China in Translation
“Offensive to Chinese Language” – USC Controversy over Chinese Filler Word 那个 (Nèigè) Discussed on Weibo
Weibo users discuss how a professor at the University of Southern California was temporarily suspended for using Chinese filler word ‘nage.’
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Jörg
October 1, 2020 at 8:05 am
When i was in China, i also wonder about this word, and when asking for the meaning, they said “there is no meaning”. That gives me another mystery, because the answer could mean “there is no meaning” or “it has a strong meaning we do not want to tell you”
But now its solved.
Thanks for this article.
By the way, when chinease people around, i try to say “Auf Wiedersehen” and not “Tschüss” to avoid confusion 🙂
Diandian Guo
October 23, 2020 at 1:11 pm
Maybe interesting to know: the official pronunciation of 那个 is nàge. This is also the pronunciation you would learn at school. However, in colloquial use, people tend to say nèige. The most common explanation is that nèige is 那&一 pronounced together.
Diandian Guo
October 23, 2020 at 1:15 pm
And talking about “sounds-alikes”: if taken seriously, China probably have a valid cultural reason to ban Facebook. It sounds just like 非死不可（feisibuke）， “one has no other choice but to die”. That could sound both unlucky and offensive for a mandarin speaker, I guess.
Hello
November 17, 2020 at 2:04 pm
Nage, neige, means “that”, i.e. that one. It’s not a filler word!! A filler word would be “en”. Which is essentially the same sound in English, it is an affirmative sound.