USC Communications Professor Placed On Leave after Using Chinese Word That Sounds Like Racial Slur

[taro]

This was an easy guess from reading the title. My ex's mom only spoke to my ex in Mandarin and this was not a word I knew beforehand. Granted, most of my experience hearing Mandarin came from watching movies/TV or random passersby at one of the local asian markets.

I feel like USC should rescind this decision.

 

[Tiger Priest]

If you watch the video, he did nothing wrong. He was legitimately trying to explain disfluencies in a variety of languages.

 

[Deleted member 12224]

Reminds me of the time a Mexican guy named Enrique (Which has the diminutive Quique or Kike) had been banned from PSN or something for using the second form of the diminutive in his PSN name.

We've come to the point where people speaking other languages have the onus of making sure nothing they say can be misinterpreted in the English language, which is both weird and sad. This will certainly be ammo to racists too.

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I had to spend 10 seconds searching to check because this triggered a vague memory.

Of all people, you really shouldn't be complaining about the "weird and sad" circumstances about someone getting banned from an online platform for the username "kike".

 

[Squarehard]

The 'nei ge' pronunciation is something that I usually hear mainlanders use.
If I'm not wrong it's actually a contraction of 'nah yi ge'.

In Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan folks would usually use 'nah ge'.

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Nah yi ge is, which or which one, while nei ge is, that or that one.

So if anything, if someone asks the first, you would respond with the second typically.

 

[Divvy]

re: the "space" in between nei4 and ge4. In the video, the prof (who is white) says it really fast. Faster than it is said naturally. Basically the equivalent of us saying "um-um-um-um-um-um" instead of the more typical "ummmmm..." as a filler word. But repeating the same sound quickly in an example is a common staple in American English expression, so he just applied that to a Chinese word.

Still incredibly inoffensive, but I can see how both the professor and the student who visited China or whatever can both be right.

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Repeating it really fast is kind of the equivalent of a long drawn out "ummmmmm" or "uhhhhhh"

Drawing out syllables isn't really a thing in common speech in mandarin in my experience

 

[thermopyle]

Them "reaching out" to their Chinese classmates sounds like bs lol

The next blurb also radiates "I don't know how much you know about Japanese culture but..." energy 😂

USC needs to apologize to this dude.

 

[Lumination]

Repeating it really fast is kind of the equivalent of a long drawn out "ummmmmm" or "uhhhhhh"

Drawing out syllables isn't really a thing in common speech in mandarin in my experience

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I'm a native speaker and I agree with you, but I've never heard it at THAT speed. Either way, not a big deal.

 

[Pet]

Nah yi ge is, which or which one, while nei ge is, that or that one.

So if anything, if someone asks the first, you would respond with the second typically.

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It really depends on the tone I think.

In my head, depending on the tone, nah yi ge could sound like
"Which one?"
"Take one."
"That one."

 

[Deleted member 46493]

Lol. I used to live in Chinatown and heard this daily but it made sense after I asked. No idea why the guy got in trouble.

 

[Green]

I remember our class having a field day when they learned the French word for seal.

 

[Pixel Grotto]

He should not have been placed on leave. But since this is also being only reported on conservative news outlets thus far I feel like there's a "here's what leftists are doing to our schools" agenda here.

 

[Harry Potter Obama]

I guess this is what happens when a generation of kids raised by extremely-online tumblr communities goes to college.

 

[Divvy]

I'm a native speaker and I agree with you, but I've never heard it at THAT speed. Either way, not a big deal.

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Yeah it's fast, maybe my family is just a bunch of fast talkers haha

 

[ToddBonzalez]

I went to a grad program that had a bunch of Chinese students. I heard this a lot when they were talking amongst themselves. I finally got up the courage to ask what it meant one day (needless to say I know it wasn't the actual slur, but I was curious).

 

[Mona]

that moment when you realize there are other languages besides your own and you don't have a monopoly on human phonetics

extremely-online

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[Desi]

I went to china a few years ago and this filler word was a huge culture shock for me as a black person.

I was in Beijing and they say it ALOOOOTTTTT. I asked my host immediately about it.. and he explained that its a filler word..
But sometimes had a sneaking suspicion that they were doing it on purpose.. like im walking into the store Im hearing "Neegaahh" every 10 words or so
Then when they see me they started saying "Neeggahh" every 3 words...

Funny experience, i have to admit

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this had me dying. Turn it up to 11 when you nearby

 

[Prinz Eugn]

re: the "space" in between nei4 and ge4. In the video, the prof (who is white) says it really fast. Faster than it is said naturally. Basically the equivalent of us saying "um-um-um-um-um-um" instead of the more typical "ummmmm..." as a filler word. But repeating the same sound quickly in an example is a common staple in American English expression, so he just applied that to a Chinese word.

Still incredibly inoffensive, but I can see how both the professor and the student who visited China or whatever can both be right.

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I've heard it repeated as in the video many times; I assume it's probably regionally specific but it's definitely A Thing.

 

[Addleburg]

Reading the Yahoo article and watching the video, the leave seems unwarranted. I know how jarring the word can be when you hear the first time, but he roots it in the proper context here. I remember first hearing the word in Grad school, where a lot of international Chinese and Taiwanese students attended. I'd hear the word peppered in their conversations, and I think a friend finally told me what it meant.

Even before this explanation, I never assumed these students were saying anything pejorative. And in this video of this instructor it's clear as day that he's saying a non-English word and not just dropping the word in without mention of the language he's quoting.

 

[trugc]

Has USC ever consulted any native speaker before making the decision?

 

[Pet]

I would like to point out how interesting it is that all these right wing outlets, who had no problem with "wuhan virus" as not racist or sinophobic statements otherwise, are suddenly SO concerned with "respecting Chinese language and culture."

 

[Davidion]

I would like to point out how interesting it is that all these right wing outlets, who had no problem with "wuhan virus" as not racist or sinophobic statements otherwise, are suddenly SO concerned with "respecting Chinese language and culture."

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Yeah, fuck them

 

[purplemonkey111]

Has USC ever consulted any native speaker before making the decision?

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based on the fact they suspended the professor...I would say no. Since any real native speakers will tell them that the student complaint is full of shit.

 

[Divvy]

I would like to point out how interesting it is that all these right wing outlets, who had no problem with "wuhan virus" as not racist or sinophobic statements otherwise, are suddenly SO concerned with "respecting Chinese language and culture."

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Yup, this whole story seems suspect though. The fact that it's from the National Review is one thing but it also has a very typical minority divide and conquer feel to it.

 

[SecondNature]

He seems like a caring professor just based on how enthusiastically he speaks. I have to imagine his students dont agree with the university either

 

[Easy_D]

Thats super dumb wtf, way to indirectly shit on another language too with this idiot decision as well

 

[balohna]

There's a special level of ignorance to the world at large that leads to suspending someone over the use of a harmless Chinese word because it sounds a bit like a racial slur in English. Like what is this dude gonna be doing, subtly teaching his students to say the Chinese words that sound like specific English-language racial slurs?

 

[Kin5290]

This is absolutely disgusting on the students and university's part. They owe this professor an apology. And the student's claim of there being a space between the syllables is complete nonsense.

Also, you hear about it much less in an international setting, due to the Chinese government's use and promotion of Mandarin over Cantonese, but the Cantonese word for "this" or "this one" is pronounced "nige", and Cantonese people use it a lot. They aren't dropping the n-word either.

 

[jaekeem]

give him back pay

what a joke

 

[SilentPanda]

It's on Taiwan news too~~

用中文說這「2字」！美國南加大教授慘遭停職 網全震驚 | 生活 | NOWnews今日新聞

美國一名南加州大學的教授，在解釋語言的相對詞時，將英文的「that」解釋等同中文的「那個」，雖然標音算是標準，但聽在黑人學生的耳裡卻不是如此，隨後被指控發音聽起...

www.nownews.com

 

[Senator Toadstool]

Even if there is a "break" in the word, there's this thing called syncope.

How do you say Worcester, I would have, library? Likely woster, I'd've, and li-bur-e.

This is white people, thinking their woke but actually doing colonialism.

 

[Chikor]

How do you say Worcester

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I don't have to answer questions, I'm not on trial here.
This is a witch hunt.

 

[RealTravisty]

Lol, Russell Peters called someone getting in trouble for this years ago. I knew it'd be that word.

 

[djinn]

那个？really? But you pronounce it nah ge. Not a native speaker, btw.

Edit: enough other people in this have pointed out that how common it is to confuse the two words when hearing them for the first time. Damn, I never realised.

 

[tiebreaker]

lol, guessed the word correct when I read the title.

 

[Tya]

Even if there is a "break" in the word, there's this thing called syncope.

How do you say Worcester, I would have, library? Likely woster, I'd've, and li-bur-e.

This is white people, thinking their woke but actually doing colonialism.

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It was black people who complained.

 

[Kin5290]

It was black people who complained.

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So it's black people, thinking they're woke but actually doing colonialism.

 

[Raftina]

Alternative English source:

https://poetsandquants.com/2020/09/...a-chinese-term-that-is-similar-to-the-n-word/

Personally, I have heard 那个 both as na ge and nei ge, and I have heard it used both in rapid repetition and with dragged out vowel sound. What I never have heard is someone pausing between the two characters.

 

[Septimus Prime]

It's such a common phrase in Mandarin that I don't even think about it. Imagine if "that" or even "um" sounded like an offensive word in another language.

 

[KimiNewt]

When being woke goes wrong.

Like people here said, this would have been solved if the students and the professor just talked to each other.

 

[Pet]

Alternative English source:

https://poetsandquants.com/2020/09/...a-chinese-term-that-is-similar-to-the-n-word/

Personally, I have heard 那个 both as na ge and nei ge, and I have heard it used both in rapid repetition and with dragged out vowel sound. What I never have heard is someone pausing between the two characters.

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I mean, I have. It's not common, but it happens. Usually nonnative speakers, though.

 

[ChippyTurtle]

Eh. If the only corroborating source you can find of this is National Review, Reason, and Campus Reform, who really don't hire any journalists but only hire opinion makers and obviously have a very clear ideological bent around this, I'd be skeptical of the original story. Yahoo News does not really have an editorial department that fact checks stories published by their freelancers.

Was this professor really placed on leave for using a Chinese word? That just seems very unlikely. Could there have been some other parts of this story that contributed to their leave? Is "A pause in teaching while we review this" being "put on leave?" THe semester just started, how long has this "pause" been going on for, what's the conditions of the "leave," when did he teach the class? Colleges, especially colleges like USC with enormous administrative staff and faculty review boards, don't just put their professors on leave without reviews. There's conversations with department chairs, students, administrative review boards; there's an enormous bureaucracy in colleges, especially state colleges.

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.
Decent chances theres something more here. But if not, hopefully the students and the college and the professor can speak about it and express their opinions, and he can continue to teach.

 

[Septimus Prime]

If you want to get even crazier, some Mandarin dialects actually append an "er" suffix to trailing "a" sounds.

So, you know, you can imagine.

 

[Chopchop]

Sounds like something that should have been cleared up long before someone put him on leave.

I get that it can raise alarm bells to people who don't know the language because then it sounds like someone is talking behind someone's back. But you know, you could ask them what it meant first before flipping the fuck out about it.

 

[SilentPanda]

If you want to get even crazier, some Mandarin dialects actually append an "er" suffix to trailing "a" sounds.

So, you know, you can imagine.

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Well~ you have to remember, China is very very big~~
And even if the majority speak mandarin chinese, they still have local speak(Shainghai sound completely different from Beijing nese, which is different from Taiwanese, and Cantonese and Hakka)



Here's a clip of alot of the different...speak(Not sure english word to use)

 

[kayos90]

I didn't even need to open this thread to know what the word was. I had a Chinese friend in high school who used this word when he spoke to his parents in Chinese. *sigh*

 

[soulluos]

Knew what this was going to be before I clicked through.

This same story comes up every couple years.

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o

 

[Tsuyu]

I would like to point out how interesting it is that all these right wing outlets, who had no problem with "wuhan virus" as not racist or sinophobic statements otherwise, are suddenly SO concerned with "respecting Chinese language and culture."

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They'll be promoting chinese language now so that the racist can say it out and use this as an defence.

Next step would saying mandarin is mostly ching chong because they studied the language and have the authority over native speakers.

 

[Anko]

I'm Singaporean, and we (at least my family does) use both "na ge" and "nei ge". It's really hard to think of specific use cases for words as basic as this, but off the top of my head it's more of when you wanna emphasise *that*, "you know, *that* one" when using "nei". It's pretty common to hear this on TV too and I've honestly never really paid much attention to it. Accent difference perhaps. Never thought it sounded like the n word before but that's because I know what it's supposed to be I guess. I'm sick of people being offended by something that's perfectly normal in my culture though. Like I'm supposed to know everything about their culture and be mindful of it but not the other way round.

 

[darkhunger]

Well~ you have to remember, China is very very big~~
And even if the majority speak mandarin chinese, they still have local speak(Shainghai sound completely different from Beijing nese, which is different from Taiwanese, and Cantonese and Hakka)



Here's a clip of alot of the different...speak(Not sure english word to use)

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Those are what we call in English different Chinese dialects, which isn't really the issue here... it's more Mandarin Chinese itself and its different accents . The northern Chinese Mandarin accent tends to use the "nei ge" filler word the most, and people there also have a habit of also adding a "r" sound to the end of words, so it sounds extremely like the n-word. Southern Chinese people who use the same word pronounce it differently since (1) they don't use it as a filler word and (2) they tend to have a harder time with rolling their tongues to pronounce the "r" sound since their respective dialects don't use it as much.

 

[Hermii]

The students' response makes sense, however this part is something I haven't seen.

I've taken Chinese classes in college for 3 years and studied abroad in Shanghai, and I cannot recall a teacher ever making this warning. The closest thing I've heard to it is an anecdote from a teacher about someone they knew getting into trouble accidentally, but that's it. That being said, my classes didn't have any black students enrolled in them, so it never had to come up.

The NR article links a video of the moment in question:


I think its in line with the typical pronunciation of that phrase, but I'll cede to anyone that knows more than me, since my experience with the language is limited.

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Im white European so what do I know? But this really doesn't strike me as racist in the least.