Hello, dear ESL members.

 

A friend of mine have asked me to help her with the translationf of the abstract of her Master � s degree thesis. I tried but I am not sure about the proper language and political correctness. That �s why I would like to ask you (especially native speakers) if you would be so kind and checked the text.

 

Thank you very much for your help and have a nice weekend.

Michaela

 

The thesis thematically focused on the issue of meeting the sexual needs of people with mental retardation in residential social services. The theoretical basis of the work was based on the current knowledge of the classification and the diagnosis of mental retardation, the breakdown of social care services, sexuality, sexual education, the awareness and the prevention of sexual abuse of people with mental disabilities and the methods and forms of sexuality within the organization. The practical part focused on the presentation of the research-oriented ways and means of fulfilling the sexual needs of people with mental disabilities who live in residential social services (homes). Based on the results of the study, some recommendations were formulated to improve the attitude of the housing services staff and also the subsequent improvement of fulfilling the sexual needs of the users of social services, respecting their specific needs.

 

 

 My suggestions above, but would it be better written in the present tense if it is an abstract?

 

Thank you very much, dear Apodo.

 

Actually, I wanted to write it in present tense, but her supervisor doesn �t agree and insists it has to be in past. 

Tahnk you for your help and have a great weekend. :-)

Hi Michaela, as a description of what the thesis is about, it really should be in the present tense, but there we are - supervisors know better!

 

It should be �sex education � not �sexual education. �

Instead of �respecting their specific needs�  or �with respect to �, I would use �regarding. �

 

Also, I �m afraid the term �mental retardation � is very unPC. The term �retard � is a pejorative and kids used to use this as a term of abuse. Since we stopped using the term �retardation � that has stopped. If your friend �s thesis is about this topic, in my opinion,she should be in the vanguard regarding the correct labels. I think that �intellectual disability � or �mental disability � would be more suitable. I would be interested to see what anyone else has to say.

 

Lynne 

All of the previous corrections seem correct except for the last one regarding respecting their specific needs.

 

In my opinions it is ok. It depends on exactly what you want to say. You can indeed respect individual needs, and if that is what you wanted to say, then your version is correct.

 

Good luck!

Personally, I would use mental disability. I believe the term mental retardation is not used among Czech professionals any more as it indeed carries negative connotation.

 

Thank you all for your answers.

 

 

@Lynne,

 

as my specialization are children with special needs, behaviour problems and mental disabilities, I am pretty sure the term is OK in my country. I know that there are many terms being considered politically uncorrect, especially in the UK and the USA, but very often it seems to be much ado about nothing. Many of the people in question have told me they don �t like the new terms, they don �t understand what �s wrong with the "older" ones. But I belive the main problems is that this stuff about PC comes out from healthy people who often know very little about these problems, they just want to get our attention. But I know that some people may not agree with me now.

 

@Kaplenka

 

as I have written above, this is my specialization and the term is still being used in the Czech Rep. and is perfectly OK. It is probably only a language issue. English consideres it as wrong term but it is different in Czech. I sent you a PM with some detail, because it is easier for me to explain in Czech. ;-)

 

Have a great weekend everybody. 

Michaela

This term �retardation � is way out of date as is a previous one that came up on here �handicapped. � These terms in British English and American English are cringe-worthy and even offensive (certainly in Britain). Many people scoff at what they call �political correctness � but there is usually a good reason behind changes in labels like this.

 

I guess we will just have to disagree. All the best with your study, anyway.

Lynne 

Well,

 

handicap is a common name for some kind of disability, retardation is a diagnosis, also known as intellectual disability. Both terms are still being used in professional groups, at least in Europe. 

But I do understand you.

And I have finished my studies, this was for a friend of mine.

 

Have a great day and thanks one more time. 

You are quite wrong Michaela, if we are talking about the English language. Maybe the French and other nationalities still use these terms, �les handicappes � and so on, but not in English. Mostly, in fact, you would say, �children or adults with special needs. � More specifically, in this case, �adults with special educational needs.� Edit: Or �people with learning difficulties.�

 

Hey, I was trying to help!

You also have a nice evening.

Lynne