topic Re: Can this be true? in Community Spirit

Can this be true?

***super_nova*** — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 07:02:53 GMT

Officer disciplined for calling asylum seekers by numbers instead of names

Serco confirms that asylum seekers as young as 12 referred to by boat ID numbers at privately operated detention centre

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/30/officer-disciplined-for-calling-asylum-seekers-by-numbers-instead-of-names

Re: Can this be true?

grandmoon — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 07:06:52 GMT

Yes

Re: Can this be true?

freshwater-2 — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 07:45:00 GMT

I imagine that many of the names are unprounceable to an English speaker and many unrelated have similar names.

Re: Can this be true?

the_great_she_elephant — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 07:56:14 GMT

I have four friends on Facebook all with the surname Brown - only two of them are related - but I've never felt the need to refer to any of them by numbers.

Re: Can this be true?

icyfroth — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 08:04:01 GMT

I believe Mohammed is the most common name in NSW these days

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/muhammads-a-sign-of-the-times-varying-spellings-of-it-are-some-of-nsw8217s-most-popular-baby-names/story-fni0cx12-1226703781342

Re: Can this be true?

lakeland27 — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 08:08:48 GMT

gee icy are you sure

Re: Can this be true?

the_great_she_elephant — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 08:21:52 GMT

@icyfroth wrote:
I believe Mohammed is the most common name in NSW these days

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/muhammads-a-sign-of-the-times-varying-spellings-of-it-are-some-of-nsw8217s-most-popular-baby-names/story-fni0cx12-1226703781342

I guess you believe wrong then.

http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/resources/stats-names-2011-13.pdf

Re: Can this be true?

freshwater-2 — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 10:26:47 GMT

I have four friends on Facebook all with the surname Brown - only two of them are related - but I've never felt the need to refer to any of them by numbers.

How does this relate to a great number of asylum seekers, with Arabic and other names, no/little English, and a vocabulary which is difficult for English speakers to pronounce. I speak a few phrases of Arabic from my past life and it is not easy.

I don't think there would be many Browns and Smiths among the refugees.

Re: Can this be true?

cherry*135 — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 10:31:49 GMT

That is disgraceful calling them by numbers. Shade of German concentration camps were the Jews had numbers tatooed on them and were dealt with by all as numbers not humans.

If there names are long and difficult maybe too bad, my first name isn't that common, no-one (school, Uni, work) has ever given me a number instead of having to pronounce it.

Re: Can this be true?

jethro_woolfe — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 10:32:42 GMT

I'd expect they would have foreign sounding names. In contemporary Australia these people are numbers more or less ? lets call a spade a spade.

Re: Can this be true?

cherry*135 — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 10:43:43 GMT

No, they are human beings just like you and me. They are not to be called by their boat numbers, the officer was out of order doing so.

Re: Can this be true?

i-need-a-martini — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 11:15:46 GMT

Actually arabic names (if this is what people think most of the asylum seekers are) are quite easy to pronouce as they are usually spelt exactly as they sound.

So unpronounceability is not an excuse.

Re: Can this be true?

freshwater-2 — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 11:29:45 GMT

Arab names may be spelled the same....but pronounced differently depending on the region. Some pronounciations use the sound at the back of the mouth.....hard to do.

Re: Can this be true?

cherry*135 — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 12:47:14 GMT

The staff at the detention centres can learn how to say the asylum seekers names then, if they are tricky ones.

Lots of students originally from foreign countries at schools and universities in Australia have foreign names. Teachers, tutors and lecturers learn how to say their students names (some may shorten their name or have a nickname).

Ever been to a Uni graduation recently? Lots of foreign names to be pronounced before degrees are handed to the student.

Re: Can this be true?

acacia_pycnantha — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 13:15:24 GMT

Do all of the asylum seekers have Arabic names?

Re: Can this be true?

cherry*135 — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 13:18:29 GMT

I doubt all asylum seekers have Arabic names.

Calling the asylum seekers by number instead of their name shows the sort of attitude (bad) the staff member has towards them imo.

Re: Can this be true?

acacia_pycnantha — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 13:22:36 GMT

Perhaps the example was taken from our current Minister Scott Morrison's practice of referring to them as "illegals" ?

Re: Can this be true?

freshwater-2 — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 14:00:48 GMT

I am sure many don't have Arabic names. There are other nationalities who have difficult names too.

I doubt very much that commercial guards are given courses on how to pronounce names.

I doubt that the commerical companies running the detention centres care very much either.

Management came down hard on one guard........but I believe it is a managment problem.

Re: Can this be true?

freshwater-2 — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 14:03:55 GMT

I personally know a number of Arab speaking immigrants who anglicised their names, especallly those in business.

Makes life easier for them. Their choice.

Re: Can this be true?

acacia_pycnantha — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 14:08:32 GMT

I used to work at a place where there are many employees from China and most of them have taken Anglicised names. When I tried to pronounce their Chinese names they would smile and correct me. I found that I just couldn't get the pronunciation right. I suppose they gave up on us and took the Aussie/Anglo names to save the hassle of continual correction. I really tried hard and I still couldn't get it right.

Arabic names, by comparison, are easy.