Is there a multilingual dictionary of trans terms?

March 8, 2013 2:55 PM

I am looking for a foreign language transgender/transexual dictionary or glossary. I have done a bit of searching and there seem to be several English glossaries or dictionaries of trans terminology. But I am having trouble finding any sources for foreign language terms. I can't tell if I just don't know what search terms to use or if such a source simply doesn't exist.

My mom is foreign born (German) and speaks English as a second language. My dad is American. I grew up with lots of stories and examples of funny or embarrassing bad translations. So I am very aware that it can be a big problem to try to plug words or phrases into a bilingual dictionary or translator. Idioms and newer terminology can be especially troublesome. Please help me either find or put together a source of good foreign terms for this topic.

If there are no foreign language glossaries for this topic, I would appreciate it if anyone who knows some of the terminology in another language would post the foreign terms here. For example, the medical term for "top surgery" (for FTM) is "bilateral mastectomy". What is the proper medical term and/or common slang for either of those in another language? (German translations would be especially appreciated.)

Here is a trans (FTM) glossary that I found if you need some examples of English terminology to translate.

Thanks.

posted by Michele in California to writing & language (8 answers total)

The way I'd get 'technical' terms is via Wikipedia (and then crosschecking with Google). The German for mastectomy is, well, Mastektomie. I don't know what the slang term is. You might want the page for Geschlechtsangleichende Operationen, as that seems to hit all the medical terms surgery-wise. (Er... I'm assuming you read German. Or enough to glean the terms from it.) There doesn't seem to be a relevant discussion of hormones on Wikipedia. I do know that the German slang for 'testosterone' seems to be 'Testo' (as opposed to T in English).

For whatever reasons, the Standards of Care is available only in English, Spanish and Croatian, but if you want to know things in Spanish or Croatian...
posted by hoyland at 4:39 PM on March 8

I know some German and French. I am not super fluent but, yes, I kind of read German.

Call it an intersection of interests. I dabble in foreign languages, tend to talk to lots of foreigners, and some of those foreigners have been trans. I was just wondering what resources are available for any foreign language, but especially German because that specifically came up.

So thank you.
posted by Michele in California at 4:52 PM on March 8

Assuming you're looking for Trans 101 stuff in other languages, here's an FAQ in German.

Poking around on that site also gives:
binder = Binder
packer = Stuffer

and a description of top surgery options (with me attempting to map them to the English via your link, but I could be quite wrong here):

Die Optionen für den Schnitt:

• Reines Absaugen (nur bei sehr kleinen Brüsten möglich, und der Erfolg hängt davon ab, wie stark sich die Haut zurückbildet). [liposuction?]
• Kleiner Schnitt, entweder in der Mamille oder in der unteren Falte, oder in der Nähe der Achsel. (Auch nur bei relativ kleinen Brüsten, obwohl dabei u.U. schon Haut entfernt und gestrafft werden kann.) [keyhole]
• Mamillenschnitt, also also einmal rund um den Warzenhof; oder in einem kleineren Kreis darin, wenn die Mamille verkleinert werden soll. Geht bis zu mittleren, kann, wenn dabei zu viel Haut zusammen gezogen wird, zu einem Kräusen der Haut führen und damit zu dicken Narben. [peri-areolar]
• Ein Schnitt in der Mamille, M-Förmig. Wird gemacht, wenn die OP in 2 Schritten gemacht wird (erst ausräumen, später in Form bringen) oder wenn die Brustwarze so bleiben soll, und die Brust so klein ist, dass Ausräumen reicht. [no idea]
• Ein Schnitt durch die halbe Brust. Geht meistens um die Mamille herum (damit diese auch an die richtige Stelle gebracht werden kann) und von da nach Außen; üblicherweise in der unteren Hälfte. (Ankerschnitt) [double incision, though Ankerschnitt is different, I think, so I'm not sure]
• Ein Schnitt durch die ganze Brust, entweder um die Mamille herum oder sogar mitten durch (wenn sie nicht frei transplantiert wird). [no idea]

Oh, and GID is apparently Geschlectsidentitätsstörung in German.
posted by hoyland at 4:56 PM on March 8 [1 favorite]

Of course, if you wait six or seven hours or so, it'll be morning in CET and you might find someone who can actually talk about this stuff in German, rather than me on Google.
posted by hoyland at 4:58 PM on March 8

Calling it "Trans 101 in foreign languages" would not be inaccurate. (Not intending to threadsit but wanted to note that clarification.)
posted by Michele in California at 5:02 PM on March 8 [1 favorite]

Is it at all obvious that I, too, like languages?

PFLAG comes through with Spanish, though I suspect it's mostly 101 stuff, but my Spanish only goes as far as finding the website, not reading it.

Here's what I think is a guide aimed at educating doctors who don't normally see trans patients in Quebec, so it's a bit trans 101 in places and a technical in others. It appears the French (or Québécois anyway) word for 'binder' is 'gilet de compression thoracique'. I'm assuming that there's a slang term, but I can't find anything on Google. (I basically failed at Googling in French, which is why everything I found was about Quebec.)

And now I'm basically out of languages I can pretend to read. (Though, amusingly, I found even less for you in Danish than I did in French, but I did find a LGBT dictionary in Danish. The things marked with a triangle are gender-related.)
posted by hoyland at 5:59 PM on March 8

I wrote most of the Wikipedia page on trans terminology in Chinese. Check some of the earlier editions of the page for a fuller list of terms. (A bunch has been edited out, but trust me, I know whereof I speak.)
posted by jiawen at 6:33 PM on March 8

Well, I have gotten my reminder memail about this AskMe. I am not marking this resolved. My understanding is that it will stay open for a year. I would love to see more replies.

Thanks for the answers I have gotten so far! They are appreciated.
posted by Michele in California at 12:14 PM on April 8