[破報Pots]台灣政府錯用自己名稱的幾個原因

這篇文章主要在說台灣政府在求快和廉價的情況下，使得台灣對外的英文正式文件品質差，如錯字和拼字錯誤。作者並寫到，如果他向見過的有英美大學研究生文憑，卻無法將兩個連貫性英文句子放在一起的人索取一元的話，他將會是百萬富翁。


Fast and cheap

A couple of reasons the government can't get its own name right

Brian L. Kennedy

HAVING DONE the English editing for a fair number of government documents over the years, a news item recently caught my attention. The Ministry of Education prepared an international educational accord to be signed by Taiwan and the nation of Palau that was full of typos, misspellings, and grammar fouls-ups. The document also made inconsistent reference to the name of this country, calling it "Republic of China, Taiwan", "Republic of China", and also just "Taiwan." As an expert in international law, I can say that it is better to refer to your country the same way throughout a treaty.

Now it was kind of a shock to realize that the Ministry of Education does not know the formal name of this country. But then I should not mock them. I don't know what the "flavor of the month" is either.

But laying aside the alphabet soup which is the Taiwan's-formal-name fiasco and turning to the problem of English language editing, there are several reasons for the screwed-up English in government documents. Number one is the mistaken belief on the part of the government agency that its own bureaucrats can do it themselves. This shows up in a number of ways, such as:

* "We can do it ourselves and save budget" (and along with that tell the world, "Heh, we are backwater hicks who can't function in English").

* "Mr./Ms. X has a masters degree from an American/British university so they can do it" (If I had a dollar for every Taiwanese I have met with a graduate degree from an American or British university who could not put two coherent English sentences together I would be a millionaire. Well, almost).

* And this very mistaken belief, sometimes held by very high level Taiwanese government officials, "My English is very outstanding. I got very high marks in my English classes in school. I will edit the paper myself." (Of course he was being graded by some other local who could not speak/write English either).

Now if the government agency does have the honesty to admit it cannot DIY their English documents, they are to be commended. But that brings us to the second major cause of fouled-up English, which is trying to do it on the cheap.

Most government agencies have a set rate for English editors. They say it is mandated by some "higher authority," which may or may not be true, since I have seen the "official rate" vary quite a bit both in terms of amount and how it's calculated (e.g. per word, per page, per document). Whether it is really set in stone or not, there is one thing that's always true - the pay is low.

Compounding the poor pay problem is what I call the "quickly, quickly problem." The English editor is the last step in what has usually been a foot-dragging process - the guy who wrote the original in Chinese dragged his feet doing it, the translator dragged his feet translating it, the snivel servant responsible for shuffling the draft around dragged his feet too. So by the time the project gets to the editor, the low-level government official responsible usually only has one thing to say: "It must be done today! This minute!" When I hear this, I usually laugh and ask, "Or else what? The world will stop spinning?" My little joke usually goes unappreciated by the government drone.

Now let me ask a business administration question. Does low pay + rush jobs = quality editing? Umm, the correct answer is "no." There is a lesson for the Ministry of Education. No charge, it's on the house.

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Brian L. Kennedy is an attorney in Taiwan, where he writes and teaches on criminal law and human rights.