Translation:
The other day, I walking down the skreet thinking about my ol' friend Jackson. We be such good friend, and then one day, out of nowhere, he said he ain't want to be friend no mo'. It been sad. I BEEN really sad about it. Then, I turn the corner an' see him. He aks me, "How you?" I said, "I okay. How you doing?" He said, "Okay." I tol' him I the store new manager. He said, "Congratulation." He said he been workin' really hard at he job and he be sorry he ain't been not talking to me. He said I look good, and hope we could get together sooner rather than later. We shook hand and said goodbye.
I realize this is a feeble attempt at a translation into AAE. The rules I focused on were:
• The reduction of final consonant clusters (e.g. tol')
• Suffix -s absence (e.g. friend)
• Absence of present-tense auxiliary and linking verbs (e.g. I the store new manager)
• Phonological inversion (e.g. aks)
• Non-standard negation (e.g. he ain't . . . no more)
• Post- vocalic r absence (e.g. mo')
• The use of be, been and BEEN
Basically, I went through the rules laid out in the reading and my notes from class to try to grasp the rules of this language. Again, I know the translation is not correct, but I hope I have used at least some of the rules correctly.
I think it would be beneficial for schools to be allowed funds for "bridging" efforts to help AAE speaking students. Helping children learn better helps society. I think our reading did a good job explaining funding for the implementation of these programs is not pushed anymore because it became such a hot-button issue in the Oakland school controversy. Now politicians and educators do not want to touch the issue because they do not want to be viewed as instigating another controversy. I can't imagine trying to go through school without an understanding of Standard American English. I think having to translate the passage we were given shows how difficult it must be for AAE speaking children to go through school and how important funding for bridging efforts is.
I liked what you said that "politicians and educators do not want to touch the issue because they do not want to be viewed as instigating another controversy." I think that is really stupid that they dont want to touch it because they don't want to look bad, but in stead it makes our whole country look bad. I also agree that it must be really difficult for the AAE speakers to learn standard english. I found it hard to write in AAE, and I have no idea if I even did it correct.
ReplyDeleteYeah, after taking that test thing in class I feel really bad for anyone who has to go through classes like that all the time. It's sad that now no one will stand up and say that kids need to be able to understand what they are being taught, just because it is a controversial issue.
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