Enunciated, na-ge sounds like the N-word, which led several of the professor's students to complain to the university. Responding to the complaint, the dean of the university, Geoffrey Garrett, told students that Prof Patton would no longer be teaching the course.

发音时，na-ge听起来像歧视非裔的词汇，这导致教授的几名学生向学校投诉。针对这些投诉，该校（沃顿商学院）院长杰弗里·加勒特告诉学生，巴顿教授将不再教授这门课。

The university says that Prof Patton "volunteered to step away" from his role amid the investigation into complaints made against him.

该大学表示，在调查针对巴顿教授的投诉期间，巴顿教授“自愿停职”。

In a statement, the school said Patton "agreed to take a short-term pause" from teaching the course, and another instructor took over. Patton continues to teach his other courses.

该大学在一份声明中说，巴顿教授“同意暂时停止”教授这门课程，并由另一位老师接替。他仍将教授其他课程。

News of the spat reached China, where many posted on social media saying they thought his punishment discriminated against speakers of the Chinese language.

这则消息传到了中国，许多人在社交媒体上发帖说，他们认为对巴顿教授的处罚是对讲中文人群的歧视。

翻译的误区

In Chinese the word "na-ge" (那个) is a common filler phrase that people use when they're hesitating or trying to find the right word. It literally translates to the word "that".

在汉语中，“那个”是一种常见的填充词，人们在感到犹豫，或试图找到合适的词时常这样说，从字面上可以翻译为that。

In July 2016, a fight broke out on the subway in the city of Guangzhou, after a black man heard a Chinese man saying na-ge and mistook it for the N-word.

2016年7月，广州的地铁上发生了一场打斗，起因是一名非裔男子听到一名中国男子说“那个”，误以为是歧视非裔的词汇。

Footage went viral online showing the black man slapping the Chinese commuter and shouting "you dare try that again" and "never say that again"

在网上疯传的视频中，这名黑人男子扇了中国乘客一耳光，并大喊“你敢再说一次”和“再也不要这样说了”。

Even Chinese basketball star Yao Ming has spoken of how the word brought him "some trouble" while playing in the US for the National Basketball Association (NBA).

就连中国篮球明星姚明也表示，在美国为NBA效力时，这个词也曾给他带来“一些麻烦”。

普遍的错误

CC Chen, a student at the USC, defended Prof Patton, arguing that it was "clearly an academic lecture on communication" and the professor was "describing a universal mistake commonly made in communication".

南加州大学的学生CC·陈为巴顿教授辩护称，这“显然是一堂传播学课程”，而巴顿教授是在“描述传播中经常犯的一个普遍错误”。

"For him to be censored simply because a Chinese word sounds like an English pejorative term is a mistake and is not appropriate, especially given the educational setting," she said. "It also dismisses the fact that Chinese is a real language and has its own pronunciations that have no relation to English."

她说：“对他来说，仅仅因为一个汉语词汇听起来像英语中的轻蔑语就被审查是错误的，也是不恰当的，尤其是在课堂上。这还否定了一个事实，即汉语是一门真正的语言，有自己的发音，与英语没有关系。”

More than 11,000 people have now signed a Change.org petition calling for Prof Patton to be re-instated. And in China there are discussions taking place over whether the university acted too abruptly.

目前已有1.1万多人在Change.org网站上签名请愿，要求让巴顿教授复职。而在中国，人们也在讨论该校的行为是否过于唐突。

On the popular Sina Weibo microblog, more than 1,000 posts have used the hashtag #USProfessorSuspendedForUsingNaGe, with many viewing the move as a suppression of Chinese speech.

在人气颇高的新浪微博上，已有1000多条帖子使用#美国教授因使用那个被停职标签，许多人认为这一举动是对汉语的压制。

"Is it now forbidden to speak Chinese in the United States?" asked one Sina Weibo user.

一位新浪微博用户问道：“现在美国禁止说汉语吗？”

Some Chinese posters on Sina Weibo argued that USC, in suspending Prof Patton, had chosen "political correctness" over genuine change.

一些中国网友在新浪微博上表示，南加州大学让巴顿教授停职，是选择了“政治正确”，而不是真正的变革。

"There should be respect for differences," wrote one Weibo user.

一位微博用户写道：“人们应该尊重差异。”

Back in the US, USC staff and students reacted to the decision to suspend Prof Patton.

在美国，南加州大学的教职工和学生对巴顿教授的停职也有看法。

"There's no language superior to the other," Chengyan Wu, Co-President of USC Chinese Student and Scholar Association, told the university's student news organisation.

南加州大学中国学生学者协会联合主席吴承彦（音）对该校学生新闻机构表示：“没有哪种语言比其他语言更优越。”

"Restating the rights of one minority group should not be at the expense of violating the other," he said. "We have the right to use our own language."

他说：“重申一个少数群体的权利不应以侵犯另一个群体为代价。我们有权利使用自己的语言。”