WebQuests are Feminine. Who Knew?
I keep track of mentions of the word WebQuest using Technorati, which tracks the travails of pre-service teachers creating WebQuests in a required class, and occasionally the wails of high school kids who were assigned a WebQuest. I learn a lot from reading these unedited accounts. Increasingly there are blogs in Spanish, Portuguese and Chinese that mention WebQuests, too, and today I noticed something I hadn't thought of before: WebQuests are girly.Here's the evidence: "Las WebQuest", "Una WebQuest", "La WebQuest", "Esta WebQuest" and there are lots more where those came from.
27 Comments:
About WQ's gender
I have defended that in Catalan webquest are male (see http://www.xtec.net/~sgiralt/labyrinthus/internet/webquest.htm ), because we have the word "quest" with the same meaning than in English ("search or pursuit") and the same medieval epic connotations and it is a male noun. But I think that I am the only one who uses WQ in male form , because the other users (see for instance http://www.webquestcat.org ) prefer the female gender, not after a linguistic reflection, I guess, but just by following the use in other languages (specially Spanish).
TA CHVR, SIGUE ASÍ!!!!!!!!!!!!
In Czech language we use masculine. Even if the word quest itself is in translation feminine. Maybe Web is the leading part there. Probably the main reason is that we don't translate this term.
I don't know!
In Spanish it would probably be feminine, as it would most likely translate to "busqueda del red" and the word "busqueda" is feminine. Busqueda means search, but the idea is the same.
Are other words the same gender in other languages, like beer. la bierre, le bierre, la cerveza, la birra? i'm not a speller.
Actually quest does not mean "Frage" (that would be question) but it means Suche or Streben (See also Leo).
I personally would use "Der Webquest" (masculine) without thinking about it. Though it might actually be more correct to use the neutral form ("das Webquest" because of "das Streben") or even female again ("die Webquest" because of "die Suche").
But somehow "der Webquest" sounds more natural.
My Spanish-speaking, English-as-a-Second-Language students tell me that they use the feminine because of the word "activity" follows "WebQuest" (either in reality or implied), and that the word for "activity" is feminine. In this case, I suppose, "WebQuest" is being used as an adjective.
Em portugues, "Pesquisa" é feminino e "Internet" também. Pesquisa em Internet? Duplamente feminino!
In swedish we dont have la, le, une, or una that shows the gender of the word. anyway in swedish Webquest is neutral(neutrum)
To S. Giralt: is Spanish always the scapegoat? Please...what about your 'la recerca'. In any case, since they are all Romance Languages (oops, yes, they come from the same place) gender root coincidences are quite common.
Using my German native speaker intuition, "das WebQuest" sounds most natural to me, making it neuter. The German language community seems to be split over "der/die/das WebQuest", though: Google yields approximately the same number of hits for each gender (even though you need to watch out for compounds like "die WebQuest-Methode" [method is feminine] -- in German, the word stem determines the gender). Oh well...
Well, Eileen, as a Latin teacher I know quite well that the Romance languages have the same origin... But there are some gender differences among them. For example the French word "quête" is feminine and instead in Catalan quest is masculine. I really don’t care very much if WQ feminine gender in Catalan is caused by Spanish influence or not. It was just a speculation. The question, I think, is that we have the same word quest than in English, and from the comments posted here one can think that it is the only language in which it happens (I am not sure, of course because I am not babelic). It would be a pity to forget that.
Otherwise I have just found out that some WQ builders use the word with masculine gender in Spanish. See: http://www.auladeletras.net/webquest/documentos/panorama/panorama.htm
http://platea.pntic.mec.es/~erodri1/
Hello
We say "une webquest" (feminine) in French.
I have a question: has "Webquest" become a brand?
Bernie, when do you come to Paris, France?
I'm sure you will love it!
Valérie
ProTeachers6@wanadoo.fr
In Russian, WebQuest is masculine due to its ending. Actually, the word is not widely used.
In Dutch it's Masculine.
In Catalan the concept is femenin (Una web quest)
Hi,
In french webquest is "a girl" because the gender of the word "quest" is feminine... or at least, I beleive this is how they came to choosing the gender of the webquest.
Cheers,
Gwenael Calvez
As Markus mentioned before I would also use the neuter article in German: "das WebQuest". I've never heard someone using the feminine article, but sometimes read "der WebQuest" which would be the masculine form. But most commonly used is - in my opinion - "das WebQuest" and this seems to be the most natural to me.
In Polish : web is feminine but WebQuest is neuter.
I agree with Ilan Chamovitz. Web quest is femenin in portuguese.
A webquest, uma Webquest.
Dulce Franco
Web pode significar teia que é feminino, bem como, Quest pode ser a abreviação de questão também feminino. Portanto mais uma vez duplamente feminino! :)
Hello everybody! My name is Wendel Hennen and I am writing my "Zweite Staatsarbeit" about WQ as an appropriate method of dealing with Neonazism in the internet in history lesson. I always use the feminine gender, because "Quest" is from the Latin "quaestio" (search, question). In medieval German there was also the word "questje" (question) with a feminine gender. But in fact in German every gender is possible. My collegue Matthias Nolte always uses the neutrum, and we still understand each other ;-)
I very much prefer the feminine gender for "WebQuest" in German, basically because it translates as "Suche" (f.) as in "Quest for the Holy Grail" = "(die) Suche nach dem Heiligen Gral".
I've been observing some classes, and some students suggest that WebQuests are female. "Wow, this WebQuest is gonna be a -----". I don't have the language background some of the other posters have, but I'm sure that word has feminine connotations. ;)
Just enjoying the comments and grateful to find the site.
@wendel: sorry, but I always use the feminine gender. In all my publications I write about "die WebQuest".
May be that is why we understand each other ;-)
Webquest would be feminine because the german word for quest or search is die suche. it could be die Internet such literaly or otherwise I would make it neuter as in das webquest.
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