2010年10月14日星期四

一般常識




我一向意識不到，原來我們這一代認為是一般常識，對下一代來說，可以是遠古歷史，從來就沒有聽別人說過，所以一無所知，或者理解錯誤。

最近駕車時聽電台節目，主持人林超榮談起釣魚島事件，竟然說，六、七十年代的保釣行動最先在香港發動……

簡直錯得離譜，當時保釣的首倡者是身在美國的台灣留學生，劉大任、郭從棻、唐文標、張系國等，這批台灣留學生普遍反蔣反國民黨。張系國曾把這段保釣經歷寫成小說：《昨日之怒》。

保釣的發起人也有香港留學生，例如哈佛的廖約克等，廖約克回港後曾任教中大電子系，是專門研發製作液晶顯示器的精電的發起人和大股東，前環境運輸及工務局局長廖秀冬是他的妹妹。

香港的保釣活動只是響應留美同學的號召，先後有包錯石幕後推動的保釣會和70年代吳仲賢、莫昭如、岑建勳等發起的保釣行動委員會。最積極參與示威的是港大和中大的同學，尤其是中大，被警方拘捕的有好幾個。當日的保釣健將，無論在美國、台灣和香港，不少人依然健在，要弄清楚絕不困難。林超榮與這一代年齢差距不算太大，可惜主持節目單憑自己的錯誤記憶。




在網上讀第17期《字花》文學雜誌的文章，其中有個白先勇訪問，談他少年時代在香港生活，竟然把白先勇唸的喇沙書院，說成是耶穌會神父辦的學校，也錯得厲害。喇沙書院由基督學校修士會(Brothers of the Christian Schools, 或De La Salle Christian Brothers)辦，與港島的聖約瑟同一系統。耶穌會神父(Jesuits)在香港辦的是港、九兩所華仁書院。雖然兩者都是由愛爾蘭天主神父辦的學校，但形象分明，怎可能出錯？

白先勇談起昔日的學制，刊登出來，竟然是他們從中六、中七（FORM 6和FORM 7）讀起，也錯了。當時香港的英文書院制，最低班是第八班，一直升上第一班，然後考大學入學試。第八班的課程，相等於今天的小學五年級。

都不是什麼秘密，上網便可以查出來。可惜訪問者和編輯都沒有做功課，所以齊齊犯錯。
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8 則留言:

  1. 桑子2010年12月30日 上午12:36

    從前的期刊是比文字，現在是比裝逼比自我感覺，編輯的面子，是自己丟。

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  2. 關平2011年1月5日 上午11:59

    桑子君，

    謝謝遲來的留言。

    作者或編輯表達自己的感覺並非壞事。我是老式人，總覺得做好背景資料搜集工作是他們的分內之事。

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  3. Snowdrops2011年2月1日 上午3:54

    Hi 關平,

    This is my first time visiting your blog, and am learning a lot from your reviews of different books and authors.

    Just a little factual amendment in relation to the above piece however. Christian Brothers schools are definitely Catholic, not Protestant, so it is erroneous to translate them into Chinese as 基督學校修士會, rather than 天主學校修士會. The De La Salle Christian Brothers is a Catholic institution (see here for reference: http://www.delasalle.org/pdfs/infosheet_John_Baptist_de_La_Salle_GVG_2008.pdf). This is a grave error especially given the fact that this particular HK school is founded by Irish priests, these founding priests would probably turn in their graves if they knew their school is being labelled as Protestant, given the extreme opposition between Catholicism and Protestantism in the history of Ireland (there remains a lot of Christian Brothers schools in Ireland also, which are avowedly Catholic in spite of the trend for Christian schools to become increasingly multidenominational).

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  4. 關平2011年2月2日 上午12:44

    Dear Snowdrop,

    Thanks for sharing.

    I think both "基督學校修士會", & "天主學校修士會" are both valid translation for the "De La Salle Brothers". Please refer to the official site of the HK Catholic Church:

    http://www.catholic.org.hk/

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  5. Snowdrops2011年2月2日 上午7:34

    Dear 關平,

    Thanks for your reply. I just clicked on the link you provided, everywhere I can see translates Catholic as 天主 and NOT 基督. So could you point me to an exact page where Catholic is actually translated as 基督教?? One of the first things I learnt when I emigrated to Ireland about 20 years ago is that one does not mistake Protestantism (基督教) for Catholicism (天主教).

    The website you provided translated Roman Catholics as 羅馬天主教會, which is indeed right and proper, in fact, it goes on to say:

    "羅馬天主教會於1841年在本港設立傳教區，於1874年把本港劃為宗座代牧教區，其後於1946年把本港定為教區。本港約有246,000名天主教徒，為天主教徒服務的聖職人員計有司鐸291名、修士68名和修女502名。... 除了傳道外，香港教區也十分關注市民的福利。在教育方面，本港有天主教學校和幼稚園297所，就讀學生約24萬人，辦學工作由天主教教育事務處協助進行。教會開辦的醫療和社會服務機構計有醫院六家、診所13家、社會及家庭服務中心39所、宿舍18所、安老院13所、康復服務中心20所，以及自助會社和協會多個。香港明愛是統籌天主教香港教區各項社會福利服務的組織。香港教區提供的各項服務，普羅大眾均可享用!受惠人士當中，多至九成半並非天主教徒。"

    Page Link here: http://www.catholic.org.hk/v2/b5/cdhk/a01intro.html

    Please therefore correct your above translation as it is actually quite serious in mistaking a Roman Catholic organisation as a Protestant one. Given the point of your article being the carelessness of editors in recording basic facts, I thought that perhaps you should also exhibit similar care in your labelling of the Christian organisation that runs De La Salle.

    With respect,

    Snowdrops (there is an "s" at the end of my screen-name, thanks)

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  6. 關平2011年2月2日 上午10:52

    Dear Snowdrops,

    Please accept my apologies for the mispelling.

    For the official Chinese translation of the De La Salle Brothers, please visit the following site:

    http://www.catholic.org.hk/v2/cath_db/search.php?search=la+salle+brothers

    The fact that the La Salle Brothers are called Christian Brothers does mean that we call 天主教 as 基督教. Afterall, Catholics are also Christians.

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  7. Snowdrops2011年2月2日 上午11:13

    Dear 關平 ,

    Thanks for your reply and the new link again. Yes I already realised that both Catholicism and Protestantism are denominations of Christianity in my first comment above (as mentioned in the last line). However, I've always been taught that 基督教 refers to Protestant Christianity rather than Catholic Christianity, especially as I was at a 基督教 Protestant school in Hong Kong before changing to a Roman Catholic one when I emigrated to Ireland.

    I now realised from Google Translate that Protestantism is in fact denoted as 新教, which is completely news to me (I've never heard of a Protestant school being called 新教 in Hong Kong, but that may well be my ignorance). I therefore sincerely apologise for having made such a fuss over this, and thank you for your patience in pointing out the official Chinese translation of Christian Brothers to me.

    All the best,

    Snowdrops

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  8. 關平2011年2月3日 上午1:30

    Dear Snowdrops,

    Thanks for your patience in searching for the accurate Chinese translation.

    It's true that Protestants always call themselves 基督徒, 新教 is often used by the Catholics. But in many occasions, the Catholics call themselves 基督徒 too.

    Thank you again for sharing.

    關平

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