Strange

DEA Needs 'Ebonics Translator' to Understand English

by Jordan Yerman | August 24, 2010 at 02:05 pm

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US Justice Department Seeks 'Ebonics Translator'

The DEA is having trouble understanding what the subjects of some of its investigations are saying. The US Justice Department put the word out that the DEA's Atlanta field office needs Ebonics translators: people who can readily speak African American English.

Without addressing whether or not it considers Ebonics a true language, the DEA acknowledges that the phenomenon is crippling its ability to understand some of its own secret recordings.

The document (linked above, via The Smoking Gun)lists Ebonics as a "common language" in the US, which raises the question of why a US-based agency has so much trouble understanding it. Were none of Atlanta's active agents raised anywhere in the South? The DEA is, to an extent, admitting an inability to speak English.

Many in the southern US are proud of their slang (just ask Trick Daddy or Ludacris), but for a law enforcement agency to be genuinely unable to transcribe audio tapes containing conversations between African-Americans speaks to a major disconnect between law enforcement and community. It's worth considering whether or not simply hiring "ebonics translators" will solve the problem.

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The DEA also needs people familiar with Creole patois, Jamaican patois, as well as languages such as Yiddish, Korean and Farsi.

The language request for Ebonics speakers is not a joke, though the DEA is about to become the butt of late-night talk-show humor for sure.

According to the proposal, the Atlanta field office is also looking for 144 Spanish linguists, 12 Vietnamese, and nine each for Korean and Farsi.
The Linguistic Society of America has shied away from taking an official stance on whether Ebonics is a legitimate language, but has said the fact that it's spoken with such frequency means it cannot be ignored.

Experts in Cockney rhyming slang are not apparently in high demand at this time, at least not by the DEA.

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Karen Hatter

at 19:58 on August 24th, 2010

When I first saw this, I immediately thought most likely what was needed was an understanding of colloquial dialog that can be heard throughout African American communities in America.

I watched with amusement, about a year ago, television coverage of President Obama's exchange with the person who took his order and brought him the food while he was on a burger run.

The place was packed. After paying for the order, when asked about the change, the President, standing amidst the crowd, taking the food, said something like, 'No. I'm straight' or 'No. We straight.'

A few of the cable news channels replayed the exchange, discussing it for a little over a day. They strained to hear, since the audio wasn't that good, exactly what the person delivering the food had said to President Obama.

Commentators tried to make a determination regarding what the President had meant, even erroneously connecting his remark as a reference to his sexuality. They finally turned to African American commentators.

I knew when I heard it, his remark just meant, 'You can keep the change.'

It didn't seem that hard to understand to me but, I guess ....

African American dialog, in an urban setting, might be best thought of like the patois of those of African descent living in the Caribbean or the Gullah dialect, heard spoken in the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida, adapted for the inner city.

kendrick-poet (not verified)

at 09:49 on August 25th, 2010

Throughout the course of American history this has been the case . Selectively bit and picies of African Americian culture has been used and examined, but very little is understood by the masses. Often times the African Americaisms are considered as a by product of ignorance and satire. It it is not about fads and trends. even our speech pattern/patois and music are very rarely understood. Yet there are those who write about them and consider themselves masters of our crafts. If there is a need to illustrate aggression our rythms are envoked, a need to show the down trotted then in the movie there are the sounds of the blues. They do not understand the hand shakes, the fact that we readily call one other brother and sister, but we know when we see each other, there is no need for a translator, we are there. Regardless of where we are, what going on, we understand the how and when the question is ask it not about the change . our words even when not spoke keeps us straight.

kendrick-poet (not verified)

at 09:58 on August 25th, 2010

Throughout the course of American history this has been the case . Selectively bit and pieces of African Americian culture has been used and examined, but very little is understood by the masses. Often times the African Americaisms are considered as a by product of ignorance and social satire. It it is not about fads and trends. even our speech pattern/patois and music are very rarely understood. Yet there are those who write about them and consider themselves masters of our crafts. If there is a need to illustrate aggression our rythms are envoked, a need to show the down trotted then in the movie's sound track echoes the blues. They do not understand the hand shakes, the fact that we readily call one other brother and sister, but we know when we see each other, there is no need for a translator, we are there. Regardless of where we are, what going on, we understand the how and when the question is ask why , it not about the change . Our words even when not spoken keeps us straight.