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I really hope this question doesn't get deleted or flagged, so to make sure it doesn't I will try to keep it as academic as possible.

I am currently an American student studying in Saint Petersburg and several times I have been shocked by the use of the "N-Word," (it's a racist word for Black people in case there is any ambiguity). In my college classes, my professors, when speaking about Black people, will use it in place of the word "black." Needless to say, as an American where if a professor said this word, they would be fired immediately, my heart stops every time I hear it and I just can't seem to understand why it is ok here.

So my question: Is the origin of the word in Russia such that it really isn't as offensive as it is in America? Or is it because Russia is less than 0.01% black that nobody has made a big deal about it? I am genuinely interested to know.

Rocket Man
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    Welcome to Russian.SE! Please note that, like on any language-related SE site, tabooed words (in either language) are OK to use in the posts and answers, as long as they are germane to the topic of the discussion. In fact, substitution of euphemisms for tabooed words (like you did in your question) obscures the question. My professors, when speaking about Black people, will use it in place of the word "black": do they use English "nigger", Russian ниггер or Russian негр? Please clarify what do your professors say exactly. – Quassnoi Nov 13 '13 at 10:41
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    @Quassnoi I only mentioned the N-word (I'm not comfortable with using it) in my post, so it seems fairly obvious that this is what I was talking about. It was clarified in the answers that I was misunderstanding them and they were, in fact, not saying the N-word, but негр. – Rocket Man Nov 13 '13 at 10:47
  • I was born in Ukraine and teachers taught me that black people are to be called by the n-word. It's not racist or anything in Ukraine, it's just the same thing as if you would say caucasian. – Vlad Dec 17 '13 at 21:39
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    I think the best way to keep your question academic would have been to write the word and not create such a theatrical spectacle about it. – CocoPop Aug 04 '14 at 04:27
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    Russian is not the only language where the word "негр" is a regular acceptable word. According to my Cuban colleague, Spanish word "negro" is very common when referring to black-skinned people. "Negro" is just a Spanish word for "black", hence "black tea" in Spanish is "té negro" – Vitaly Aug 13 '15 at 14:25

5 Answers5

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There is no reason to worry that this question would be closed - it is indeed a very good question.

Word Негр is not considered racist in Russia or Russian language. Do note that the scientific name for the race is Negroid - hence the word to describe an individual representative of that race. This word is different in pronunciation from the N-word in America that you're referring to.

I personally have studied and lived in the USA for over 10 years and do understand your sentiments very well. However the reason the N-word is considered racist is historical rather than linguistic. In the USA, the racism of the word has origins in the black slave trade of 18-19th centuries, where word negro was pretty much equated to the word "slave". The N-word is simply a derogative derivative of it.

Because in Russia historically the black population has always been extremely small and Russia never really experienced the black slave trade anywhere near the level of the USA, there was no reason for the word to gain a negative connotation. Hence, again, In Russian the word is not racist and is not considered derogatory in any way.

In some contexts, naturally, word негр may be used as a derogative, but that would be a minority case. There is also a rather rude version ниггер, recently borrowed from English, which corresponds directly to the N-word you are referring to - and this word is racist and derogative and would not be used in normal conversations.

Aleks G
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    I think your answer can be improved if you also mention the word ниггер which is offensive in Russian – Roman Petrenko Nov 12 '13 at 15:44
  • @RomanPetrenko Yes, thanks, I was just adding some updates to my answer. – Aleks G Nov 12 '13 at 15:47
  • @AleksG I think the confusion has arisen because my professors speak english when they teach, but have very heavy accents. So when they say негр, it sounds like they are saying the N-word but with a russian accent. Thanks for the clarification! I will tell my friends and we will all breathe a collective sigh of relief. – Rocket Man Nov 12 '13 at 15:53
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    In fact word "черный" (black) is racist in Russian when applied to black people and some other nationalities. – Artemix Nov 12 '13 at 17:19
  • Well that's awkward. I often refer to black people as черные люди thinking that I am being politically correct. – Rocket Man Nov 12 '13 at 18:51
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    @AJStas Well "черные люди" sounds strange in Russian (as if you don't know what is the right word and just want to describe it with the simpler words). To sound racist you'll have to say just "черные" like "понаехало черных". – Artemix Nov 12 '13 at 19:26
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    @AJ Stas "чёрные люди" sounds not connected to race at all, it looks as if you were speaking about their soul being "black" and evil and the persons were immoral, so it is derogatory but not racist. If you use just "чёрные", this is very much derogatory and racist, although implies the people are Caucasians (from Caucasus) rather than blacks. – Anixx Nov 13 '13 at 14:23
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    @AJ Stas In Russian the word "чёрные" is not associated with Negroids at all. But you can use "чернокожие" "black-skinned" for them. It is not derogatory but rare and quite uncommon. – Anixx Nov 13 '13 at 14:29
  • @Anixx Thanks a lot! So basically what it boils down to is, only use негр (plural: негры?) when referring to black people. – Rocket Man Nov 13 '13 at 15:27
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    @AJ Stas yes and more officially чернокожий (pl. чернокожие), but this may sound funny/derogatory outside of official context because this word is somewhat outdated: it's usage was somewhat forced in the 1960s or 1970s. Today even official documents would most likely use негр. – Anixx Nov 13 '13 at 18:21
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    @AJ Stas This depends on context though, as an adjective, чернокожий is ok, for example in the context "Nelson Mandela is the first black-skinned president of SAR", in this context one hardly can use негр because the sentence structure requires an adjective. – Anixx Nov 13 '13 at 18:28
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    I'm Russian, and to my ears, "негр" is still a racially loaded word, just as much as "negro" in English. It reminds me of things like blackface dolls, Uncle Remus stories, etc. that were popular when I was young. This isn't to say that it would be considered rude in everyday conversation. I just think many Russians simply aren't aware (or care about) the issues associated with using such a word. After all, as the question points out, "Russia is less than 0.01% black". – Archagon Nov 15 '13 at 04:31
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    (But if черные is considered racist, then I'm stumped. I'd love to hear a black Russian talk about this issue.) – Archagon Nov 15 '13 at 04:41
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    @Archagon Word чёрные is not really racist, but like any other words can take on a racist meaning depending on the context. There's another word, which is always racist, черножопые (literally, black-arsed). It is very much slur and is often used to describe not just black people but also anybody with a darker skin colour, such as those from Caucasian regions. – Aleks G Nov 15 '13 at 08:56
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    @Archagon As for "hear a black Russian talk about this", unfortunately, it's extremely difficult, as there really aren't (or really very-very few) black people that consider themselves Russian. I knew a girl about 25 years ago, she was native Cuban though and was adopted by a Russian couple when she was about 3 years old after her parents died. She grew up with their own white children and, to the best of my knowledge (I knew her from the age of about 3 to the age of about 14 - up until I left Ukraine) didn't consider words черный и негр racist to any degree. – Aleks G Nov 15 '13 at 09:00
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    @Archagon Also, my second cousin (RIP) was married to a black guy, native of Senegal. Although she was white, their children were pretty much black. Yet they were subjected to a lot more racial abuse in Senegal than in Ukraine. – Aleks G Nov 15 '13 at 09:01
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    @Archagon чёрные is never used for people of African descent outside of foreign politics topics, where it is not offensive. In all other contexts чёрные means Caucasians, and very racist/offensive. And there are no black (that is negro/african) Russians at all, you can find a Russian black, not a black Russian. – Anixx Nov 18 '13 at 20:48
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    @Aleks G, as a matter of fact черные is racist, but not towards people of African descent. It is offensive and racist towards people from the North-Caucasus region, specifically to Chechen, Armenian, Dagestan, Azeri people and other people living in that area. – Alex Petrov Jan 24 '18 at 17:46
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In Russian "чёрные" ("blacks") is a racist slur for Caucasians. It is not associated with people of African descent at all.

"Чёрные люди" ("black people") sounds not connected to race at all, it looks as if you were speaking about their soul being "black" and evil and the persons were immoral, so it is derogatory but not racist. In an archaic meaning it may mean servants who do the "black work", i.e. dirty work.

It also can mean optically black-colored people but not in racial sense:

  • Some black-colored aliens or people who contracted some fantastic desease which makes people black
  • People appearing black due to the position of light source, sihluettes.
  • People painted black for some reason
  • People wearing totlly black clothing, including black helm, like Darth Vader. Wearing a Batman costume would not qualify due to non-black face!

Thoughts about black race just excluded so you cannot use it for race. Confusingly, "black people" would more likely mean black-skinned aliens than people of African descent.

If you use just "чёрные", this is very much derogatory and racist, although implies the people are Caucasians rather than blacks.

David42
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Anixx
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    And "Caucasian" here means a person from the Caucasus mountains region, not a person of European descent. – Dima Nov 13 '13 at 18:56
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    Present day it also encompasses immigrants from Central Asia, not just people from Caucasian mountains. – alamar Jul 30 '14 at 14:05
  • Also "чернота" to denote immigrants as a social group. Need to say, this is very strong language. – alamar Jul 30 '14 at 14:11
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There is a subtle difference in pronunciation between the English N-word and the Russian word "негр". The latter is equivalent to "black" or "negro", and is not a slur, in and of itself. However, it is not clear whether what you have heard was "негр" or the N-word. The N-word is known in Russia, and it is understood to be a slur. Furthermore, the word "негр" may also be used in a derogatory sense, depending on the context.

If you can read Russian, this wiki article may be helpful.

Dima
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  • I will give the wiki article a shot. I have been studying russian for a year and half, so maybe I'll learn something. – Rocket Man Nov 12 '13 at 15:55
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Here is the real-world story about usage of word "afro-americans" to negroid peoples living in Russia. http://www.anekdot.ru/id/697460/

Подруга: «вон, у афроамериканцев спросим». У противоположной стены три темнокожих студента разговаривают о чём-то на своём олбанском. Подходим. Разговор замолкает, один, с интонацией одновременно обиды и гордости, практически без акцента: «мы не афроамериканцы, мы НЕГРЫ».

Dmitry Olyenyov
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    anekdot.ru is not a reliable source, and an anecdote (sorry for the pun) is not data. – Mirzhan Irkegulov Jan 21 '16 at 19:46
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    I think the joke here is that they are not Americans, so they cannot be African Americans. I have heard people make this same mistake in America. They do not want to say "black Africans" since that is not up-to-date, so they say "African Americans in Africa". – David42 Aug 25 '16 at 20:34
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негроидный - Negroid (adjective) негроид - Negroid (noun) нигр - Nigger (noun) негр - Slang (noun) Shorter version for Negroid and should not be used based on the similarity to "Nigger"

негроидный люди is not offensive because it does not objectify people in the way that негры / нигры does.

sarah
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    Doesn't seem to have any relation to Russian usage. Is it about USA? – Artemix Jul 30 '14 at 10:28
  • What is нигр? Why негр is slang? What is негроидный люди? – Anixx Aug 13 '15 at 05:13
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    Слова "нигр" в русском языке нет. Есть слово "арап". Например, был один такой Александр Сергеевич. – ddbug Sep 22 '16 at 12:18