Wanted: Ebonics Translator for Federal DEA Job

Originally posted by VirginiaRisesYetAgain

Originally posted by airspoon
With that being said, I think ebonics is the most retarded "trend". It's not that they are speaking a new language, it's that they can't quite understand their own language, though try as they might.

It's not a "trend." Blacks have been speaking with their own dialect ever since white men first started bringing them here and thrusting them into servitude often with no knowledge at all of the English language. The original first two lines of Dixie were, "I wish I was in de land of cotton / Old times dar am not forgotten."

Languages evolve with their people. It happens. Yankees don't speak like Southerners either, or Californians, and the English themselves actually get on my nerves with their accents. It's not their faults but I find ebonics infinitely more tolerable than a shrill English accent and something about crumpets. Not to mention the English have butchered their own language more since Elizabethan times than many isolated parts of the US and abroad have. There are still people in isolated parts of Eastern Virginia and North Carolina that are said to speak the closest thing to Elizabethan English still in existence today:

I don't suppose you'll be in a hurry to "correct" your English back to the way they speak it, you know, so you can properly understand how to speak "your own" language, because you have grown attached to your local dialect. We could even still go back to "Olde English" if we really wanted but I don't think anyone is in a hurry.


I don't like the blending of our various dialects. I don't like the fact that mainstream TV is killing off local dialects all over the country. It's good that people stay close to their roots and remember where their families came from, why, and their values.

Down here I hear lots of words I don't seem to see or hear much anywhere else. Yonder, reckon, ya'll, ma'am, fixin' ('fixin to rain'), etc., etc. That's what I grew up hearing and whenever I hear that kind of stuff it sentimental of home. I imagine it's the same for anyone.

[edit on 24-8-2010 by VirginiaRisesYetAgain]

thank you for adding sense to a thread that seemed to head to stupidity just prior to your post.

i really dont need to say anything more.

If interested in the job then your studies should begin here.

Originally posted by airspoon
If this was any other government agency, I would be angry that tax-dollars are being used in such a way but this particular agency is tasked with beating back the crack problem in our country so I can understand.

With that being said, I think ebonics is the most retarded "trend". It's not that they are speaking a new language, it's that they can't quite understand their own language, though try as they might. Then, you have the people who purposefully speak this was to appear cool, as if they too are from the ghetto with no education or guidance. Personally, I wish that society would shun those who can't even take the time to learn their own proper language, at least to a degree in which your spoken word is understandable.

--airspoon


Edit to add:

I actually take back what I said about not being angry over our tax-dollars being used to pay these ebonics translators. What we should do, is just say that if you can't speak a proper language, I guess you won't understand what is being done to you. "your loss".

This is crazy! Ebonics is not be a new language or even dialect. Rather, it is just mangled English, for those who either can't comprehend real English or pretend not to.

[edit on 24-8-2010 by airspoon]

This is not a trend...

Ever read uncle Remus as a kid with br'er rabbit and br'er bear? Ebonics right there buddy...

"One time B'er Deer an' B'er Cooter (Terrapin) was courtin', and
de lady did bin lub B'er Deer mo' so dan B'er Cooter. She did bin
lub B'er Cooter, but she lub B'er Deer de morest. So de young
lady say to B'er Deer and B'er Cooter bofe dat dey mus' hab a
ten-mile race, an de one dat beats, she will go marry him.

"So B'er Cooter say to B'er Deer: 'You has got mo longer legs dan
I has, but I will run you. You run ten mile on land, and I will
run ten mile on de water!'

So now, where do you think this ebonics comes from?


Get a clue, people don't follow languages, they create them. That's why the dictionary is constantly being revised, because it is a lagging indicator of the evolution of a language.

Language is meant for one thing... Communication. I can converse fluently with any Ebonics speaking person and they communicate quite well.... Except for those who don't come from where they do, live how they do, eat how they do, and do business as they do.

Now im not saying, we should elevate this dialect... Im simply saying its not a trend.... It's a creole, just like Cajun .... You gonna hate on the cajuns now too?

[edit on 24-8-2010 by HunkaHunka]

[edit on 24-8-2010 by HunkaHunka]

now daint nuttin wrong wit a way a man speak his mine,
aint nuttin a make fun a,
long as at man gots a good heart in him how you no he ain gone someday give his hand ta you when you needin help but yous not smarta nuff a to axe fo it?
judging all bout away a person talk so quick ya dont no what they got inside jus may come back an put teef in ya lay ta on.
bess all be careful cause all this skoolin aint good fo nuttin ta keep ya live when the shtf,
all college an no knowledge kilt many a foo !
aint dat right?
mmmm hhhmmm!

Instead of thinking of it in some racial terms, think about it like this; its a cultural language evolution and the DEA needs translators. Even better, its a code. They need people who already understand the cipher.

But this is boring. Let's get real. How about we don't need the DEA, we arm every citizen, enact the Biblical belief that judgment belongs to God alone and start shooting each other at random. By the time the dust clears...bam...no more drug dealers or addicts... or a whole lot them and none of you...who I will also be shooting at.

All of this is completely off topic and I acknowledge my punishment. That being said this post should not be on the front page, the mods need to adjust the site to reflect an actual periodical and put this crap in the back with the rest of the Help Wanted ads. Also I have a treadmill for sale.

As usual the salient point is missed entirely. This comment from the article sums it up quite nicely:

"The comments here are ridiculous. People here seem to think that this is some vindication of Ebonics. Do you know what the DEA is, folks, and why they want Ebonics translators? The DEA wants to turn the slave descendant into the Black defendant . . . and then throw him in jail for drug sales. Is this some vindication of blacks, improper English, or anything else? Yall better check yoselves and dats fo shizzle!" -- Buckwheat90210 Comment on Article

reply to post by Smack


And as usual, people start talking smack without doing more than skimming the other posts.

"So dont worry, those of you who fear the "American way of life" is endangered. It isnt. These agents are going to be talking to the people who are committing, witnessing, or know something about crimes. They are going to be talking to the people who are already marginalized because of their English skill and for other reasons, and Ebonics will not take over the world any time soon."

Different phrasing, but same point. The use of Ebonics isnt to elevate the Ebonics speakers, but to more efficiently incarcerate and keep an eye on them.

Okay... at first I thought this post was a joke. Then, my initial reaction was annoyance... just wondering if they had to ax to conversate. Seems like almost anyone could become an expert in ebonics, just listen to enough rap.

Now that I've read everyone's response and weighed what has been said, I'm thinking black people everywhere should get in touch with the ACLU and file a class action suit against the DEA because it is apparent that the DEA is prejiduced and thinks there is an issue with black people and drug enforcement.

Guess you'd have to get experts in Cajun if you were after shrimp thieves or, proper english if you're after bank(robb)ers?

Originally posted by Scalded Frog


Guess you'd have to get experts in Cajun if you were after shrimp thieves or, proper english if you're after bank(robb)ers?

In Hawaii and areas of Louisiana where Creole is spoken widely, you would probably already have some percentage of people who had learned proper English, gone to college, and ended up in law enforcement of some kind. Those are broad regions where the creoles are spoken, and it covers many socio economic levels, not just the very poor.

The problem seems here that many people who grow up speaking Ebonics dont seem to be graduating college or otherwise ending up in good end of the DEA. Although I am sure they have a fair number of black agents, not all black people grow up speaking that way. Many of them grow up speaking proper English. Especially the ones who also end up going to school and getting jobs in law enforcement.

Ebonics isnt limited as much to a region, where many "classes" of people all end up speaking it. (Like pidgen in Hawaii or creole in Louisiana does) It is more a socio economic group "the very poor" who end up speaking it. And the very poor often dont end up in institutions of higher learning, nor do all of those who do make it to college make it there without doing something that might disqualify them from service in some agencies.

reply to post by Illusionsaregrander


I'm confused. Are you agreeing or disagreeing? Yes I skimmed through the posts. They were missing this point. The DEA could give two Stihs about Ebonics.
They want to use blacks to imprison more blacks.
The war on drugs is a dismal failure - just like all of this fascist government's misadventures for the past 60 years. It was born of racism and it preys primarily on minorities and the poor.

reply to post by Smack


Sorry. The confusion was because I didnt quote properly. I made the point that I put in quotation marks but did not quote properly from my earlier post on the first page.

I do agree that the DEA is not bringing in Ebonics speakers to elevate Ebonics in any way. I stated that in my first post, and I think, in a subsequent one as well in response to people who seem to feel this is good for Ebonics speakers in some way.

I know a few words in 'Ebonics'. Here's a quick one; "Doctor Pepper". Ebonics/gang-banger slang term for a 12 gauge shotgun.

No Joke. ('Doctor' because the doctor fixes everything right up. And 'Pepper' to refer to buckshot. Hence "Doctor Pepper".)

Then I know some other gangster/street-terms in Spanish...

The Mexican gangster/street-slang term for an AK47 is a "Cuerno De Chivo". And if you hear the word 'Carnal'; it basically means 'brother'. Then there's also several different terms for coc aine (in Spanish), some of which include; Coca, Cocaina, Mugre. And then some.

Originally posted by TheWrongStuff
Instead of thinking of it in some racial terms, think about it like this; its a cultural language evolution and the DEA needs translators. Even better, its a code. They need people who already understand the cipher.

This is true. It'd be just like, say, if you have a DEA agent who was born and raised in Mexico (Say for instance: Mexico City). And he's needed to translate Spanish spoken among drug-dealers & gangsters in a place like Texas.

Believe me when I say that the translator is more than likely only going to be able decipher half of what they say. Because Spanish that is spoken in Texas compared to Spanish spoken deep in Mexico would be like comparing English spoken in USA to English spoken in London, England.

Spanish that is spoken in Mexico is different compared to Spanish spoken in Cuba, etc. Not all words mean the same thing. If you were to go to Mexico. The common word for soup would be 'Caldo'. If you go to Cuba the word for soup would be 'Sopa'. Yet if you go back to Mexico the word 'Sopa' would normally mean soap. And so forth and so on.

It's the same concept.

[edit on 8/24/10 by Marked One]

Originally posted by Scalded Frog
Okay... at first I thought this post was a joke. Then, my initial reaction was annoyance... just wondering if they had to ax to conversate. Seems like almost anyone could become an expert in ebonics, just listen to enough rap.

Now that I've read everyone's response and weighed what has been said, I'm thinking black people everywhere should get in touch with the ACLU and file a class action suit against the DEA because it is apparent that the DEA is prejiduced and thinks there is an issue with black people and drug enforcement.

Guess you'd have to get experts in Cajun if you were after shrimp thieves or, proper english if you're after bank(robb)ers?

Because no Cajuns sell drugs of course....

reply to post by Illusionsaregrander


Not to distract.... But creole and pidgin are abstract terms, not specific dialects.


Pidgin is that which is spoken when two cultures blend


A creole occurs a few generations later when that pidgin has become its own language and new words/phrases find there way into this....

Keep in mind, that languages are not designed, they emerge.

Besides the FACT that the 'war on drugs' is unethical, deeply rooted in racism therefore inherently racist among other injustices this goes to show how inept our police state is at dealing with the task they are assigned. The DEA is largely composed of college educated white men who have never spent anytime on the streets and were never involved in the drug trade(if they were they either had to lie to get hired or they are informant). Most of the agents simply in the dark of how the drug trade really works.

Their policy of going from the bottom up in a drug trade circle might sound good on paper but the reality is when someone low on the chain gets busted work spreads fast among that community and those who profit from the drug are smart enough to know someone has to get busted to get the heat off their area. What happens is a patsy is set up, usually someone the circle does not like or barely knows and they take the fall and credit of kingpin for that area. The DEA/LEO's think they have job well done when the reality is they were played for fools. Every so often they will get lucky and find a true big fish but the vast majority of the time the 'kingpin' is nothing but a fall guy.

As far as the ebonics/slang barrier goes, even high school kids know code words that are common for their region for various drugs and the amount. Those 'code words' are generally regionally even neighborhood specific and always evolving making deciphering a tapped phone call/text message extremely difficult without inside knowledge.

On the bright side at least some qualified people will be getting good government jobs that involves them doing next to nothing at the tax payers expense.