Justice Department Seeks Ebonics Translators

From the DEA's RFP

The Department of Justice has put out a call for Ebonics translators to help monitor, translate, and transcribe the secretly recorded conversations of subjects of narcotics investigations, according to documents released by The Smoking Gun. The DOJ wants to hire up to nine people to work with the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Atlanta field division. Ebonics is considered one of 114 different "common" and "exotic" languages for which prospective contractors must be able to provide linguists; Ebonics is listed as a “common language” spoken solely in the U.S.

Ebonics has caused controversy in the language community between advocates such as Stanford University professor of linguistics John R. Rickford, who described it as “Black English,” and detractors who consider it a bastardization of the English language (including some particularly venomous posters on freerepublic). But the real question should be: is Ebonics the same thing as jive talk?

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By Ben Yakas in News on August 23, 2010 5:43 PM

Comments [rss]

elveese

Ebonics? Gullah, maybe.

Cannibal

I thought we already had an Ebonics translator... urbandictionary.com

I Let You Do IT

Racist Hiring Tactic.

boogpowell

great movie. hilarious.

Mr Mel

I thought Ebonics was a dead issue as a language. It was a racist plot to keep the African Americans down and in their place. It assured the adherents that they would permanently stay at the end of any line they got on.

exnyer

Hey... knock a self a pro, Slick! That gray matter backlot perform us DOWN, I take TCB-in', man!

coolmikeperry

Actually the technical term is African-American Vernacular English. To hear it 'properly' spoken, google up some James Brown.

F1Mikal

Bloody Hell.

It is not 'Black English'.

It is English spoken by Black Americans.

Do you people think that black Americans represent all the rest of the people with black skin from around the world.

Get fkn over it.

They don't.

My 2 p