mosquito-borne disease

2016/08/18 08:41:16 網誌分類: 生活

18 Aug

        Last week I heard the Controller of the Centre for Health Protection Dr Leung Ting-hung make an English mistake that many Hong Kong people make. He pronounced the word “mosquito”incorrectly. Dr Leung was talking about the Zika virus and other mosquito-borne diseases at a press conference. At first I thought I had misheard him but he used the word “mosquito”several times. He mispronounced it every time. This is not the first time a senior government official in charge of health matters has mispronounced the word “mosquito”. I pointed out about five years ago that Dr Lam Ping-yan, who was the Director of Health at the time, also mispronounced the word when he talked about the mosquito-borne disease dengue fever.

         A mosquito is a bloodsucking flying insect that can spread many different types of serious diseases when they bite people. The word “borne” means carried or transported by something. A “mosquito-borne” disease means a disease transported or carried by a?mosquito, such as malaria. Dr Leung and Dr Lam both pronounced the word?mosquito?by including the sound of the letter “u” as well. That is incorrect. It should be pronounced “moskito” with the letter “q” sounding like a “k”. The letter “u” is silent. There are many other English words which end with the letters “que” where the letter “q” is pronounced like “k” and the letters “ue” are silent. Simple examples are mosque, boutique, and?cheque. The American spelling of?cheque is check which is closer to its actual pronunciation.

         I don't know why so many Hong Kong people mispronounce the word “mosquito”. This word is definitely taught in local schools. If so many Hong Kong people mispronounce this word, it must mean that their teachers taught them the wrong pronunciation in school. Dr Leung and Dr Lam are both older adults but even many young Hong Kong people pronounce the word “mosquito” incorrectly. This means even teachers nowadays teach students the wrong pronunciation of the word. I hope teachers will take note of this column so they can teach their students the correct pronunciation of the word “mosquito”.

        上星期我聽到衞生防護中心總監梁挺雄醫生犯了一個英文錯處，也是許多香港人也會犯的錯誤。他將"mosquito"這個字讀錯了。梁醫生在一個記者招待會上，談及寨卡病毒和其他蚊傳（mosquito-borne）疾病。起初我以為我聽錯了，但他用了幾次"mosquito"這個字，每次也讀錯。政府內主責衞生事務的高官讀錯"mosquito"，已非首次。五年前我已指出，當時的衞生署署長林秉恩談及蚊傳（mosquito-borne）疾病登革熱時，也把它讀錯了。

        　　Mosquito就是蚊子，咬人吸血的時候可以傳播各種嚴重的疾病。Borne解作以某物運載或輸送，mosquito-borne 即解作疾病以蚊子（mosquito）來傳播，例如瘧疾。梁醫生和林醫生讀mosquito 的時候，也讀出了u音，但這是錯的。它應該讀成"moskito"，將q讀得像k一般，而u字是靜音的。有許多其他的英文字用que作尾，q字也像k般發音，而ue則是靜音的。簡單的例子有mosque（清真寺）、boutique（時裝店）和cheque（支票）。Cheque的美式串法就是check，跟它實質的發音比較相近。

        　　我不知道為何這麼多香港人會讀錯mosquito 這個字，它一定在本地學校裏有教到。如果那麼多香港人讀錯了這個字，那意味着一定是他們在學校的老師教了錯誤的發音。梁醫生和林醫生算是老一輩的，但連許多香港年輕人也讀錯了mosquito。也即是說，現在的老師教了錯誤的讀音。我希望老師們可以留意這個專欄，好使他們可以教導學生mosquito 的正確發音。

        mickchug@gmail.com

        中譯:七刻

        Michael Chugani 褚簡寧

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