2013-03-15 18:38:25frank
[語言] 語言政策反映著主政者的心態
不過是二十多年前，台灣也有過類似的語言問題。當時的官員批評媒體使用「日語」漢字詞彙，像是「文藝季」作成「文藝祭」。用這個「祭」的確是日本習慣的用法，可是這本來就是「中文」傳的日本去的，而且用這個「祭」的意義更加深遠。如果因為是日語漢字詞彙而不能用，那麼「電話」、「瓦斯」、「資本主義」、「幹部」、「藝術」、「否定」、「肯定」、「液體」、「固體」、「假設」、「海拔」、「直接」、「革命」、「形上學」、「警察」、「雜誌」、「防疫」、「法人」、「俱樂部」、「浪漫」、「治具」.... 等詞彙也應該不能使用。教育官員應首先對「經濟部」和「國立編譯館」提出警告才是。前者單位名稱及為日語漢字詞彙，後者所編定的教科書裡也充斥著大量日語漢字詞彙。
這種「上級指導員」「官大學問大」的心態充斥官場*，不過對語言的「管制」已經沒有當年的積極與用心了。所以「達人」、「宅男」這些詞與在媒體上經常出現，大家也都很能接受。
出了一個喜歡說英語，美國人父親的總統後，政府官員連對「中文」的堅持都放棄了。到南部去住個幾天叫做 "Long Stay"；要和中國簽 ECFA，而 ECFA 這一詞「出台」後，還沒確定其中文名稱為何。「國家通訊傳播委員會」聽起來極為陌生，因為政府官員都叫它 NCC(可能是學美國的 FCC)。
* Remarks:
台南市 2012 年 8 月舉辦全國教育局處長會議，大會手冊的封面以平埔族狩獵圖像為主，展現台南西拉雅族的特色，平埔族人背弓箭的圖像卻被教育部認為有暴力傾向，要求換掉。我們以前念書時還有「中華文化基本教材」其封面便是被稱為「至聖先師」的孔丘佩一把長劍的畫像。原住民的弓箭是暴力，孔丘的劍是「中華文化」。
Once they start laughing at you, you’re through
Mar 11th 2013, 16:26 by M.D. | OTTAWA
It has not been a good couple of weeks for the Office québécois de la langue française, the Quebec government body charged with ensuring that French remains the dominant language in the largely French-speaking Canadian province. Over-zealous application of the law by its inspectors, known in English as the language police, subjected the office to so much international ridicule that on March 8th its head was forced to step down.
It began, as do many things these days, with a tweet. On February 19th, Massimo Lecas, co-owner of an Italian restaurant, Buonanotte, in Montreal, wrote that he had received a letter from the office warning him that there were too many Italian words (such as "pasta") on his menu. This was a violation of Quebec’s language charter, he was told, and if they were not changed to the French equivalents (pâtes in the case of pasta) he would face a fine.
Journalists with a sense of the ridiculous quickly piled on. An analysis of international media coverage of Quebec showed the story, quickly dubbed#pastagate on twitter, received 60 times the coverage of a trip by Pauline Marois, the premier, that had been meant to drum up investor interest in the province. Other restaurant owners who had received similar letters—a fish-and-chip-shop owner who was instructed to call his main offering poisson frits et frites, a brasserie owner who was asked to cover the “redial” button on his telephone and the “on/off” button on his microwave—came forward, an indication this was not an isolated incident.
Journalists happily uncovered more extreme examples, such as the owner of a sex shop who tussled with inspectors over the English-only instructions on a sex aid. She offered to translate the safety instructions into French and place a sticker over the English warning, but this did not satisfy the inspectors. The case went to all the way to the Superior Court of Justice. (I wonder if the lawyers were able to keep a straight face.) The owner ended up with a C$500 fine.
There is of course a serious issue behind the work of the inspectors. Much to Quebec’s credit, French is alive and well there, even though the province's 7.4m French-speakers (94% of Quebec's population) are barraged with English from the rest of Canada and from the United States. It’s not easy for the government to find the right balance between preserving French and making peace with a world where English is the language of business. What makes the job harder is that the guardians of French also want to keep out foreign words, whereas English tends to appropriate them. Language is of course also a deeply political issue in Quebec, a former French colony conquered by Britain before it became part of Canada. The current Parti Québécois (PQ) government wants to make the province an independent country.
Diane de Courcy, the Quebec minister responsible for language, tried at first to shrug off the pasta stories, saying she was satisfied with the work of the inspectors. When the bad publicity persisted, she announced a review of that particular case. The PQ government is currently attempting to toughen language laws, and pastagate was becoming a distraction. But by March 8th it was clear something more was needed. Quebec was the butt of too many jokes. Ms de Courcy announced that Louise Marchand, president and director-general of the language police, was leaving her post effective immediately. Apparently the move was made at Ms Marchand’s request. It is generally the case with figures of authority that when the masses start laughing at you, you are through.
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