BASIC ENGLISH PHRASES FOR LIBRARY STAFF PART LIX

More bias-free language

In writing academic research papers and theses, it is worth being aware of currently preferred usage in English. For example students and ajarns in the Psychiatry department of the Faculty of Medicine Thammasat University are aware that people with a psychiatric disability or a mental health condition should not be called mentally ill, crazy, or insane. While these terms were used in medical literature in previous generations, they are seen as being strongly negative because of all the dramatic associations they have from films, literature, and other sources. It is better to use terms that are less dramatic, and just plainly describe people who are dealing with a problem. If we are researching people who are wheelchair users, we may use such terms as physically disabled, quadriplegic, or paraplegic. But we should stay away from such words as handicapped or deformed or crippled or wheelchair-bound. If we are researching a group of people, we do not want to give the impression that we pity them because we find them so pathetic. Instead, we recognize that they are people who are just trying to get on with their lives, and just specify what their medical condition is as part of our research. For this reason, it is considered more serious to refer to people living with cancer or AIDS instead of calling people victims of cancer or AIDS or people who suffer from cancer or AIDS. By using theatrical words such as suffer and victim, we give a tragic identity to people, instead of appearing to be objective researchers.

In Thai English, a special challenge is avoiding gender bias in language. This is partly because Thai English habits are a reflection of old style British English as used in Hong Kong and other parts of Asia. Yet in most of the English speaking world today, things have become modernized. Years ago in many fields, people would use the term man to refer to people in general. Now it is seen as more serious to avoid gender bias, and assuming that every person in any field is a man. So instead of using the term businessman, it would be better to refer to a businessperson. Or if possible, use a term that describes the job or professional ranking of a person without making any suggestion that it must be a man. Examples of these terms which may refer to a man or woman include executive, manager, business owner, or retailer. Instead of using the term insurance man, it is better to use insurance agent. By doing so, we show that we recognize that insurance may be sold by women as well as by men. Similarly, instead of mailman or postman we would write mail carrier or letter carrier. Rather than policeman, we would write police officer or law enforcement officer. Instead of spokesman, we would have spokesperson or representative. Taking care about such details, we not only show respect about the subjects of our research. We also inform our readers that we are serious and have current ideas about our field of study.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)