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Laney College professor asked a Vietnamese student to “Anglicize” her name to accommodate him
- Thread starter Saya
- Start date
What a moron, anyone with half a brain would know it is not pronounced "Fuck boy". Then sending that email is just wrong on so many levels.
The name "dick" is literally accepted in American society.
The way the professor made this "request" you can tell that he was trying to make a "stand" against some imaginary line of "now we've gone too far with multiculturalism."
Learn to pronounce it properly.
The way the professor made this "request" you can tell that he was trying to make a "stand" against some imaginary line of "now we've gone too far with multiculturalism."
Learn to pronounce it properly.
Imagine actually thinking that would be a good thing to say to a student, with a paper trail, in 2020.
Even if he wasn't incredibly racist (which, to be clear, he very much is) he deserves to lose his teaching job because he's an idiot.
Even if he wasn't incredibly racist (which, to be clear, he very much is) he deserves to lose his teaching job because he's an idiot.
User Warned: Insensitive Commentary
... Is that pronounced how it looks like it is? I don't know if I could keep a straight face the first few times.
That being said, it's their name, just use it, christ. My current boss still misspells my last name despite working together for 8 months and I take huge insult every time he does it, and that's way less of an insult than this.
Even if you can't help yourself, just call them *Appropriate title* Nguyen instead.
That being said, it's their name, just use it, christ. My current boss still misspells my last name despite working together for 8 months and I take huge insult every time he does it, and that's way less of an insult than this.
Even if you can't help yourself, just call them *Appropriate title* Nguyen instead.
People do mock Asian names like this so I get why some people anglicize their own names, but that's not how you'd raise the issue if you're concerned about the other person. Hell, it's not your issue to raise. Just don't be an ass about their name and keep the thought in your head unless they tell you they're having problems with it.
Assumed.
Vietnamese is a tonal language and there would be quite a few ways to pronounce it depending on how it's written. There is a typical way her name is written and pronounced but you'd have to stretch it pretty hard to get fuck boy out of it.
Looking at it again, I wasn't even thinking about how it treats her like she doesn't understand the English language. This is bad on multiple levels.
Maybe he wants to fill in the vacancy of the "conservative professer oppressed by SJW students" niche left by Jordan Peterson.
Expect to hear the announcement of his self help book's release date by the end of the year.
I'd pronounce it Fook Bwee if I had to guess. I probably completely mangled her name but it's definitely not Fuck Boy.
He could have just asked her how to say it correctly
As hard as choosing anything else than "Eat a Dick" as an example to get your point across.
They'd certainly butcher Nguyen too, lord knows I did until I learned how it's said heh
Sure a million times better than asking her to anglicise it though!
Strange thing is that by his Twitter account he seems very liberal, messages in support of blm, against Rowling and Trump, etc. Though I wonder if these were added afterwards
(Same name, same city and tweeting about math when he is a math prof makes it an almost certain match)
(Same name, same city and tweeting about math when he is a math prof makes it an almost certain match)
Fuck are pronounced slightly similar to Phuc, but still distinct. But Boy and Bui are not even close.
I would have told him "pronounce it like "fook bwee" so there won't be any problems, but he doesn't need to include her middle name anyway! So what the heck?
I always end up telling people to pronounce my name as "fong" (Phuong) even though "foongh" is a closer sound approximation if I leave out the heavy tone, but it makes me cringe hearing people trying to pronounce that, so I went the easy route for non-tonal tongues lol.
Same with Nguyen. "weengh" is completely unintuitive, so I tell people to say "new yen" so I at least know it's me being addressed.
I always end up telling people to pronounce my name as "fong" (Phuong) even though "foongh" is a closer sound approximation if I leave out the heavy tone, but it makes me cringe hearing people trying to pronounce that, so I went the easy route for non-tonal tongues lol.
Same with Nguyen. "weengh" is completely unintuitive, so I tell people to say "new yen" so I at least know it's me being addressed.
Jesus. That guy is a professor?
The last time I heard people make fun of someone's name because it sounded a bit like something sexual was in high school, and even at that age it wasn't funny. Just ask her how to pronounce it...
Also, stuff like this always reminds me that while I have a pretty unusual name that people can struggle to pronounce, I've never, ever experienced a negative reaction to it. Because when you're white, 'foreign' sounding names are apparently no problem.
The last time I heard people make fun of someone's name because it sounded a bit like something sexual was in high school, and even at that age it wasn't funny. Just ask her how to pronounce it...
Also, stuff like this always reminds me that while I have a pretty unusual name that people can struggle to pronounce, I've never, ever experienced a negative reaction to it. Because when you're white, 'foreign' sounding names are apparently no problem.
It's actually not that hard if folks can bother to make an effort. Hope that bastard in the OP is fired.
It actually sounds bad to my ears when people miss out the exact tone, and makes me cringe when people wedge in tone in the middle of an english speech pattern. Might as well call me by a completely different name at that point lol. I am used to it by now anyway. Even my sibs just use my self-chosen "english" pnounciation when we're talking in English, which is almost all the time.
We just had a thread about an athlete named Ginny Fuchs Which Americans literally pronunce Fucks (the correct German pronunciation would also be different though) and people have rightly mentioned the name Dick.
Can't believe this was a real request.Fro
The thread title I thought he asked for something easier to pronunce.
No it isn't.
Can't believe this was a real request.Fro
The thread title I thought he asked for something easier to pronunce.
No it isn't.
There's a video of him saying P. Nguyen. He refused to say the name after the email. He's in Oakland so pretty common here.
My favourite is when I hear the name pronounced as Noo-Goo-Yen.
Sometimes NooGenn
In Australia, it's commonly pronounced (and tolerated) as Newen.
That's nothing you can blame people for though. The pronunciation quite difficult and even though I have an relatively easy name (not Nguyen), no westerner I know pronounced it right.
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I had a gym teacher pronounced it as ni-GUY-en haha. I let it slide because I thought it was funny if not awkward.
You'd pretty much have to take a course in linguistics to understand how the Vietnamese alphabet and accent tones work if it's not your native language, so I let a lot slide. It's probably not as hard as mandarin to learn, because at least there's an alphabet to sound out, but the pronounciations themselves are near impossible if you haven't trained to hear and say them for much of your life. Even my sibs have lost a lot of that ability.. their vietnamese speaking skills are terrible. Even mine are like.. early grade school level lol.
The first is how I pronounced it before lol
...dick
It's hard enough pronouncing pho. Non-Vietnamese people fuck up the saying all the time. No one demands it be called Vietnamese noodles in beef broth.
I had a Spanish teacher in high school insist my name was pronounced "Rah Mos" and not "Ray Mos". We pronounce it differently for a reason. Because my family fought the Spanish and then the US in the Philippines. So we pronounce it differently in defiance. Sure I sound like a Star Wars Jedi but whatever. We aren't what you want us to be. I am behind this Vietnamese student.
Yeah, he should have just asked her how she prefer him to pronounce it, tell her he is sorry if he messes up the first few times but he'll try, and leave it at that.
I still catch myself trying to sound out words as if I were in a phonics class the couple times a year I try reading Vietnamese haha. It's shocking.
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