DIE SCHERE 42 - the gender of prenouns

[Gary Kern <gkern@alumni.princeton.edu>]

Wahe@aol.com wrote:
> 
> So apparently the answer is "it depends".
> 
> Maybe you noticed that in our three translations of the sentence
> 
> Bei der Selbstbegegnung sieht die Person sich aus einiger Entfernung und
> momentan.
> 
> everyone of us chose a different gender for the prenoun _sich_:
> 
> Günter and Gary:
> In a self-encounter a person sees himself from a certain
> distance and for a moment.
> 
> Andre-Paul:
> In the self-encountering, the person is seeing herself
> in some distance and momentarily.
> 
> and myself:
> While meeting oneself, the person sees itself from a distance and
> momentarily.
> 
> I am asking again, are all three versions correct in that respect or only one
> of them ? The prenoun refers to _person_ which could be a man or a woman.
> (I just want to learn something).
> 
> Greetings
> 
> Walter
*********************
1. Himself:  In Günther's and my translation, the traditional solution
is used:  the masculine form is meant to cover both genders.  The
feminists have attacked this position, so probably the more politically
correct solution would be:  "the person sees him or herself from a
distance..." In popular usage, it could also be:  "the person sees
themself from a distance."

2.  Herself:  not permitted unless it is definitely known that the
person is feminine, or unless the translator wants to make a political
or satiric point.

3.  Itself:  not permitted, "person" can only be referred to as "it" if
deceased.

GK