After the lecture on august 20th, professor barton was closed.
The suspension of an American university professor sparked debate over the use of seemingly harmless Chinese words.
When Barton (Greg Patton), a professor at the University of Southern California (University of Southern California), talked about filler words in his communications class, he said there was "um, uh, you know ".
According to a widely circulated video on the Internet, Professor Barton said :" In China, the more common filler word is' that',' that',' that'".
A Chinese pronunciation of the word "that" approximates an English word beginning with a N that discriminates against African-Americans. He was opposed by some students and complained to the school. The school replied that Professor Barton would no longer teach the course.
"A teacher's use of words that marginalize, harm and harm students' psychological safety in the classroom is totally unacceptable ," said dean Garrett (Geoffrey Garrett. "
The school said Professor Barton voluntarily suspended classes during the investigation of the complaint.
After the controversy spread to China, many people posted on social media that the punishment for Professor Barton was discrimination against Chinese speakers.
Translation distortion
In Chinese context ," that "is a filler used when people hesitate or try to find the right word. But the word lead to misunderstandings and even violence.
One incident on fight, Guangzhou subway occurred in July 2016 when a black man heard a Chinese say "that" and mistook it for N word. fight the film spread on the Internet, black people slapped Chinese commuters and shouted "you dare say it again" and "never say it again! "
TW news website UDN reported in april that the two men were fighting almost outside a restaurant because of the same misunderstanding. Even chinese basketball star yao ming talks about the "troubles" he had when he played at the national basketball association (NBA) in america ".
Even Chinese basketball star Yao Ming has talked about the trouble the word caused him in NBA games.
General erro
Ms. Chen, a student at the University of Southern California, defended Mr. Barton, arguing that it was clearly "an academic lecture on communication ", while the professor" described the pervasive errors of communication ".
"It is a mistake and inappropriate to examine Chinese words simply because they sound like derogatory words in English and occur in a teaching context ," she said. It also refutes the fact that Chinese is a real language and its pronunciation has nothing to do with English. "
Currently, more than 11,000 people have signed petition letter requesting Professor Barton's reinstatement. In China, discussions are under way about whether the university response is too extreme.
At Sina Weibo, more than 1,000 posts commented on the topic tag of # U.S. university professors speaking Chinese, which was suspended because of racial discrimination, a move many see as a suppression of Chinese rhetoric.
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"Is it forbidden to speak Chinese in the United States now? "asked a Sina Weibo user.
"Political relevance"
During recent months, many Chinese have expressed solidarity with the "black life is life "(Black Lives Matter) movement. U.S. President Trump called Coronavirus "Chinese virus ","Coronavirus ", or even" Kung Fu virus ".
His language is often cited in Chinese media as an example of xenophobic attitudes towards Chinese people.
Chinese support for the movement.
Some users on sina's Weibo believe usc chose "politically correct" rather than real change. others are optimistic that the story will raise awareness of cultural differences rather than marginalize them.
Many believe that fighting discrimination together in recent months means that Asian and black communities should understand each other, not confront each other.
"Differences should be respected, Differences should be respected. "
Back in the United States, faculty and students at the University of Southern California responded to Professor Barton's suspension.
"No language is superior to another ," Wu Chengyan, co-chair of the union of Chinese Student Scholars at the University of Southern California, told the university's student news organization Chengyan Wu,. "
"The reconstruction of the rights of one minority should not come at the expense of the rights of another minority ," he said. We have the right to use our own language. "
