昨天無意中在網上看到一個香港某大學的教授(下稱 C 教授)接受訪問,內容沒甚麼特別,倒是訪問中 C 教授用了幾個英文字母來說明一點,其中一個字母是 f ,他讀成「f 扶」,礙耳之餘,也令我感到有點意外。
我聽 C 教授廣東話字正腔圓,看他年紀只四十多歲,應該是在香港長大和接受教育,即使讀的是中文中學,也是從小就學英文的;一個從小學英文、教育程度這麼高的人,還是當教授的,即使教的是中國文史哲的東西,也不應把 f 讀成「f 扶」吧?
然而,回心一想,我可能是五十步笑百步了。我在美國生活了十多年,還是滿口香港口音,十個字有八、九個發音不準;假如我接受訪問,給人家在網上看到了,也許會有人寫一篇網文,說奇怪怎麼 W 教授的英語這麼不標準。
其實,只要 C 教授自己不介意,也沒有需要把英文練好(不必看英文書,不必寫英文論文,不必用英語教學和演講),那個「f 扶」也就不是甚麼問題了。
或者那教授怕那個「扶」不響音化的話不「入咪」吧?我講電話時如果提到英文字母時,我也會特意用港式發音,以免跟聽者造成溝通問題,如把R唸成「吖勞」、Z唸成「二set」之類,否則把R發成「吖呀」(英式不捲舌)的話,人家可能以為你肚子痛還是甚麼呢。
回覆刪除哎呀,好 HAR薯呀! catcat百幾步了點 COM MAN 呀 ?
回覆刪除如果那教授的專長和職責範圍,淨係涉及廣東話/中文; 扶下都OK。俾少少面啦!
然而,如果週不時要接受訪問 (還是代表香港的大學),又要出聲講Enga la薯,冇翻譯。敬業樂業,有d要求,真係應練好OR佬是值得敬佩的。
Meshi,
回覆刪除Unlikely.
catcat,
回覆刪除你真的很有幽默感。
seriously - I laughed so hard when I watched that 'try my breast' video clip, but then now, I am kinda worry that I might have slipped that out of my mouth too! :)
回覆刪除Ray,
回覆刪除I saw that one too; that's a while ago now.
上星期到港大見工,那個center director明明是在美國讀的Doctor, 而且叫做文科, 但英文一開口還是奇差. 香港人講英文一向不好, 但寫是不錯的.
回覆刪除F
I don't understand though - F is pretty easy to pronounce in comparison to like, Z. This has always been puzzling to me.
回覆刪除Another puzzle to me is that for some reason, Hong Kong Chinese can't pronounce the name "Kevin" properly. Most people would pronounce it as "Calvin." Also the widespread mispronounciation of "she."
I'm not passing judgement. And my spoken English is far from perfect. I'm just curious about these specific examples from a language acquisition angle...
F,
回覆刪除//香港人講英文一向不好, 但寫是不錯的.//
- 我的印象是,寫的一樣差。我看過香港一些大學的碩士和博士論文擇要,很多的英文簡直慘不忍睹,另外一些教授講師在網頁上的自我介紹,英文也是錯漏百出。
lin,
回覆刪除I think it is not "Kevin" and "Calvin", but "Kelvin" and "Calvin" that are often got mixed up. Indeed, I would say many people in Hong Kong pronounce "apple" incorrectly (the difference between [e] and [ae] is hard for people who speak Cantonese).