The first thing I have to say is that, if you own and iPhone or Android phone and don't already have it, go download the free Google Translate Application. Google has not paid me a cent for saying so, nor do they endorse me... but I'm recommending it anyway.
This brilliant little app will translate what you to say into one of many languages AND allow you to hear that phrase in the language of your choice. I've used it to translate English into Korean, Italian, and Chinese, and can say that it was accurate to a remarkable degree (of course, one cannot expect that every utterance will translate neatly from one language to the next).
Yet, I do have to make the observation that one language is conspicuously absent from the list of choices, and that language is Black language, also called African American Vernacular English, Black English, and Ebonics.
Let's get it right out on the table: By linguistic standards, Black language meets the criteria of a language, which is to say that it is predictably rule-governed and passed down from generation to generation. This fact has been advanced by many in the discipline of linguistics, evidenced by the adoption of a "Resolution on the Oakland Ebonics Issue" by the Linguistics Society of America.
Scholar H. Samy Alim at UCLA has written extensively and thoughtfully on this issue; anyone interested in seeing how Black Language works may enjoy reading Alim's book, "You Know My Steez: An Ethnographic and Sociolinguistic Study of Styleshifting in a Black American Speech Community" (buy the book here).
Having said this, there is no question that a host of people, including Bill Cosby, have criticized Black Language and its speakers as degenerate and degenerates, respectively. I tend to disagree with these critics in every respect.
Moving on: If we do accept Black Language as a language, then perhaps it is time for Google Translate to incorporate it as such. This might prove useful to speakers of the language, educators, or even the CIA, who have recently enlisted the help of individuals in hopes of translating Black Language into Standard American English.
Such a move would certainly provide some outward validation of a language that has been too often marginalized and misunderstood. Here's hoping...
This brilliant little app will translate what you to say into one of many languages AND allow you to hear that phrase in the language of your choice. I've used it to translate English into Korean, Italian, and Chinese, and can say that it was accurate to a remarkable degree (of course, one cannot expect that every utterance will translate neatly from one language to the next).
Yet, I do have to make the observation that one language is conspicuously absent from the list of choices, and that language is Black language, also called African American Vernacular English, Black English, and Ebonics.
Let's get it right out on the table: By linguistic standards, Black language meets the criteria of a language, which is to say that it is predictably rule-governed and passed down from generation to generation. This fact has been advanced by many in the discipline of linguistics, evidenced by the adoption of a "Resolution on the Oakland Ebonics Issue" by the Linguistics Society of America.
Scholar H. Samy Alim at UCLA has written extensively and thoughtfully on this issue; anyone interested in seeing how Black Language works may enjoy reading Alim's book, "You Know My Steez: An Ethnographic and Sociolinguistic Study of Styleshifting in a Black American Speech Community" (buy the book here).
Having said this, there is no question that a host of people, including Bill Cosby, have criticized Black Language and its speakers as degenerate and degenerates, respectively. I tend to disagree with these critics in every respect.
Moving on: If we do accept Black Language as a language, then perhaps it is time for Google Translate to incorporate it as such. This might prove useful to speakers of the language, educators, or even the CIA, who have recently enlisted the help of individuals in hopes of translating Black Language into Standard American English.
Such a move would certainly provide some outward validation of a language that has been too often marginalized and misunderstood. Here's hoping...
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