Professor Placed on Leave For Telling Student to 'Anglicize' Her Name

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Newsweek


BY EWAN PALMER ON 6/19/20 AT 9:23 AM EDT

A college professor in California has been placed on leave after he allegedly asked a Vietnamese student to "Anglicize" her name because it has an "offensive sound" in English.

Laney College in Oakland confirmed that they are aware of allegations of "racist and xenophobic messages" from one of their faculty members about the pronunciation of a student's name.

According to an email chain, which was later posted onto social media, professor Matthew Hubbard had asked student Phuc Bui Diem Nguyen to change her name as it "sounds like an insult" in English.

"Your name in English sounds like F**k Boy," Hubbard adds. "If I lived i Vietnam and my name in your language sounded like Eat a D**k, I would change it to avoid embarrassment both on my part and on the part of the people who had to say it.

Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/prefessor-laney-college-anglicize-student-mattew-hubbard-1512127?piano_t=1

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[jmbar2]

1. He was trying to help

I worked with another Vietnamese American woman named Bich (pronounced Bick). Whenever we had a meeting with customers who didn't know that, it was awkward. She changed her name professionally to avoid embarrassing them.

Perhaps the professor didn't need to say anything, but it was most likely well-intended.

[Thomas Hurt]

2. or he couldn't be bothered to learn to say the name properly...

or he was offended and embarrassed that he might freudian slip because of his familiarity with profanity.

or he is a bigot.

[NotHardly]

27. You have no idea what you are talking about ...

[tblue37]

28. I once had a Korean student with the surname "Yu" whose given name, beginning with "F"

was pronounced almost exactly like "F**k.

When I called on him in class, I just nodded and smiled at him. No way I was going to expose him to ridicule by saying his name out loud among a bunch of American 18-22 year olds!

The next semester he dropped by to let me know that he had chosen to be called "Ryan" in the US, after experiencing a couple of embarrassing situations when less alert instructors called out his full name while taking roll.

[whistler162]

41. or he got tired of hearing college

males calling to her all the time!

[brush]

3. Agreed. Choice of words is most important in a situation like that. Sounds like...

he did chose carefully.

[obamanut2012]

4. No it wasn't -- stop carrying water for these assholes

[WestLosAngelesGal]

23. Exactly

As someone whose first name has been mocked and disparaged, all of my life, even by ministers in a church to my face, I can tell you that this professor is indeed xenophobic and racist. Don't make excuses for this poor excuse for an educator. When you are on the receiving end of criticism for something as personal as your very name, you know when someone is trying to demean who you are.

[Maggiemayhem]

32. He just had to put that Eat A Dick statement in there.

[Talitha]

6. I agree that he was trying to help.

And if I were in the same situation, I'd be thankful for his thoughtful consideration in explaining things to me. The name change would still be my choice but IMO he did nothing wrong, and this really should not have been made into a news story for heaven's sake.

I was raised in a very ethnic (middle european) neighborhood in Chicago. We all had hard to pronounce last names, but many of my classmates also had hard to pronounce first names that could possibly trigger remarks when they graduated from our private grammar school.

So in 8th grade, the Nuns suggested that they 'anglicize' their first name when registering for high school, and all of them did. None of them were offended, and neither were their Parents who chose the name for them.

[progree]

7. I would be very appreciative knowing about something like this, but I'd want it left up to me

to change my name. Or not.

[LanternWaste]

22. Idiocy and intolerance are often well-intended.

Yet that does not make them any less idiotic or intolerant.

[obamanut2012]

5. He could just call her Ms. Nguyen

Which he would probably say as, "Ms. Nuh-Guy-En," instead of "Wen."

[progree]

8. I thought the correct mispronunciation was Nuh GOO yen :rofl: n/t

[Laelth]

10. What if you have 3 Ms. Nguyens in one class?

The common Vietnamese name “Phuc” is problematic in English.

If you are a teacher, you have to use the first name when you call roll. You have to say it, and the class will laugh (the first few times, anyway). As a former college teacher in a school with a high percentage of Vietnamese students, I feel for this guy. I am nearly certain that he was trying to help. Personally, though, I never advised a student to change his or her name. I doubt that the academic in question, here, will ever do so again.

I file this one under, “No good deed goes unpunished.”

-Laelth

[Javaman]

9. not only is this piece of shit a racist but he's also a fucking lazy racist.

a very simple googling of the woman's name would have given him the correct pronunciation. Which I might add is far from his ignorant belief

[ashredux]

11. This is being blown a bit out of proportion....

Many Asian students use an Americanized name when they study here. They understand that most Americans have a very difficult time pronouncing many of their names. They often choose to do this. This issue could have been handled with a bit more grace, But I think it’s a bit quick to jump to the conclusion that the professor is a racist

[LizBeth]

12. Richard Dick. I do not think that is correct that he would be changing his name.

We are adults, we can deal.

[Blasphemer]

21. +1 nt

[BlueIdaho]

13. Did this guy fail his interpersonal communication class?

No matter his intentions, if the substance of his conversation is reported correctly it is way out of bounds. “Eat a dick” Seriously? Regardless of the students age - this is never an appropriate or respectful road to travel down.

[bucolic_frolic]

14. Out of mainstream names are mocked all the time

often along ethnic lines. This is not a post saying it's no big deal. It is a big deal. But people who have been ridiculed for their name do understand both sides of the conversation.

[IronLionZion]

15. Oakland California probably has plenty of Asians

so this could have been an educational moment where the professor and class should learn how to pronounce it correctly.

This isn't some small town in the South or Midwest

The Eat a Dick comment was probably what got him placed on leave.

[LisaL]

25. How do you pronounce it correctly?

It's a serious question.

[IronLionZion]

26. HOW TO PRONOUNCE "PHUC" IN VIETNAMESE

[cstanleytech]

16. He is clearly in need of a refresher course on how to phrase

things better so he does not offend people when making such a suggestion.

[marie999]

17. He might have been trying to help,

but that last paragraph blew it.

[SKKY]

19. This is stupid. And kinda funny at the same time...

I don't think this makes him racist. Lazy? Perhaps. But not racist. And for the record, if my name sounded like "Eat a Dick" in ANY language, I would for sure modify the pronunciation in some way. Or not. On reflection, it might be kinda funny hearing people in a restaurant say, "Eat a Dick!? Party of 4. Your table is ready."

[Blasphemer]

20. Definitely xenophopbic... leave seems apprpropriate in terms of time to investigate...

Absent any other indication of a history of xenophobia and/or racism, it seems the professor needs to be educated more than anything else. The fact that he automatically assumed an "offensive" pronunciation and used that to make an offensive comparison is highly problematic. His assumption comes from a xenophobic and settler colonialist perspective. He didn't at all consider that his perception of the name and it's pronunciation could be inaccurate and privileged the assumptions White Western culture would make about the name above all else.

[SharonClark]

30. Maybe he assumed an offensive English pronunciation

because it is an offensive English pronunciation?

[sarisataka]

24. In a college French class

Our instructor (native French speaker) used the word le phoque. A woman in the front row blurted out "What" quite loudly. I believe he said something like Nous voyons le phoque à la zoo

He switched to English and asked her, "Do you not know what le phoque is?"

You could have heard a pin drop in the class. During the pause he ran it through his brain and realized the English homophone. It was easy to tell when he made the connection as he turned a very bright red.

[SharonClark]

29. Is Phuc Bui an English version of her Vietnamese

name or a literal translation of her Vietnamese name into English?

I would love to know how a name in the Vietnamese language is spelled in the English language in such a way that it is pronounced fuck by some/many/most people who speak English.

BTW, I watched the video on how to pronounce the name and it sounded like he pronounced it as Fop.

Unless there is additional evidence that the professor is racist or xenophobic, I would assume he was trying to be helpful.

[Hekate]

36. When the Vietnamese language was first transcribed into our alphabet by Europeans...

...it was by French colonizers, thus spelling is after the French mode. Phoc Bui isn't a translation of meaning, but a guide to pronunciation in two languages we don't know.

Maybe this young woman's girlfriends can nickname her Phoebe, instead of mangling Phoc Bui.

[SharonClark]

37. Thank you for the explanation.

[JonLP24]

39. I don't think it is helpful to tell someone to change their name

They said she hoped she could start using her name now that she graduated high school. I have a last name that was made fun of constantly and I still haven't changed my name nor has anyone ever told me to.


If anyone wants to make fun of her name they need to grow up. This includes the professor.

[Paladin]

31. That prof got off easy. This isn't 1975 anymore.

Last edited Fri Jun 19, 2020, 07:34 PM - Edit history (1)

Awkward-sounding Asian names have been around for decades in this country; they've been dealt with and mainstreamed. And we should expect more refined, accepting, constructive responses from college professors than from, say, bartenders or construction workers. That "Eat A D**k" portion of his comeback should have cost this asshole his job.

[obamanut2012]

33. Only rugs are Oriental

Or so I learned in a diversity class.

[Polybius]

40. And this place

I always thought the name was highly offensive.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/oriental-plaza-chinese-and-japanese-restaurant-staten-island

[Hekate]

35. People Anglicize (or Americanize) their names all the time, especially in school....

Schoolfellows may confer a nickname or a new name might be chosen. A Thai woman I knew at university was named Jeelawan, but introduced herself as Jerry. My first friend when I moved to California was named Thuy, but had grown weary of correcting people, so when leaving messages would tell people to spell it Twee.

My husband and his two brothers moved from Europe to New York when they were barely in elementary school, and all modified the spelling and pronunciation of their names to fit in. Jacques quickly became Jack, and so on.

Apparently there is some dispute about the intent of this teacher and the manner in which he conveyed his message. It seems he did not do it in front of the class, which would have been humiliating, but emailed her privately, perhaps thinking she was new to the country and had not yet been apprised that the nickname she was about to have bestowed on her was obscene. Seems like he didn't do it very well.

[JonLP24]

38. I wouldn't tell anyone to change their name

That is just me though.

[maxrandb]

42. Wish someone had told me

- signed Richard Whiskey

[MineralMan]

43. My rule with names I'm uncertain about

is to ask the person how to say his or her name. Then, I try to say it and ask if I said it correctly. Sometimes, it takes a couple of tries, but that's what I do.

I have never had anyone complain about my asking. In fact, people are usually pleased that you want to say it correctly.

The first time I met someone with the name Beaufort, I asked, because French names are often pronounced differently in the United States. What the person said was, "Thanks for asking" and then pronounced his name for me.

[Paladin]

44. Good policy.

And you're correct---

People are always glad to be asked,