Earlier this month, the Japanese government donated 1.24 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to Taiwan without asking for anything in return — a very generous and good deed.
However, it seems that there is a group of people in Taiwan who are incapable if distinguishing between right and wrong. They try to find fault with the AstraZeneca vaccine, talk about the donation in a sarcastic tone, and express pessimism about the relationship between Taiwan and Japan. It is very sad to see.
Surprisingly, a social media post has been widely shared, saying that when Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi was asked in the Japanese legislature why the country only donated 1.24 million vaccines, he allegedly answered that the Taiwanese government had only asked for enough doses to meet its needs for this month, as locally made vaccines would soon become available.
Having watched the video of the session, anyone with a good understanding of Japanese would know that Motegi did not make such a statement. The post was completely fabricated — a piece of vicious and despicable fake news.
Anyone who makes a foreign language the main tool of their profession would be familiar with three basic principles from their translation studies: truthfulness, expressiveness and elegance.
The main priority when translating is to faithfully convert a text from one language to another, and maintain its flavor and credibility. Even if the text does not coincide with the translator’s stance or beliefs, they should never substitute one thing for another, leave out parts of it or represent the text falsely.
Unfortunately, we live in an era of cognitive warfare, and many posts circulating on social media are fake news. Spreading news stories without fact-checking them can be very dangerous, and anyone who is not sufficiently cautions might easily end up being an accomplice of someone with a nefarious purpose.
Earlier this month, Hsinchu County Deputy Commissioner Chen Chien-hsien (陳見賢), the director of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) chapter in the county, shared the post of Motegi’s alleged vaccine statement on social media, adding some intentionally malicious comments.
Chen’s only response to having been caught red-handed was that he was sure about the truthfulness of the story because a friend who speaks Japanese had translated it for him.
I have been studying Japanese for more than 20 years. My Japanese might not be perfect, but at least I have no problem understanding what the Japanese minister said. I would like to ask Chen if his friend, who, as Chen claimed, is good at Japanese, learned the language from an incompetent teacher.
If they did not understand the statement, they should not have translated it. On the other hand, if they were making a “fake translation” and maliciously helping spread a rumor, they are bringing shame on the language industry.
Hung Yu-jui is a Japanese teacher and translator.
Translated by Eddy Chang
Speaking at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on May 13, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said that democracies must remain united and that “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism.” Earlier that day, Tsai had met with a group of Danish parliamentarians led by Danish Parliament Speaker Pia Kjaersgaard, who has visited Taiwan many times, most recently in November last year, when she met with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office. Kjaersgaard had told Lai: “I can assure you that ... you can count on us. You can count on our support
Denmark has consistently defended Greenland in light of US President Donald Trump’s interests and has provided unwavering support to Ukraine during its war with Russia. Denmark can be proud of its clear support for peoples’ democratic right to determine their own future. However, this democratic ideal completely falls apart when it comes to Taiwan — and it raises important questions about Denmark’s commitment to supporting democracies. Taiwan lives under daily military threats from China, which seeks to take over Taiwan, by force if necessary — an annexation that only a very small minority in Taiwan supports. Denmark has given China a
Many local news media over the past week have reported on Internet personality Holger Chen’s (陳之漢) first visit to China between Tuesday last week and yesterday, as remarks he made during a live stream have sparked wide discussions and strong criticism across the Taiwan Strait. Chen, better known as Kuan Chang (館長), is a former gang member turned fitness celebrity and businessman. He is known for his live streams, which are full of foul-mouthed and hypermasculine commentary. He had previously spoken out against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and criticized Taiwanese who “enjoy the freedom in Taiwan, but want China’s money”
A high-school student surnamed Yang (楊) gained admissions to several prestigious medical schools recently. However, when Yang shared his “learning portfolio” on social media, he was caught exaggerating and even falsifying content, and his admissions were revoked. Now he has to take the “advanced subjects test” scheduled for next month. With his outstanding performance in the general scholastic ability test (GSAT), Yang successfully gained admissions to five prestigious medical schools. However, his university dreams have now been frustrated by the “flaws” in his learning portfolio. This is a wake-up call not only for students, but also teachers. Yang did make a big