University lecturer slams 'sexist' Google Translate

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A senior university lecturer has slammed Google Translate for ‘sexism’ as gender-neutral languages are translated into English with gendered pronouns.

Dr Dora Vargha, from Exeter, Devon, was ‘appalled’ when she tried to translate Hungarian, a gender neutral language with no male or female pronouns. 

Google Translate automatically put ‘he’ or ‘she’ before different verbs when changing it to English – depending on the activity it denoted.

‘She’ was placed before domestic chores such as cleaning and sewing, while ‘he’ was used for intellectual pursuits such as being a politician or a professor.

Dr Dora Vargha (pictured), from Exeter, Devon, was 'appalled' to learn that the online language translator automatically applies gendered pronouns to languages that don't have them

Dr Dora Vargha (pictured), from Exeter, Devon, was ‘appalled’ to learn that the online language translator automatically applies gendered pronouns to languages that don’t have them

Dr Vargha - who works as a senior lecturer in medical humanities - shared a screenshot translating Hungarian, a gender neutral language with no male or female pronouns. But Google Translate applied gendered pronouns to various activities regardless - placing 'she' before domestic chores such as cleaning and sewing

Dr Vargha – who works as a senior lecturer in medical humanities – shared a screenshot translating Hungarian, a gender neutral language with no male or female pronouns. But Google Translate applied gendered pronouns to various activities regardless – placing ‘she’ before domestic chores such as cleaning and sewing

The translation read: ‘She is beautiful. He is clever. He reads. She washes the dishes. He builds. She sews.

What pronouns did Google translate put in front of different activities?

Google Translate put ‘she’ before domestic chores like cleaning and sewing and ‘he’ before intellectual pursuits such as being a politician or a professor.

The translation read: ‘She is beautiful. He is clever. He reads. She washes the dishes. He builds. She sews.

‘He teaches. She cooks. He’s researching. She is raising a child. He plays music. She’s a cleaner. He is a politician. He makes a lot of money. She is baking a cake. He’s a professor. She’s an assistant.’

‘He teaches. She cooks. He’s researching. She is raising a child. He plays music. She’s a cleaner. He is a politician. He makes a lot of money. She is baking a cake. He’s a professor. She’s an assistant.’

Dr Vargha – who works as a senior lecturer in medical humanities – captioned her post, which has since gone viral: ‘Hungarian is a gender neutral language, it has no gendered pronouns, so Google Translate automatically chooses the gender for you.

‘Here is how everyday sexism is consistently encoded in 2021. F*** you, Google.’ 

Google blamed the algorithm’s results on society and said that their tool replicates what it finds on the web and can ‘inadvertently replicate gender biases that already exists’.

Dr Vargha said: ‘I didn’t expect it to blow up the way it did.

‘I was surprised at some of the predictable conversations that emerged around it.

‘There were a lot of people who found it problematic. 

‘But then there were people – a very large group of people – who brought the argument that society is sexist, not Google. It’s not Google’s fault, it’s not the algorithm’s fault.

‘My response to that is that Google doesn’t exist outside of society. There’s an issue here that needs to be addressed.

‘If you use one sentence, it offers you a choice between he or she.

‘But when you use a description, for example referring to myself in the third person or writing about what I do in my free time, it would come up as a “He”.

‘When it came to kids and household stuff, it was a “She”. When it came to surfing and running, it was a “He” again.

Dr Vargha (pictured) captioned her post, which has since gone viral: 'Hungarian is a gender neutral language, it has no gendered pronouns, so Google Translate automatically chooses the gender for you'

Dr Vargha (pictured) added: 'Here is how everyday sexism is consistently encoded in 2021. F*** you, Google'

Dr Vargha (pictured) captioned her post, which has since gone viral: ‘Hungarian is a gender neutral language, it has no gendered pronouns, so Google Translate automatically chooses the gender for you. Here is how everyday sexism is consistently encoded in 2021. F*** you, Google’

Others rushed to social media to show a similar translation issue in their languages

Others rushed to social media to show a similar translation issue in their languages 

Critics said Dr Vargha should have flagged the issue with Google, rather than post about it online

Critics said Dr Vargha should have flagged the issue with Google, rather than post about it online

‘It’s very problematic because it reinforces stereotypes.

‘I’m appalled that it’s still happening.’

Dr Vargha has called on Google to remedy the algorithm.

She said: ‘I acknowledge that this is not an easy thing to fix. But there is nothing addressing it, despite many people pointing out that Hungarian is a gender neutral language.’

A Google spokesperson said: ‘Translate works by learning patterns from many millions of examples of translations seen out on the web.

‘Unfortunately, this means a model can inadvertently replicate gender biases that already exists.

‘We’ve been working to update the product to provide both a feminine and masculine translation for a single word for a set of languages, and while it is still work in progress to roll this out broader, we’re hoping to also bring the experience to more features and start addressing non-binary gender in translations.’

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