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Professor suspended for saying 那个 nà ge

languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu

151–160 of 540 posts

Re: Professor suspended for saying 那个 nà ge

#151

So in Korean, the word for "you" is 니가 (pronounced "nee-gah"). Example usage: 니가 언제 먹었어요? (When did you eat? "Nee-gah un-jeh mug-uss-uh-yo") I can't help but wonder if the use of this word would also elicit a similar reaction... EDIT: I briefly forgot this, but there is a similar Korean word "내가" which is "me" or "I", and pronounced "ne-gah". Example usage: 내가 이 밥을 먹었어요. (I ate this food. "Ne-ga ee bap-uhl mug-uss-uh…

"You" and "me" are pronunced "nee-gah" and "ne-gah"? Those sound very similar, does that ever lead to misunderstandings?

I know nothing about the language being discussed here, but the answer is no, it doesn't lead to misunderstandings. How do I know this? Because it's a natural language. The language exists for no reason other than the fact that it works. If the words sounded exactly the same you could safely assume that they either communicate the difference some other way, or the difference simply does not matter to them.

An example of communicating something in a different way would be how in Spanish the pronoun is completely dropped in most cases. This is because it's completely redundant as the verb will be conjugated to include the pronoun.

An example of things not mattering is in English where we don't distinguish between rivers that flow into other rivers and rivers that flow into the sea. French speakers might be confused (how do you know whether it's a fleuve or a rivière?), but the answer is we simply don't care.

When learning a natural language, always assume that it works for them. Your aim is not to be able to translate your language to theirs, it is to be able to communicate your thoughts into their minds. Keep an open mind about what's important to transfer and how this can happen.

Re: Professor suspended for saying 那个 nà ge

#152
post #36

那个 is the chinese equivalent to "uh/um". Just imagine how many times a probably nervous professor would say "uh/um" during a lecture. The professor also is likely not great at english or has a strong accent. Not sure how anyone could mistake this for a racial slur with hateful intent.

[deleted]

Re: Professor suspended for saying 那个 nà ge

#153
post #56

I just watched the video after reading the article, and the video -- if it's of the incident to which people were objecting -- wasn't as cringey as I expected it to be; however , I would've hoped that an expert who was lecturing about language and culture would've anticipated the problem, and been more sensitive to it. Maybe, if he saw the problem, he could've prefaced the example with warning, or otherwise acknowled…

> I would've hoped that an expert who was lecturing about language and culture would've anticipated the problem, and been more sensitive to it. I’m learning Mandarin Chinese and consequently have use "nei-ge" quite a high number of times and I also happen to know English and it NEVER occured to me it is somehow related to the n-word before today. People who want to see racism could find everywhere anyway, it’s a lost…

Its like the playing records backward craze in the 80s and trying to hear as many satanic words as possible

Re: Professor suspended for saying 那个 nà ge

#154
It's been obvious for a while that the US is primed for its own Cultural Revolution. It's why I ironically support the various West-Coast separatist movements, because the inevitable communist hell hole created would remind folks how bad life can be. Also ironically, Trump be the US' saving grace from all of this, at least for now.

Re: Professor suspended for saying 那个 nà ge

#155

I've gotten heat for saying this in the past, but the "student" community of certain academic departments are almost looking to be offended at anything these days. The perils of social media and cancel culture...

Those who can't create destroy. It's their way of making a difference.

Re: Professor suspended for saying 那个 nà ge

#156

For fucks sake. This sort dumbarse action sets back the cause of equality by a country fucking mile. This stuff happens when you take Dr DiAngelo too seriously and ignore what minorities are saying and just go with your ill informed guilt ridden heart. Clearly he wasn't saying what is implied. I had assumed that "nà ge" was a slur in mandarin(when I saw the original news report). Its 100% clear from context that its…

' who want to make this a "thing" '

Clearly it is a thing, why pretend otherwise? If this were some extremely small minority, it would not have such widespread cultural influence now. It is a thing.

Re: Professor suspended for saying 那个 nà ge

#158
post #145
post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Detective Barbie is very problematic due to extensive transphobic and gender-normative storytelling. Here at the UCC (University of Corrected Culture), we only allow our students to watch videos of kittens.

Damn you right! Thanks for the big laugh :) Are you watching the Kittens in B/W or are colors allowed?

There are only colours, comrade. Whiteness is not acceptable. Sounds like you need further education.

Re: Professor suspended for saying 那个 nà ge

#159
post #39

I've always found the US obsession with taboo words quite baffling. I used to tease Americans of my acquaintance by pretending to be offended when they said "oh my god" (dildo in French) or nick (fuck.) Context matters a lot in linguistic, and the Sapir-Worff hypothesis is not just unproven, it's almost certainly completely wrong.

Without trying to be alarmist, I have a feeling that's slowly spreading to Europe too, at least France and Germany.

[deleted]

Re: Professor suspended for saying 那个 nà ge

#160

WTF. There's is literally a stand-up skit[0] on this. Moreover, any quick research would show it's the Mandarin filler word. Plus, I dunno, just ask the other Mandarin-speaking faculties and students? Do you know the number 99 (nine-nine) sounds like the derogatory term for mammary glands in Mandarin? Are they going to redact every instance of the number on campus, on grounds of potential sexual harassment? [0] https…

They didnt have to ask mandarin speakers. The admin agree that it is a mandarin word, but that understandably people got upset because it sounds like an US slur.

> understandably

That's far from understandable for the majority of commenters in this thread, myself included.

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