Read and translate the text. Do the tasks that follow it.        The demand for large numbers of Spanish translators in America’s war on drugs will come as no surprise given the route cocaine takes to the US

US drug agency recruits speakers of ‘street slang’.

       The demand for large numbers of Spanish translators in America’s war on drugs will come as no surprise given the route cocaine takes to the US. But an attempt to recruit people who speak what some controversially regard as a homegrown United States language has put the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in the unique position of seeking translators to understand what African Americans are saying to each other.

       The administration is hiring nine speakers of Ebonics – a term that appeared in the mid-1970s to describe US black vernacular English – to translate wiretaps and video surveillance tapes to a standard that will allow government agents to track criminal deals and that will stand up in court.

       Ebonics is described by some linguists as ‘English incorporating the grammar of African languages’, but as it also includes many words invented on the streets, it is dismissed by others as mere slang. Nonetheless, the administration is confused enough to ask firms providing translation services to provide the nine Ebonics translators to cover an area from Washington DC to New Orleans and Miami and even Caribbean. The move is a contentious one. American officials have in the past denied that there is any such thing as Ebonics. “A lot of times people think you’re just dealing with a few slang words, and that you can finesse you way around it, ” John Rickford, a Stanford University linguistics professor, told the Associated Press. “But it’s a big vocabulary. There are some significant differences.”

       Although Ebonics has been rejected as a concept by many scholars, it drew nationwide attention in 1966 when a school board in Oakland, California decided to recognize it as a primary language and to offer instruction. The move was widely criticized as likely to undermine African American children’s command of English. Jesse Jackson, the African American civil rights leader, described it as a “unacceptable surrender, bordering on disgrace.” He later changed his position, saying he had misunderstood that the school’s intent was to use Ebonics to improve the students’ English.

       “It seems ironic that schools that are serving and educating black children have not recognized the legitimacy of this language, ” said H. Samy Alim, a Stanford linguistics professor. “Yet the authorities and the police are recognizing that this is a language that they don’t understand. It tells us a lot about where we are socially in terms of recognizing African American speech.”

       The administration’s need for Ebonics translators was revealed in a document outlining its requirements, first published by The Smoking Gun (a website belonging to Turner Entertainment Digital Network that uploads material obtained from government and law enforcement sources, via freedom of information requests).

       The administration says most of its requirements involve Latin American Spanish but it is also seeking people fluent in 114 languages listed either as “common” or “exotic”. The common tongues include Arabic, Farsi and Punjabi. On the exotic list are Baloch from Iran, Berber dialects, Chimora from Guam, Ibo from Nigeria and Norwegian. The Ebonics translators are to be assigned to the Atlanta Field Division where there will be a similar number of Vietnamese, Korean and Laotian speakers – and 144 Spanish translators.

 

Task 1. Fill the gaps in the sentences using these key words from the text.

       legitimacy             undermine            authorities            vernacular

       field division         wiretaps                slang                      contentious

1. words or expressions that are very informal and are not considered suitable for more formal     situations _______________

2. the language spoken by a particular group or in a particular area, when it is different from the formal written language ______________

3. equipment that secretly lets telephone conversations be heard or recorded _______________

4. Something that is _______________ causes disagreement between people or groups.

5. When you _______________ something you make it gradually less effective, confident or successful.

6. the fact that something is legal, real fair or reasonable _______________

7. officials or people who work for official organizations that have power to make people obey rules _______________

8. a section of an organization, the employees of which work outside and not just in offices _______________

 

Task 2. In the US series, The Wire, Baltimore police spend hours listening to wiretaps. How good do you think you would be at working out what is being said? Match the Ebonic language

on the left with the more standard English on the right.

 

1. We got to book                                                a. Is he scared?

2. I need a re-up.                                                  b. Bye. Got to get to work.

3. Word is bond.                                                  c. I may have to kill him; I mean it.

4. I might got to drop him; I ain’t even playing.  d. I might be able to teach you something

                                                                                  about that; I beat him up.

5. I might could school you here; I banked him. e. I need a new supply (e.g. of drugs)   

6. Got $10 I can hold?                                          f. We’ve got to leave.

7. Is he shook?                                                      g. I mean it.

8. Well, later. I got to grind.                                h. Can I borrow $10?

 

Task. 3. Discuss the following questions.

 

1. Are there any expressions, or special ways of communicating, used by young people in your area that older people may not understand?

2. How much has your language changed in the course of two generations? Do you use the same terms as your grandparents do/would have done?

           

 

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