An interesting point came up in one of my classes yesterday, when we were having a debate on cultural differences. One of my students started to use the word ‘nigger’ when making reference to black people. Of course this word is now unacceptable and has negatvie connotations and is considered racist by most.
The reference was in his vocab book, and other students knew the word and thought it was okay to use in general conversation. I told them that this is word that is no longer in general use and it’s meaning is pejorative, and shouldn’t be used.
I told my class that in english we no longer refer to Chinese people as Orientals or Chinamen or worse Wogs. They asked me why is this?
Why don’t I call you all the ‘Sick man of East Asia’ 东亚病夫 ‘dong1 ya4 bing4 fu1’ or maybe you refer to me as ‘British big nose’ ‘英国大鼻子’ ‘ying1 guo2 da4 bi2 zi5’
I said that preventing discrimination and increasing equal opportunities – in recent years- have become an important cornerstone in society, the idea that everyone is entitled to be treated on hi/her own merits. And this is reflected in the type of language people use. I also said that times change, and peoples attitudes change with them, words are the same. Words change over time, language is not static. It evolves over time.
I think they understood, though It must be strange to be told that using a word in your native language is okay, but using it in english is not. A good example of this in Chinese is 外国人 (wai4 guo2 ren2) or 老外 (lao3 wai4) both meaning foreigner. Chinese people use these words to describe anyone who is not from China. It’s okay and accepted – although many foreigers that I know don’t like it when they are referred to as 老外 (lao wai).
If I say for example ‘look at the foreigners’ it could be considered offensive. But if I am Chinese and I say ‘wai guo ren’ ‘kan’ ‘kan’- no problem.
It’s difficult not to sound like a racist when making such comparisons, i guess it is mainly a question of different cultures having different ways of doing things.
Another word that came to my attention was ‘cripple’. my immediate reaction was to laugh -i didn’t think she actually said that word!- then I told them that ‘disabled’ is perhaps a better word to use. They didn’t know the meaning of the word ‘disabled’ (actually the meaning of disabled is quite different from cripple) and thought it odd that words become fall out of use because they are deemed politically incorrect.
So I gave some more examples: policeman, fireman, chairman (Chairperson Mao doesn’t quite have the same ring to it!), worker, foreigner, etc etc etc.
For me one of the good things about the Chinese language is that they don’t worry about political correctness as much as other languages, and this is reflected in the english that many of the students use.
The question is when do I tell a student that the language he (or she) is using is not politically correct?
Personally I just use my common sense. If someone wants to use the word ‘workman’ then fine, if they use ‘cripple’ then i’ll tell them what I think.
Maybe there is a danger of going to far, for example, manhole cover being replaced by maintance cover. Waitron for waitress or waiter, the list goes on – replacing these words seems like a waste of time to me.
If the language is sexist/racist or pejorative then fair game, but I don’t agree with change for change’s sake.
Here is a good example I found, allbeit a little over the top:
The fireman put a ladder up against the tree, climbed it, and rescued the cat”
The firefighter (who happened to be male, but could just as easily have been female) abridged the rights of the cat to determine for itself where it wanted to walk, climb, or rest, and inflicted his own value judgments in determining that it needed to be ‘rescued’ from its chosen perch. In callous disregard for the well-being of the environment and his and others health and safety, and this one tree in particular, he thrust the mobility-disadvantaged unfriendly means of ascent known as a ‘ladder’ carelessly up against the tree, marring its bark, and unfeelingly climbed it, unconcerned how his display of physical prowess might injure the self-esteem of those differently-abled. He kidnapped and unjustly restrained the innocent feline with the intention of returning it to the person who claimed to ‘own’ the naturally free animal. The firefighter later filed a lawsuit claiming compensation for unjustly suffering the indignity which happened to breach his Human Rights and exposure to possible injury that climbing a tree entails. He won 100% compensation, thus making tree climbing impossible forever. The council later cut the tree down to avoid such an incident occurring again.
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