海納百川》臺灣錯誤百出的Hello Kitty英漢辭典（許淳恩、方恩格）

針對雙語政策，民進黨總統參選人賴清德表示，目前推動是執行出問題，要形成國家團隊，用更包容方式推動雙語教育。（資料照）

今年3月25日，臺灣英文新聞網（Taiwan News）發表了一篇文章，題爲「臺灣『Hello Kitty』英漢辭典含有70個『極其嚴重的錯誤』」；報導了一本充滿錯誤的兒童英漢辭典，其中包括許多英文單詞的拼寫錯誤。

這本辭典名爲《Hello Kitty 兒童英漢辭典》，由世一文化事業股份有限公司出版。

然而，令我們感到失望但卻又不意外的是，今年9月底，當我們拜訪了何嘉仁書局，發現這本辭典仍在銷售（出版於2022年4月），而且仍然存在着同樣的錯誤。何嘉仁書局內有一句英語口號爲「Ideal Books Are the Key to Wisdom （理想的書籍是智慧之鑰）」；然而，這本書絕對不符合「理想」的標準。此外，我們發現這本書目前也在紀伊國屋書店（Kinokuniya）販售，而其他書店也可能有售。

我們致電給世一文化事業股份有限公司，詢問他們是否知道這本辭典充滿錯誤。他們迴應，如果他們在出版時已經知道這些錯誤，那他們就不會出售這本辭典；並表示他們將在下一版中修正這些錯誤。我們採訪的人也否認知道媒體之前報導過這些錯誤。

我們也致電給何嘉仁書局，詢問他們爲什麼要出售一本充滿錯誤的兒童英漢辭典，尤其是在今年3月媒體已經公開報導了這些錯誤之後。然而，何嘉仁書局拒絕回答我們這些來自獨立記者的問題。

此外，我們還聯絡了教育部，但他們告訴我們，「教育部難以干涉包含錯誤內容的出版物」。

最後，我們向國立政治大學英文系、專精於英語教學領域的劉怡君教授展示了這本辭典的許多錯誤。根據劉教授的說法，這樣錯誤的辭典將「毫無疑問地導致兒童在英語學習的過程中不斷犯錯，進而無法將英文學習好，或是影響到他們在尋求知識道路上的價值觀」。劉教授也強調，「負責任的出版商本就應該避免排版印刷錯誤，更不用說這種最基本的錯誤了；這些錯誤不是能力的問題，而是態度上的問題」。

當前的副總統、民調領先的民進黨總統參選人賴清德曾擔任過臺灣的行政院院長，並在任內推動了「2030雙語國家」政策。我們期待，如果他明年當選總統，他將再次力求實施這項政策。

然而，如果出版社、書店和教育部對充滿錯誤的英語語言教材沒有零容忍政策，那麼「2030雙語國家」政策是否仍有望成功實施呢？

（作者許淳恩爲國立政治大學學生，方恩格爲美國律師、政治風險分析師）

※以上言論不代表旺中媒體集團立場※

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 兒童英漢辭典) is printed by ACME Cultural Enterprise Co. (世一文化事業股份有限公司).

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?