Perspectives
Diversity and Inclusion Are Too Important to Be Trivialized Chantal Cheung / Political Science and Economics 2021
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n August 20, University of Southern California (USC) business professor Greg Patton lectured to his Communication for Management class on presenting information effectively.[1] He explained that filler words are culturally specific and based on one’s native language, saying, "In China, the common word was ‘that, that that that that,’ so in China it might be ‘那个, 那个 那个 那个.’”[2] The next day, a group of students who identified themselves as “Black MBA Candidates c/o 2020” emailed the USC administration stating that Patton offended the class’s Black members through his use of “that” in Mandarin Chinese. [3] Pronounced “nàh-guh” or “nàe-guh” depending on one’s accent, the term can sound like the English n-word. In response, USC removed Patton from the course. USC’s response was inappropriate, especially given the complaint’s flaws. National Review and CNN claim to have a copy of the email, though neither could verify who wrote it.[4][5] The students claimed that their Chinese classmates confirmed that Patton
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mispronounced the phrase and that the word commonly has a pause between its syllables. The students added that they lived in China and have taken Chinese at several colleges.[6] To them, the phrase is “always identified as a phonetic homonym and a racial derogatory term” and thus should be used carefully. The students also claimed that Patton would stop the Zoom recording before saying 那个 and resume it afterward, an allegation later disproved by a video of the incident.[7][8] It’s understandable why these students were taken aback. While Patton explained beforehand that the phrase was a common Chinese filler word, he did not specify that it may sound like the n-word, especially to those unfamiliar with the language.[9] Perhaps he could have avoided the backlash by doing so. Patton included the Chinese word—mentioned to him by several international students throughout the years—to be more inclusive.[10][11] He aimed to showcase many diverse leadership examples to “enhance communication and interpersonal skill in our global workplace.” He
was also partially inspired by his own experience working in Shanghai.[12] This isn’t the first time that this sort of misunderstanding has happened. In 2016, a Black man slapped a Chinese man in Guangzhou after mistaking 那个 for the n-word in passing.[13] This April, two men in Taiwan nearly fought outside of a restaurant due to this misunderstanding. [14] Chinese basketball star Yao Ming noted that the phrase nearly got his interpreter in trouble with Yao’s American teammates when the interpreter uttered it to him in the locker room.[15] That said, there is no pause between the syllables for “that.” As a Mandarin Chinese speaker, I can confirm that accent greatly determines the phrase’s pronunciation. Because I learned Mandarin from my studies in Shanghai and from conversing with my mother—a Shanghai native—I pronounce the phrase as “nàh-guh,” as do many Mandarin speakers from Southern China. Those in Northern China often pronounce it “nàe-guh,” which is closer to Patton’s pronunciation. Yale professor Taisu Zhang confirmed that Patton pronounced it correctly, as did nearly one hundred alumni of
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