我刚写了一个blog提到中国的对外宣传的糟糕,就看到海峡时报上一篇类似品论中国的文章。文中提到中国缺乏外交流的技巧是让国外人反感的一个原因。文中提到,新华社在西藏问题发生后发表了一个面向国际读者的英文评论。正如我在上个blog中提到的,他们又是把中国政府写的什么声色俱厉的中文的评论翻成了英语。让讲英语读者觉得很粗糙(crude)。我真应该把这篇文章发给新华社和外交部的人读读。让他们好好反省自己的写作水准。语言是个非常有用的工具,特别是在外交中。但是为什么中国政府的人都对此如此无知呢?
文中提到的那个来自新华社的英语社论部分是:
'From flat denials to completely false accusations, Dalai tried to wash itself (sic) of brutal violence, which was his orchestration, now he is ready to quit. What a drama!'
'This impudent politician did not show any sign of shame when he disassociated himself from the conspiracy as an innocent monk.'
'The Dalai Lama's hypocrisy has put the power of his religion at stake, but he cannot cheat all the people all of the time. Buddhism is no harbour for separatism. All in all, it's China's Tibet, now and forever.'
Tibet's top official Zhang Qingli went a step further this week by describing the Dalai Lama as a 'devil with the face of a man and the heart of a beast'.
这样声色俱厉的谩骂和指控很明显显示了中国记者/外交部对国际读者的品位缺乏了解和对英语行文的无知。 如果是面向外国人的文章,当然要能让他们读起来信服。但是这样的措词和指控看上去就象是毫无证据的指控和严厉的谩骂。明显是中国共产党独裁者高居临下教训人的风格。也许这是中文写作的通病。中文这样写也罢了。你用英语写给外国人看要换换口气啊!海峡时报指出:
Observers say such language is way too crude for an international audience. 'The accusations and language are way over the top for the outside world and will only encourage more foreigners to really consider boycotting the Olympics,' said Dr David Zweig, director of the Hong Kong-based Centre on China's Transnational Relations.
当然说,外国记者的偏见本身也是非常露骨的:
Whenever a disaster strikes or an insidious plot is uncovered, the knee-jerk reaction among China-based foreign journalists these days is to ask whether Beijing is trying to cover up something.
For instance, when officials announced earlier this month that they had uncovered a plot by Xinjiang terrorists to crash a plane in Beijing, many foreign journalists prefaced their reports with the caveat that Beijing could be trying to cook up an excuse to crack down on the restive Muslim region in western China.
Likewise, when the recent unrest in Tibet broke out, many journalists preferred to believe activists who told them the initial demonstrations were 'peaceful marches' rather than Beijing's assertion that they were part of a violent 'premeditated plot' to sabotage the Olympics.
总之,中国要加强自己的宣传能力。当然对那些偏见的西方人我怎么说呢? Fuck them!