazeichnerin]

Free downloadable and printable LGBTIAQ+ pride color images, some also with English and German pronouns, in my Deviantart gallery. There are several square ones which are also suitable for round buttons: https://www.deviantart.com/amalias-dream/gallery/71965910/lgbtiaq-images

[genderqueerdykes]

you can't support the normalization of the usage of singular they/them pronouns and then say you don't support people who want to normalize it/its because it's "too weird," as if using singular they/them pronouns isn't clearly weird to a lot of people.

you can't refuse to acknowledge an identity because it's "weird," they're all "weird" in the eyes of cisheteronormative society. people who use neopronouns like it/its, ze/hir, xe/xem, thon/thons and others don't deserve to have to settle for they/them if that's not what they use. it doesn't matter if something is "weird" or not. let go of the compulsive need to assimilate and just let people express themselves freely

[devinsturk]

16 Trans Agendas for the Modern Queer

Live to old age.

Enjoy a nice snack.

Cuddle up with my cat.

Demand good healthcare.

Create a chosen family.

Soak in queer community.

Reject any need for cis approval.

Respect pronouns.

Breathe deep breaths.

Admire surgical scars.

Be kind.

Tell my friends that I love them.

Be endlessly creative.

T4T.

Watch the sunrise.

Persist.

[bored-boring-and-tired]

[dayangaytransman]

Transphobe: Pronouns are useless, blah blah blah.

Me: Of course they are! Mother fucker! I speak Persian!

We only have one pronoun, “او,” which you can pronounce like the “oo” in “moon.” That means I use “they/them” for your transphobic ass all the time!

Additionally, we can use “این,” pronounce like the "in" In Berlin. which means “it,” if you are nearby.

We can even omit the pronoun completely. For example, we can say “رفت,” which means someone left, and as you can see, it’s just one word.

We can write poems, and no one knows the gender of our lovers. I don’t know about you, but I think it’s pretty neat.

[sleepygaymerdisease]

[ID: Tweets from Emily 'Soup Lesbian' Gwen (@theemilygwen) on twitter with the following text:

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Anyway I'm still looking for work and struggling a lot. Even $5 would help pay for a meal. ko-fi.com/emilygwen

End ID]

Please help Emily Gwen, the creator of the lesbian flag. If you show me that you donated any amount I will draw you something. You can also support them by buying something from their Threadless store!

EDIT: I still appreciate any donations made but I can't guarantee a drawing anymore 😭 sorry if that's a deciding factor for you

[pansyboybloom]

much love to it/its and neo pronoun users who know they can never use their pronouns in person, who never have them used irl, whose gender expression and identity are only respected online. i see y'all and i love y'all

[lgbtq-userboxes]

[queerism1969]

[mushroomyhouse]

Happy Egg Cracking Day 🐣

Wishing everyone a very happy Easter and Trans Day of Visibility 💙

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