Gender-neutral GCSE French lessons trigger international row

[IwantToRetire]

British exam board to allow 16-year-olds to use newly coined hybrid pronouns in languages, despite terms not being recognised by countries

The guidance came out in 2024, but comes into force this year, with language exams taking place in June.

The exam board also states that it will recognise “the use of gender-neutral pronouns with feminine or masculine agreement” as well as “students’ use of gender-neutral nouns, whether indicated by adding punctuation, asterisks or using alternative spellings”.

These will be accepted by examiners “even though this usage may not always be recognised by some of the languages academies in certain countries”

Full article https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/05/09/gender-neutral-gcse-french-lessons-international-row/

Also at https://archive.is/WAxAu

Lae chat noir.e est dans lae joli.e jardin*

Can one just do an asterisk every now and then or must everything be asterisked?

It's not the case that this is a version of the language that the French don't speak. The Academie Francaise is an authority on the use of official language; it's a bit like if we gave the Oxford Dictionary power to set a policy on various aspects of language usage. The AF suggests alternatives for Anglicisms as they enter the French language to try and keep English at bay, for instance, and sets/campaigns for rules about language usage in official contexts. In day to day usage it obviously can't make people use or not use certain words.

@newrubylane that being said, the overwhelming majority of French people indeed don't speak this language. It is overrepresented in writing in "well meaning" sectors such as (subsidized) arts, some HR, and universities, and that's basically it.

"A Pearson spokesman said: “Gender-neutral pronouns are not required as part of Pearson Edexcel GCSE French, German, or Spanish. The specifications require students to learn and be assessed only on the standard masculine and feminine forms used in these languages."

So it's a so-called "international row" over nothing. Slow outrage-news day?

To be fair the Academie is notoriously conservative. They fought “Madame la présidente” for decades after the Québécois allowed it. Gender neutral speech is a fight within French speakers. That said I wouldn’t start teaching it when there isn’t any consensus.

in Spanish there’s a different trend: adoption of feminine specific nouns for traditionally invariable ones. La jueza, la jefa, la presidenta. “Latinx” is hated by most actual Spanish speakers but you will see an -e ending used to make words gender neutral, eg Latine. That is a thing you will see from Spanish speakers and writers, not activists, and it’s a case where the RAE is behind. And to be honest there are Latin Americans who don’t care about the RAE. I don’t think we’re yet at a point of teaching this as accepted Spanish in school but it’s not wrong to use.

My favourite AF 'keeping Anglicisms at bay' is instead of 'walkie talkie' they went with 'talkie walkie'.

Also instead of the French being happy about the world using a French word 'computer' and running with that, they had to force people to use a different word 'l'ordinator'.

I find this aspect of learning French baffling and fascinating.

And to come back to German despite the pushbacks there is definitely a lot of use of "gendering" if you don't know about it, even if you don't useit, you're definitely at a disadvantage.

Button is really(in German at least) a part of feministmovements to use it, disregarding the recent incursion, if you will, of a gendered identity aspect. For eg I will "gendern" because otherwise the words I'm using cuts me out of things.

Exactly what I thought!

😂
But I’m sure the French, Spanish etc will be duly grateful at being shown the faults in their languages.