Gender-Inclusive Translations Put to the Test: Measuring Performance of Quadball Referee Certification Test Takers

Abstract

This study tests the impact of gender-inclusive language in a real-life, timed scenario, in collaboration with the International Quadball Association (IQA). This article describes the textual impact of the inclusive translation strategies currently in use at the IQA for different languages (French, German, Italian, Spanish) and explores the time and success rate of quadball referee certification test takers taking the official assistant referee tests in the original English and in translation. For French, Italian, and Spanish, an additional comparison is made between a masculine and inclusive variant. Results show that, while inclusive strategies impact up to 21% of the text, this has no measurable effect on the time needed to take a test or on the final score obtained. However, test takers taking the English referee tests were found to score higher than those taking the tests in translation, with the exception of German.