Updated on December 27, 2022
Very recently, there has been a news about Greg Patton, a professor of clinical business communication at the University of Southern California (USC), using the N-word resembling term nega. The term was offensive to many out there.
Prof. Patton, in his virtual classroom, said: “In China the common word is ‘that, that that that,’ so in China it might be ‘nega, nega, nega, nega’“.
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Eventually, the professor was suspended for using the term as it sounded like a racial slur in English.
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In fact, there are quite a few related question on Quora:
- What is the common Chinese word that sounds like “nigga” (to American ears)?
- Do black people know that the Chinese stalling word, nèige (那个), does not mean the offensive word, “nigger”?
- Has a Chinese person ever gotten into trouble for saying 那个 around English speakers because it sounds like the “N” word?
I understand the question. So let me clarify the issue.
Well, there are quite a few Mandarin Chinese words that only remotely resemble to the aforementioned nega sound.
Here are a few examples:
内阁 [nèi gé]: cabinet, council of ministers, ministry
Example sentences:
- Members of the Cabinet are chosen by the Prime Minister (内阁阁员是由首相挑选的, Nèigé géyuán shì yóu shǒuxiàng tiāoxuǎn de)
- The Prime Minister is at the centre of a political row over leaked Cabinet documents (首相是内阁文件泄密政治纠纷的中心人物, Shǒuxiàng shì nèigé wénjiàn xièmì zhèngzhì jiūfēn de zhōngxīn rénwù)
那个 [nèi ge] or [nà ge]: that one, that
Example sentences:
- There are many refugees from that country (有许多来自那个国家的难民, Yǒu xǔduō láizì nàgè guójiā de nànmín)
- I met that person at the porch of the church (我是在教堂的门廊处遇到那个人的, Wǒ shì zài jiàotáng de ménláng chù yù dào nàgè rén de)
哪个 [nǎi ge] or [nǎ ge]: which, who
Example sentences:
- Please advise me which item I should buy (请问我该先买哪个品种, Qǐngwèn wǒ gāi xiān mǎi nǎge pǐnzhǒng)
- Which football team do you support? (你支持哪个足球队, Nǐ zhīchí nǎge zúqiú duì)
Basically, when the natives speak 内阁, 那个, or 哪个, these words have no racial bias. They are quite normal, daily used words. If spoken correctly, none of them would sound like nega/nigga.