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> In China, English language students are taught to break that habit for fear of it being misinterpreted by a native English speaker.

Based on my Chinese colleagues this is not true, or at least is not universal, or it changed within the last 3 years.

> It would never be accidental.

As someone with a number of friends from the mainland, I can assure you it does happen by accident. None of them were taught to avoid saying “na ge” because it is the English equivalent of "that" or "that one".

Where are you getting your information from?

It is anecdotal, so I should have phrased it more carefully. When I was in mainland China about 15 years ago I talked to several people eager to practice their English, in various regions.

They were aware. One kid in particular I remember vividly having that conversation.

But this was a very small sample.

Some English students might be taught that, but I'm far from certain that is the norm. In fact, I just asked three Chinese native speakers who learned English in China, and none of them was ever taught to avoid na ge / nei ge.