Neither lousy nor good

2015/10/20 08:41:18 網誌分類: 生活

20 Oct

         Two weeks ago, I wrote about Billy Fung Jing-en’s English. He is the president of the Hong Kong University’s student union, and also a member of the HKU Council, which makes important decisions regarding the university. Leonie Ki Man-fung, who is also a member of the HKU Council, said Fung Jing-en’s English is so lousy he can’t fully understand what is being discussed during Council meetings. Last August, Fung Jing-en spoke in English during the inauguration ceremony for new students at HKU. A reader suggested I listen to this speech on YouTube to decide if Fung Jing-en’s English is really lousy. I listened to the whole eight-and-a-half-minute speech.

         I do not want to criticize Fung Jing-en’s English. As I have said before, the purpose of my column is to point out errors so we can all learn. My honest opinion after listening to his speech is that his English is neither very lousy nor very good. It is slightly below average. He read his speech from a script but mispronounced many words. Some words were mispronounced in a way that I could not make out what he had said. He twice mispronounced the word “predecessor”. A predecessor is a person who held a job before the current holder. For example, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying’s popularity is much worse than his predecessor Donald Tsang Yam-kuen. He also mispronounced the word “threatening”.

         He made several grammatical errors. When he referred to the HKU Council, he said “one-third of the members are appoint” by the chief executive. He should have said “appointed”. He said the Umbrella Revolution sparked a “heat” discussion on our identity. He should have said “heated”. He said “our core value shall long last”. He should have said “last long”. Good English speakers will not read from a script word for word. They will sometimes ad lib, which means to speak without a prepared script. Fung Jing-en did not ad lib at all. To be fair, he is not a native English speaker. We should not expect him to speak perfect English. My advice is that he should speak English more often to improve it.

        ***

         兩星期前，我寫及馮敬恩的英語。他是香港大學學生會會長，也是港大校務委員會的成員，該會議決大學的重要議案。同為港大校務委員會成員的紀文鳳，說馮敬恩的英語糟透，因而不能完全明白委員會會議上所討論的內容。剛過去的八月，馮敬恩於港大新生開學典禮上以英語發言。一位讀者建議我可在 YouTube上聽其致辭，看看他的英語是不是真的那麼糟。我聽畢整場八分半鐘的致辭。

         我不想批評馮敬恩的英語。正如我以前說過，這個專欄的目的是去指出錯處，好讓我們人人都能學習。我聽畢其演說後的坦率見解就是：他的英語不是非常糟，也不是非常好。它比平均水平較低。他讀着稿子致辭，卻有幾個字讀錯了音。有些字他讀錯得我根本不能理解他在說甚麼。他有兩次讀錯了“predecessor”這個字。A predecessor 就是前任，譬如，特首梁振英的民望比他的前任（predecessor）曾蔭權要差很多。他也讀錯了“threatening”（具威脅的）這個字。

         他也犯了幾個文法錯誤。當他提及港大校務委員會時，他說「成員中有三分一人是被（特首）appoint（委任的）」，他應該說“appointed”。他說雨傘革命引發我們有關自身身份認同的“heat”（熾熱）討論，他應該說“heated”。他又說「我們的核心價值將long last（長存）」，他應該說“last long”。英語說得好的人不會逐字逐句的照稿讀，他們有時會 ad lib，就是沒有讀稿、即興的講話。馮敬恩完全沒有任何即興發揮（ad lib）。公道點說，他不是以英語為母語的講者，我們不能期望他說完美的英語。我的建議是，他應該更多更常的說英語，才能有所進步。mickchug@gmail.com

        中譯:七刻

        Michael Chugani 褚簡寧

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