The Taipei City Transportation Department is declaring war on bad English.
In an effort to create an "English-friendly" environment in Taipei, the department is inviting people to correct mistakes or poor use of English on the city's street signs and in official publications.
The English error-finding activity is the latest in a series of events designed to promote public participation in the city government's English program.
The department said that the activity was directed primarily at the English content of bilingual signs, including street signs and the various information plaques at the city's major attractions.
Residents are encouraged to find spelling mistakes, incorrect word choices, errors in word order, incorrect translations or grammatical blunders in the signs.
submission
Participants can submit their findings by filling out a form on the department's Web site and sending their findings by e-mail, fax or post to the department.
The form, dubbed "Identifying Errors in English of Traffic Engineering Office Publications," is available at the department's Web site (www.bote.taipei.gov.tw/activity/activity_plan_en.asp). The Web site contains detailed instructions in Chinese and English.
People who spot three or more English errors between now and June 30 will receive awards from the department, ranging from knapsacks to official Traffic Engineering Office hats.
winners
The winners will be announced on July 31 on the department's Web site.
In the event that two or more different entries are submitted for the same error, only the earliest submission to the department would be accepted, the department said.
Submissions about bilingual signs in public areas that are not under the department's jurisdiction and for notices of central governmental agencies and other civilian organizations would be forwarded to the institutions involved, it said.
STAY AWAY: An official said people should avoid disturbing snakes, as most do not actively attack humans, but would react defensively if threatened Taitung County authorities yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant and avoid disturbing snakes in the wild, following five reported snakebite cases in the county so far this year. Taitung County Fire Department secretary Lin Chien-cheng (林建誠) said two of the cases were in Donghe Township (東河) and involved the Taiwan habus, one person was bit by a Chinese pit viper near the South Link Railway and the remaining two were caused by unidentified snakes. He advised residents near fields to be cautious of snakes hiding in shady indoor areas, especially when entering or leaving their homes at night. In case of a
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
RSS