Selectie vs Elective
While on the topic of
Perspect, I remember reading the official pamphlet about an EMBA program offered by an (equally) renowned institute. It was the English version that detailed requirements for core courses and
SELECTIVE courses. (The word that is customarily used in this context is “elective”.)
It was a beautifully compiled 3rd-revision pamphlet, but no one seemed to have noticed the multiple occurrences of the problematic word. Was I the only one who—being bored to death—actually bothered to read the pamphlet?
English is easy to learn, hard to master. But with the invention of the Internet (thanks to our former Vice President, Mr. Al Gore), searching for information takes but a click. Had said renowned institute's EMBA staff consulted websites of U.S. universities, they might have chosen the suitable word. Or could it be that they did not think much of even Harvard or Stanford, that they would not bother to check out the competition? I am not sure if it's snobbishness or sloth, maybe both. Hence, the search was not done, the work not checked, the mistake propagated, and everyone happy in his little world of a “little grain of sand”. That is, everyone except a confused soul who was once admitted (after taking a rigorous matriculation exam) to the program to study “International Business”.
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Human Traits
Nobel Laureate Dr. Chen-Ning Yang's (楊振寧)
engagement news, albeit encouraging, inspirational, and motivational, generated a lot of gossips and speculation. But my family's response to the news is: Could we just
leave them alone?
I am not a trained expert in behavioral science, but I think there are two unique characteristics in human behavior:
schadenfreude and
voyeurism. The former is German and the latter French. There are no English equivalents, but yes, there is (
always) Chinese translation. The Chinese language often offers precise description of such behavior, partly because the Chinese people are keen observers of nature (?)
schadenfreude = 幸災樂禍
voyeurism = 偷窺
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The Art of Naming
Last summer when a cousin came to my mother’s house to deliver a “U.S. citizen” baby, I happened to be in town and was quickly recruited to the
Committee for Chinese Names for Babies.
My official naming career actually started on the very first day of my perpetual studentism, when I was learning (with tears) how to write my last name. I have a comparatively complex last name that is almost a
punishment for a child who just learns to pick up a pen. Having finally managed to occupy (only) 9 "squares" for that
one character [1], I came home and announced to my parents that I had decided to change my name to Ding-Yi (丁一). The parents objected to the 6-year-old’s fine selection, and explained with patience all the rationales and logics of naming.
(My parents had tried to pick a name that when called in different languages, would not inspire rhymes of negative creativity. But it did not take very long for my elementary classmates to figure out that my name, when pronounced slightly off-pitch, rhymed with 6-1-1.)
Now after long years of practice (on paper), I have developed this rule of thumb:
If the baby’s family name is Lin2(林), what, besides Dai4-Yu4(黛玉), could be more proper for her? If the baby's last name is Jia3(賈), then Bao3-Yu4(寶玉). If Yen2(顏), then Ru2-Yu4(如玉) ---- Isn’t it how Lin2, Yu3-Tang2(林語堂) named his characters in Moment in Peking (京華煙雲)?
Although the Committee for Chinese Names for Babies never accomplished its mission (the father of the baby rejected every name the committee came up with), its members had a great time playing with the baby. Naming babies is one of the (few) privileges of parenthood. So parents, enjoy it while you still can!
[1] We used to write on a kind of special grid paper with rows of 2cm x 2cm squares. Each character is supposed to be confined in one square, in order to create a form of symmetry in Chinese calligraphy. For characters that are made of so many strokes as my last name, it was very difficult to properly place them in just one square.
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Perspect?
Searching for optoelectronics, I was directed to
National Chiao Tung University. In the center of its introduction page popped up the word
PERSPECT. I then emailed my friendly suggestion regarding this
typographical error to the website manager on 9/18/04. Curiosity driven, I visited its English site and found several occurrences of the same mistake. The correct word in these contexts should be
PROSPECT.
What negligence and indifference! There are, as usual, numerous grammatical errors in those writings. This was understandable and excusable, if the authors/editors used a less customarily used word (e.g., perspective). However, PERSPECT is a nonexistent word, and should have been readily captured by any spell-check tools if such tools were ever utilized.
It’s not my intention to pick on people’s writing skills. Should this error appear on an informal document, it could be overlooked. But to appear (multiple times!) on the main webpage of a (possibly) world-renowned research institute, that is embarrassingly different.
English is a confusing (and confused) language. Whether we like it or not, the world is stuck with it, especially in science and technology. As a pro bono service, I started writing a letter to President Chang (張俊彥校長), the educator whose mission is to bring NCTU to the next level. Unfortunately, many things happened between then and now, and I am sorry to report that, just as my letter is still under construction, PERSPECT is still…. there.
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Essay awarded a full score in Taiwan's SAT
Miss Li, a participant in Taiwan’s scholastic aptitude exam, was awarded
a full score (100%) in English writing. I compliment Miss Li on her achievements, but a quick look revealed several grammatical errors. Miss Li said that she was surprised. I
am, indeed, surprised. In fact, the English teacher(s) who graded this paragraph and of course, Taiwan’s English education, really appalled me.
她的英文作文如下 (with my comments-- only on the very obvious!):
Since I have the honor to hold our first class reunion, our team, including me and few other classmates,have finally decided how this party will go.Firstly[j1] ,considering that we girls are definitely going to get very wild and noisy, therefore[j2] we choose to hold the party at the Cashbox KTV, next to our school[j3] rather than in a high-class restaurant. As to how the party will go, we have decided several games, including [j4] singing, of course,gift-exchanging[j5] , and most importantly, the girl chat[j6] . Also the date[j7] will be on July 10th[j8] , from 1pm to 5pm. The reason why we chose this date is that we think you girls might want to have some personal time with your family and friends, therefore[j9] we set the date on[j10] mid-July. That's how our first reunion will go. Remember, it's on July 10th, start [j11] from 1pm, and don't be late. Also don't forget to bring your little present.
[j1]Use Firstly only when Secondly, Thirdly, etc., would follow.
[j2] You are not connecting two sentences; therefore, "therefore" is not necessary.
[j3]Only “next to our school” modifies the KTV. Use a comma before "rather than" to separate the phrase from the rest!
[j4]Do your GAMES include singing, gift-exchange, and girls’ chat?
[j5]gift-exchange (no ING)
[j6]girls’ chat
[j7]DATE should not include specific TIME
[j8]July 10 (or the 10th of July)
[j9]Connecting two complete sentences here! Use ; before therefore.
[j10]in (not ON)
[j11]Two verbs in one sentence! Use STARTING.
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