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The lack of language proficiency goes both ways - I‘d venture to say the significant lack of English reading skills among certain Chinese mainlanders currently in the U.S. plays a big part in their disastrous support of the Trump conspiracy theories on the election
press reports in English are written completely different from Chinese ones.
For a Chinese with ordinary English, it's difficult to tell what is NEWLY reported, what is just background, and what is IRONICALLY quoted/just for balance to give the other side the right to respond
For a Chinese with ordinary English, it's difficult to tell what is NEWLY reported, what is just background, and what is IRONICALLY quoted/just for balance to give the other side the right to respond
Adding to the difficulty is some habits in English journalism. For example, if it's Chinese reports, every word out of Rubio will be "Rubio said", but in English, the "the Florida Senator" is very confusing to an ordinary reader here - who is the Senator from Florida?
somewhere in a NYT report, there could be a paragraph saying "...The Times HAVE reported," which is utterly confusing to a Chinese reader, who may not be good with tenses - they may not notice the HAVE here means the paragraph is just background info that's previously reported
One of the most confusing words is "The Times" - @nytimes use it, LA Times use it, hell even The Times of London use it - a Chinese reader very possibly doesn't take note of the Capitalized Ts here and asks: who is "The Times"?
And the most common mistake I come across is VERY FEW, even among the best English-language speakers on the Chinese Mainland, (partly b/c TIME the magazine is so famous here) can tell the difference between The Times and TIME. They can't tell from the "The" and many just
many just don't know the magazine is TIME or TIMES (which doesn't exist).
And The Times of London is confusing as hell - in proper Chinese translation it's 泰晤士报 (literally the Thames newspaper), but many will go with 伦敦 London 时报 Times
And The Times of London is confusing as hell - in proper Chinese translation it's 泰晤士报 (literally the Thames newspaper), but many will go with 伦敦 London 时报 Times
and when it comes to anonymous sources in English-language press it's confusing as well. A Chinese reader will often ask: what does "sources said"? Doesn't everything in this report come from your "sources" ?
(No, many are just background or public knowledge, etc.)
(No, many are just background or public knowledge, etc.)
and the variance in the expression, for example -
Cruz said; Cruz told The Times; Cruz told the Washington Post last week - is confusing as well.
What in hell did Cruz say (NEWLY) on this particular subject/occasion?!
Cruz said; Cruz told The Times; Cruz told the Washington Post last week - is confusing as well.
What in hell did Cruz say (NEWLY) on this particular subject/occasion?!
and i hate the British tabloids' usage of "The Maily can reveal..." come on!
Oh right, there is The Telegraph 电讯报, The Daily Telegraph 每日电讯报 and The Sunday Telegraph 星期日电讯报 - are they the same newspaper??
Oh right, there is The Telegraph 电讯报, The Daily Telegraph 每日电讯报 and The Sunday Telegraph 星期日电讯报 - are they the same newspaper??
It then all boils down to the translator - he or she must are VERY GOOD at translating and understanding all these little details and putting them into proper context with the correct Chinese words.
And translating doesn't pay nearly as good as it should.
And translating doesn't pay nearly as good as it should.
And when is the English press gonna do away with Sunday/Monday?
WHEN?
Over the Internet and people routinely come across a report from days ago - who is gonna make out what exact day that Sunday/Monday/Tuesday is without looking at a calendar?
USE a proper date like Dec. 20
WHEN?
Over the Internet and people routinely come across a report from days ago - who is gonna make out what exact day that Sunday/Monday/Tuesday is without looking at a calendar?
USE a proper date like Dec. 20
all said with full realization that a native Chinese speaker surely isn't the target audience of an English-language newspaper.
out to write the Comprehensive Guide to China's Foreign Investment Security Review Rules coming up later at my newsletter http://www.pekingnology.com
out to write the Comprehensive Guide to China's Foreign Investment Security Review Rules coming up later at my newsletter http://www.pekingnology.com
