20130118

陶傑的英文

最近才知道原來陶傑也寫英文的評論文章,我只看了一篇題為 “The SAR Passport Row” 的,如果這篇文章可以顯示陶傑的英文寫作水平,我的結論便是:他的英文不算差,至少勝過一些香港的大學教授,但怎也說不上好,更遑論寫得漂亮,明顯是遠遜他的中文了。要不是他已成名,兼有才子之譽,以他這手英文,恐怕沒有人會找他寫英文文章。

母語是中文的人通常對英文冠詞(articles)的運用掌握得不好,例如該用 ‘the’ 的地方用了 ‘a’,不應有冠詞的地方無端端加上 ‘the’ 等;陶傑這篇不足五百字的文章便有三個這樣的毛病:

(1)  “fought to defend Hong Kong against Japanese invasion in 1941” “Japanese invasion” 前應有 ‘the’

(2)  “schoolchildren are made to visit the PLA barracks” ‘the’ 應刪(再提這些 PLA barracks 時則要加 ‘the’)。

(3)  “learn to admire the Chinese soldiers’ military prowess” ‘the’ 也應刪。

此外,這篇文章還有不少臃贅或彆扭的句子,以下這句為最甚:

(4)  “It is not fair to have your children ordered to learn how to love China in the same classroom as other Hong Kong Chinese schoolchildren, but because of the color of one’s skin, the love is not reciprocated with a passport, leaving the Indian and Pakistani governments to foot that bill.”

根據上下文的意思,可以改成這樣:

It is not fair for Indian and Pakistani children (who learn to revere the Chinese nation in the same classroom as other Hong Kong students) to have their love for China not be reciprocated with a passport, instead leaving the issue of citizenship to the Indian and Pakistani governments.

仍不算好,但至少比原句通順和清楚。

33 則留言:

  1. Just to point out that In his radio show, he said many times he never claimed to be good at english.

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    1. Well, I didn't suggest that he had claimed that his English was good.

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  2. 第(4)段看了好幾次才明白。陶傑還出版過英文散文集,水準遠遜中文著作。

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  3. 幾時評評施政報告的英文?

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  4. Prof. Wong,
    Tao Kit is not the kind of person who can accept others' criticism with grace. From what I've learnt, he usually responds to such 'comments' in quite a spiteful manner (i,e, taking such comments in a personal way and attacking the person who made the comments, instead of dealing with the argument)!That's what I feel when I listen to his Radio program.
    But I'm glad that you say this! I agree with what you said. I read his English writings before. They're not poorly written of course, but it sounds a bit 'awkward'; I mean, I can see he tries very hard to make his English 'look sophisticated'; so it becomes very 'unnatural'.
    A silly person

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    1. 陶傑蔑視英文文法,不做終極洋奴,人所共知,況且英文文法無邏輯可言,

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    2. //he tries very hard to make his English 'look sophisticated'; so it becomes very 'unnatural'.//

      - That's a fair comment.

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    3. Hi, the 'anonymous',
      I agree that some great writers don't think their wiritings should be restrained by any rules. But (for those great writers)their 'transcendence of grammatical rules' does produce some aesthetic effects which make reading their writings an enjoyable experience.
      However, Tao Kit's "transcendence of rules' only makes his writings very confusing and even incomprehensible. Take the example of the quotation made above by Prof.Wong, In passage(4), I have to read more than once to know what the subject the whole sentence is referring to and the meaning of the whole sentence. But Wong's amended sentence can make the subject of the sentence clear and he make it look more like natural English.
      A silly person

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  5. 陶傑的口語更令人吃驚, 完全不似留英多年。中英也寫得好, 實在想不出誰人做到。

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOsmTN_h1dM

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    1. 陶傑的英文口語算流利,只是口音頗重而已。通常成年後才到英語世界生活的人,很難完全擺脫母語的口音,我自己和我認識的絕大部份旅美中國人說的英語都有明顯的中文(國語或粵語)口音。不過,陶傑未到二十歲便到英國留學,在那裏住了十多年,說的英語仍有這麼重的粵語口音,他的語言天份大概不太高。

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    2. I am far from a fan of To Kit, but to be fair, I think his spoken English is not bad at all. I don't think his Cantonese is that heavy at all.

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    3. Heavy or not (or how heavy the accent is) is relative to our standards. I am probably more demanding than you are with respect to accents.

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  6. 這篇文章令我想起一個叫潘國森的人。

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    1. Lam Pui Lei, Perry also made some similar comments on Tao's grammatical problem!

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    2. "這篇文章令我想起一個叫潘國森的人。"

      - 王教授,又有人話你藉批評名人博上位啦!

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    3. 我這把年紀才來博上位?上甚麼位?我寫文章但求過癮,喜歡寫甚麼就寫甚麼,這才是寫網誌的樂趣。。

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  7. 大鑊!看完更不懂什麼時候用"the"和"a"了
    都怪自己小時候學英文都不太重視這方面的用法..

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    1. 多讀英文書,多查英文用法,便會逐漸改善。

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  8. Written English is like dressing up for the occasions. Each person will have his/her own style and use of vocabulary. I am very impressed with Mr. Tao's keen observation and intelligent critique. It is very enjoyable to read his blogs. The impact is quite profound and awe-inspiring on different issues!

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  9. 陶傑是哪種投機而欠耐性的人,學語文,以他的靈巧,要做到流俐是不難的,但最多也祇可以刁潑而難言精準,他本就是來自左翼世家,自然天賦了涼薄基因,在香港,不論中英文,他都應該不如古德明的。

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  10. 此留言已被作者移除。

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  11. 陶傑這個人,本身就充滿充盾,一方面,他來自左派家庭,另一片面他反叛,很厭惡左派身份,因為(左仔)在港基本是被鄙視的,特別在1967之後,他除讀過真光小學,就基本上是讀左校的,校內成績不佳,跟老師程介南又不和,會考又不夠分,他能到英國讀書,實際必須他那左仔怪獸爸爸供的(所以他也恨透世上所有要靠父母的人,除了自己),而赴英前,他更被中介機構職員奚落英文差,所以到英國後很發奮學英文,終於完成預科後考入華威大學,讀比較文學和新聞,但在香港祇須要英文流俐就夠,而做新聞又要特別勤力的人,不過陶傑是那種不鬥氣便不用功的人,所以畢業後選擇了做可以悠悠閒留英的香港電台註英特派記者,一直蛇90年代回港加入金庸世伯的明報曬下英文,現在他很有名氣,其實主要靠識寫刻薄的專欄(這是秉承魯迅左仔基因的天賦,非關懶勤),不是編採新聞賺回來的,他做新聞工作的表現便通常很懶,很哈哈了。

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    1. 「他來自左派家庭」咁你又嚟自乜派家庭呀?
      「來自左派家庭」好可能比來自非左派家庭更了解更睇清左派D真面目。你唔知中共有好多高官D仔女都係喺去咗被中共鬧得最多最「反動」嘅國家度留學甚至係移居咗去嗰度嘅咩?你幫左派口真係信左派D嘢咁你咪係幫「人治」嚟治你自己囉懵佬。

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    2. 確係好了解,一身心法七十二變、觔斗雲,皆來於斯也,做人真係要念舊,佢識嘅❗

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  12. 任何人祇要在陶財子的地盤 - 陶傑 Channel 點出其出身與取態矛盾的心路,都會毫無疑問被屏閉發言,屢試不爽,幾好玩㗎❗有興致,試試無妨❗

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    1. 陶傑講嘢有時可能係「政治不正確」,但其實畀嗰D把口就政治正確,但做就聰明過人嘅狡猾「精英」好得多啦。你睇下新任律政司知法犯法喎,又唔見你去批評犯法嗰D去批評無犯法D庶民,做咗人地D走狗喇

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  13. 邊個有點點❓邊個冇點點❓好似好熟咁喎❗幾時去咗做黑警啫❓

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  14. 陶財子份人查實精甩尾,喺語文方面,最高功既表現係一啲說話或文字,講完、寫完會俾拉去坐洗頭艇嘅,佢一定唔講、唔寫,咁先長揾長寫長有嘛❗最好就係打下風落下雪,又可以捉香港班俾佢封咗做戈斯拉嘅家長過下刀、攞下彩仲昆到大班自細因受管敎,受盡父母氣嘅迷粉,幾爽啫❗

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  15. 陶財子份人查實精甩尾,喺語文方面,最高功力嘅表現係一啲說話或文字,講完、寫完會俾拉去坐洗頭艇嘅,佢一定唔講、唔寫,咁先長揾長寫長有嘛❗最好就係打下風落下雪,又可以捉香港班俾佢封咗做戈斯拉嘅家長過下刀、攞下彩仲昆到大班自細因受管敎,受盡父母氣嘅迷粉,幾爽啫❗

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    1. 「講完、寫完會俾拉去坐洗頭艇嘅,....」你唔敢話中共專制無言論自由,就用呢句嘢嚟代替,你都幾似陶才子啲「最高功力」噃..

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  16. 陶財子英文係咪真係好得都唔緊要啦❗反正佢擔正頭牌做總編嘅英文報 - 東快訊(Oriental Express),一出閘就大脫腳,都執咗九世咁耐喇,陶財子用嚟寫磚欄之鐵筆先真正厲害嘛,唔係又點樣揮揮手就由千禧樓蟹,變成風光香江財子啫❗

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  17. I rarely see 陶傑 discusses with Catholic Priests /American Pastors/British Vicars about how to learn and improve English as many good English Teachers are religious priests in many Hong Kong top schools.

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