The Tainan City Government was yesterday panned by borough wardens for telling them to broadcast through local public address systems a message in English, saying: “Happy Ten Ten,” to promote speaking English on Double Ten National Day on Oct. 10.
Promoting English as a second language has been a priority of the city government, including an ongoing project to foster English-speaking environments by encouraging borough offices to add English phrases to their public broadcasts, a program overseen by the city’s Second Official Language Office and the Bureau of Civil Affairs.
The plan appeared to have gone awry late last year, when the bureau doled out scripts, monthly English phrases and pre-recorded audio files to the borough offices to be broadcast, including instructions to air the “Happy Ten Ten” greeting on Double Ten National Day this year.
Several unnamed borough wardens who reviewed the material said they were confused by it and had doubts about it being well-received, with one saying that an English speaker consulted by the warden’s office could not understand it.
A Tainan-based English teacher, surnamed Lee (李), said that Double Ten National Day had been translated as “Double Ten Day” or “Double Tenth Day” before, but rendering it as “Ten Ten” would likely cause confusion among foreigners, who might not understand the reference.
The Second Official Language Office said that the employee who coined the phrase claimed he had heard it from a member of the US Congress in a congressional session, as well as on an English-learning community Web site.
After consulting with English speakers, the language office said that the expression was too informal and unspecific, and sent instructions to the bureau, asking it to re-record the message.
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