| Username |
Post |
| shrestha |
Posted
on 24-Apr-01 09:44 AM
Shouldn't the news that appear in the online media pass through editorial scrutiny? I do not claim to be an authority in English usage but you cannot help but notice incorrect construction in almost every sentence in this piece that appeared in nepalnews.com. And this is only one instance (A notice was once published "to all the readers within and without Nepal"). Shouldn't they be more responsible than that? It's not just the errors in usage, but factual inaccuracy too. And most of the time the factual inaccuracy has more to do with the reporter not being able to convey the message through some atrocious usage. Quite a contrast to the literary discussions that go on here!!!
Shouldn't maintaining standard English be one of the responsibilities of these journalists?
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Students pelt stones during SLC exam
Post Report
KATHMANDU, April 18 - Students pelted stones for making examination severe, while a student was put behind the bars for beating the controller, a report from Syangja said.
Reports from Khotang also said that students locked Harka Rai, Supervisor for his alleged act of partiality to the students, bringing the examination to a standstill.
Meanwhile, in Dang, answer sheets of 23 students were cancelled, reports from District Education Office said.
In Mahottari, the locals were lathi charged by the police after they tried to storm the examination hall seeing the examiners snatching the chits and guide papers from the students.
According to a report from the District Education Office, Controller of Examination at Mahendra Dayo Higher Secondary School, Ram Chandra Khadka was expelled for his illegal act.
In a report received from Morang, two students turning angry for not given chance to copy or get help were caught by the police after they were found pelting stones at the police and at the controllers. Police sources said they destroyed a motorcycle belonging to the examiner.
In yet another incident, relatives of a student at Sarbodaya Higher Secondary School had thoroughly beaten the student who refused to help him.
Report from Banke said that an assistant supervisor at the local Saraswoti Secondary School was wounded when one of the examinees stabbed him with a khukuri for not being allowed to copy math chit during the SLC examination
Dr Bhatta, Controller of Examination, Sanothimi said two students were barred from writing their science examination at Rautahat while one was barred for all the papers.
Examination Controller, Principal Amir Pandey was hurled with a telephone Wednesday by a group of over 20 students. The students also used fist blows to hit the Controller. "I have had three head stitches," said Pandey after his discharge from B & B Hospital, Patan.
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| sally |
Posted
on 24-Apr-01 12:49 PM
I love that the principal was "hurled with a telephone." Apparently both the principal AND the telephone were hurled somewhere. Do you think the students swung the principal with the telephone on, say, his stomach, and all of them were hurled together in one big flying lump? Or were there, perhaps, two groups of students: "You guys take the principal! We'll toss the telephone! Let's see who hits the bull's eye first--principal or telephone!"
As a general rule, I don't have a problem with awkward English. And really, most of those sentences were just fine. But it's not exactly great reporting, and it's certainly not good editing. A few years back, I counted a sentence in the Rising Nepal that had 101 words. A single sentence.
As an American, I don't care if a Nepali has perfect English. Most don't. But this is the English language press! And who the heck reads the English language press? In Nepal, it's mainly expats and a minuscule handful of others–half of them doing it to improve their English. Online, it's mainly Nepalis living abroad and foreigners with an interest in Nepal.
It's also "primary source material" for academics. Maybe someday you'll read in an academic paper that, in Nepal, students protested by hurling teachers and telephones out the window together.
Talk about a game of telephone. Maybe if the papers paid better, they'd get more qualified editors. Just a thought!
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| shrestha |
Posted
on 24-Apr-01 02:46 PM
I agree with you. We cannot expect perfect English. But how about even keeping the sentences to simple subject-verb-object format if that helps instead of creating a medley of words? I'm not talking about correct usage of "which" and "that" etc. (I don't know too and I stick with "that", at least I'm correct half the time!)
There were talks in this discussion board about the propriety of Nepali and Nepalese. How about English?
I don't know whether it's because of less qualified editor, like you mentioned, or because there's no editor at all. By the way, it woundn't surprise me if "the principal was hurled with the telephone". Another story said ...was shot and hacked with khukri... That must be quite a khukri!!!
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| ashu |
Posted
on 24-Apr-01 11:29 PM
I think there are several problems
that need to be identified.
First, the problem of finding talents:
Nepalis with superlative English skills rarely
choose to work full-time for a newspaper in Nepal.
Such people, if in Nepal, get better job offers from
INGOs and/or the private sector, or they are already
studying/working abroad.
Second, lack of in-house training:
Once the hiring process is complete,
publication houses rarely spend money
to CONTINUALLY train the new editors and
the reporters.
Given these two reasons, little wonder,
then, that the state of English journalism
(with the sole exception of The Nepali Times)
is pretty dismal, though, in all optimism,
what we have today is a big improvement over
what we used to have even a few years ago.
oohi
ashu
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