DEA Wants to Hire Ebonics Translators
Gallows
Regular
"Wanted by the Drug Enforcement Administration: Ebonics translators.
It might sound like a punch line, as "Ebonics" -- the common name for what linguists call African-American English -- has long been the butt of jokes, as well as the subject of controversy.
But the agency is serious about needing nine people to translate conversations picked up on wiretaps during investigations, Special Agent Michael Sanders said Tuesday. A solicitation was sent to contractors as part of a request to companies to provide hundreds of translators in 114 languages."
source: http://articles.cnn.com/2010-08-24/us/dea.ebonics_1?_s=PM:US
It might sound like a punch line, as "Ebonics" -- the common name for what linguists call African-American English -- has long been the butt of jokes, as well as the subject of controversy.
But the agency is serious about needing nine people to translate conversations picked up on wiretaps during investigations, Special Agent Michael Sanders said Tuesday. A solicitation was sent to contractors as part of a request to companies to provide hundreds of translators in 114 languages."
source: http://articles.cnn.com/2010-08-24/us/dea.ebonics_1?_s=PM:US
Comments
http://alwaysrightusuallycorrect.blogspot.com/2005/07/ebonics-to-be-foreign-language-in-ca.html
Thats just as bad as the schools that now have Quidditch as a sport:facepalm:
I think the quidditch thing is funny. Harvard, the top school in the world, is actually a bunch of Harry Potter geeks running around with broomsticks between their legs. And it's a student's activity, the school might sponsor their insurance / outfits, but it's not like it's part of the curriculum.
Anyway, I hope the FBI manages to get the gang problem under control, with or without ebonics translators. That's one of the most underestimated dangers in the US today (apart from the actual US governement off course) IMO. Sure, most gangs are small and badly organised and when they're just killing each other it's not that much of a problem. The problem is they ruin good neighourhoods and good people's lives while killing each other because they can't shoot straight. And if a couple gangs actually get mad about something and start throwing molotovcocktails around it's pretty soon LA riots all over again.