海纳百川》台湾错误百出的Hello Kitty英汉辞典（许淳恩、方恩格）

针对双语政策，民进党总统参选人赖清德表示，目前推动是执行出问题，要形成国家团队，用更包容方式推动双语教育。（资料照）

今年3月25日，台湾英文新闻网（Taiwan News）发表了一篇文章，题为「台湾『Hello Kitty』英汉辞典含有70个『极其严重的错误』」；报导了一本充满错误的儿童英汉辞典，其中包括许多英文单词的拼写错误。

这本辞典名为《Hello Kitty 儿童英汉辞典》，由世一文化事业股份有限公司出版。

然而，令我们感到失望但却又不意外的是，今年9月底，当我们拜访了何嘉仁书局，发现这本辞典仍在销售（出版于2022年4月），而且仍然存在着同样的错误。何嘉仁书局内有一句英语口号为「Ideal Books Are the Key to Wisdom （理想的书籍是智慧之钥）」；然而，这本书绝对不符合「理想」的标准。此外，我们发现这本书目前也在纪伊国屋书店（Kinokuniya）贩售，而其他书店也可能有售。

我们致电给世一文化事业股份有限公司，询问他们是否知道这本辞典充满错误。他们回应，如果他们在出版时已经知道这些错误，那他们就不会出售这本辞典；并表示他们将在下一版中修正这些错误。我们采访的人也否认知道媒体之前报导过这些错误。

我们也致电给何嘉仁书局，询问他们为什么要出售一本充满错误的儿童英汉辞典，尤其是在今年3月媒体已经公开报导了这些错误之后。然而，何嘉仁书局拒绝回答我们这些来自独立记者的问题。

此外，我们还联络了教育部，但他们告诉我们，「教育部难以干涉包含错误内容的出版物」。

最后，我们向国立政治大学英文系、专精于英语教学领域的刘怡君教授展示了这本辞典的许多错误。根据刘教授的说法，这样错误的辞典将「毫无疑问地导致儿童在英语学习的过程中不断犯错，进而无法将英文学习好，或是影响到他们在寻求知识道路上的价值观」。刘教授也强调，「负责任的出版商本就应该避免排版印刷错误，更不用说这种最基本的错误了；这些错误不是能力的问题，而是态度上的问题」。

当前的副总统、民调领先的民进党总统参选人赖清德曾担任过台湾的行政院院长，并在任内推动了「2030双语国家」政策。我们期待，如果他明年当选总统，他将再次力求实施这项政策。

然而，如果出版社、书店和教育部对充满错误的英语语言教材没有零容忍政策，那么「2030双语国家」政策是否仍有望成功实施呢？

（作者许淳恩为国立政治大学学生，方恩格为美国律师、政治风险分析师）

※以上言论不代表旺中媒体集团立场※

Taiwan’s Error Filled Hello Kitty Bilingual Dictionary

By Hsu Chen-en and Ross Darrell Feingold

Hsu Chun-en is a third-year student at National Chengchi University, majoring in English with a minor in Law. Ross Darrell Feingold is an American lawyer and political risk analyst who has resided in Taipei nearly thirty years.

On March 25 of this year, the news website Taiwan News published an article “Taiwanese 'Hello Kitty' English-Chinese dictionary has 70 'egregious errors'” about a children's Chinese-English dictionary that is filled with errors, such as many words spelled incorrectly in English.

The dictionary, titled "Hello Kitty Children's Illustrated Dictionary" (Hello Kitty 儿童英汉辞典) is printed by ACME Cultural Enterprise Co. (世一文化事业股份有限公司).

At the end of September, we visited a Hess bookstore, and much to our disappointment but not our surprise, the dictionary is still on sale (an edition published in April 2022), and still has the same errors. An English slogan inside to the Hess bookstore is “Ideal Books Are the Key to Wisdom”, though this dictionary is certainly not ideal. The book is also on sale at Kinokuniya, and possibly other book stores.

We called ACME Cultural Enterprise Co. and asked whether they know the dictionary is filled with errors. Their response was that had they been aware of the errors at the time of publication, they would not have sold the dictionary, and they said they would revise the errors in the next edition. The person we spoke with also denied knowing that the errors were previously reported in the media.

We called Hess and asked why they sell a children’s English-Mandarin dictionary that has so many mistakes, especially given that media in March of this year already publicized the errors. Hess declined to answer our questions from independent journalists.

We called the Ministry of Education, and they told us "It is difficult for the Ministry of Education to interfere with publications that contain errors."

We also showed examples of the dictionary’s errors to Dr. June Liu, a professor of English at National Chengchi University who specializes in English language teaching. According to Professor Liu, a dictionary with such errors will “undoubtedly lead children to make continuous mistakes in English learning, which can result in poor English ability or influence their values on the path of seeking knowledge”. Professor Liu also emphasized that “Responsible publishers are supposed to avoid typographical errors, let alone such elementary mistakes. These errors point not to a matter of ability but rather an issue of attitude”.

When Vice President William Lai, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Progressive Party who leads in the polls, previously served as premier, he championed a “2030 Bilingual Nation” policy. We expect that if he becomes president next year, he will once again seek to implement this policy.

If publishers, bookstores, and the Ministry of Education do not have a zerotolerance policy for English language educational materials that are filled with errors, is there any hope for the 2030 Bilingual Nation policy to succeed?