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About LinkBacksDEA seeks Ebonics experts to help with cases
ATLANTA – Federal agents are seeking to hire Ebonics translators to help interpret wiretapped conversations involving targets of undercover drug investigations.
The Drug Enforcement Administration recently sent memos asking companies that provide translation services to help it find nine translators in the Southeast who are fluent in Ebonics, Special Agent Michael Sanders said Monday.
Ebonics, which is also known as African American Vernacular English, has been described by the psychologist who coined the term as the combination of English vocabulary with African language structure.
Some DEA agents already help translate Ebonics, Sanders said. But he said wasn't sure if the agency has ever hired outside Ebonics experts as contractors.
"They saw a need for this in a couple of their investigations," he said. "And when you see a need — it may not be needed now — but we want the contractors to provide us with nine people just in case."
The DEA's decision, first reported by The Smoking Gun, evokes memories of the debate sparked in 1996 when the Oakland, Calif., school board suggested that black English was a separate language. Although the board later dropped the suggestion amid criticism, it set off a national discussion over whether Ebonics is a language, a dialect or neither.
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DEA seeks Ebonics experts to help with cases - Yahoo! News
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23rd August 2010 10:23 PM #1Senior Member Array
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DEA seeks Ebonics experts to help with cases
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23rd August 2010 11:12 PM #2Appreciative Member
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that's wack!
Take me home Momma and put me to bed. I have seen enough to know I have seen too much.
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23rd August 2010 11:54 PM #3Don't Mess with Texas
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If Palin were ever to become President (God Forbid) - would we have to hire Palinbonics translators?
I suppose I can understand the callous selfish disregard of the conservatives. It is their pride in it that passes me by. Rack Jite
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24th August 2010 05:26 AM #4Senior Member
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Whaatchu talking about Willard??
He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.
Winston Churchill
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24th August 2010 06:42 AM #5Conservatively Liberal
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The first thing I thought of when I saw this story, was Barbra Billingsley in "AIRPLANE!"
"I speak Jive..."
Still, does it really matter if it's a separate language or a dialect? If some words or phrases or pronounciations are beyond the current force, you still need to hire someone (or in this case, 9 someones) who can translate for you. Hell, theoretically, we all speak the same language, but I swear I need a "translator" for some things, when I jump the pond to England or Scotland. Most words I can figure out from the context, but others are nearly incomprehensible. Is it so hard to believe that a bunch of white, middle aged DEA agents wouldn't necessarily know the vernacular of of street dealers, if they were not regularly out on the street?There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world.
The other, of course, involves Hobbits and Orcs.
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24th August 2010 06:47 AM #6Senior Member Array
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Dialect and, yes, I thought of the same thing:
Documentary about those scenes: YouTube - The Making of Jive Talk from Airplane!Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963
"When rules are selectively administered, when bias influences who is punished and who is not then everyone will begin to doubt the justice of the system."
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24th August 2010 06:54 AM #7Schaden My Freude Array
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fo shizzle!
Originally Posted by boontito
As a Democrat, I take solace in the fact that the Republicans have nominated the guy who lost the nomination to the guy who lost the presidency to the guy who is now the President.
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24th August 2010 06:54 AM #8Senior Member
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Two points: Originally Posted by NiteGuy
1. Most of the street agents are young men.....It's a young man's game. (I was 25 when I joined DEA)
2. DEA agents are out on the street every day of their careers, so we get to know the vernacular of of street dealers very well.
I'm guessing this article has more to do with presenting evidence in court than it does working the streets for most agents.
Edit: btw...Spike has a TV series on DEA that's pretty good! http://www.spike.com/full-episode/tw...n-dollar/31100
(many of the older guys on this series are "Task Force" officers......local & state cops assigned to work with DEA in a cooperative arrangement.)He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.
Winston Churchill
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24th August 2010 06:55 AM #9Senior Member
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The whole question of "Dialect or Language?" is an artificial one really. It comes down to politics. There are languages so closely related that they are "interintelligible" by speakers of either, but are still considered separate languages. Swedish and Norwegian, for example. Or Urdu (the language of Pakistan) and Hindi (the language of India). Each set could easily be considered a single language, except the speakers of each have/had enough political clout to establish a separate identity.
An old linguists' joke: "What's the difference between a dialect and a language? A language has an army and a navy."http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2...#ixzz1mzxuiVUmEven when alternative views are clearly wrong, being exposed to them still expands our creative potential. In a way, the power of dissent is the power of surprise. After hearing someone shout out an errant answer, we work to understand it, which causes us to reassess our initial assumptions and try out new perspectives. “Authentic dissent can be difficult, but it’s always invigorating,” Nemeth says.
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24th August 2010 07:18 AM #10Appreciative Member
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Linguists are so cunning. Originally Posted by Rassales
Take me home Momma and put me to bed. I have seen enough to know I have seen too much.
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