Some Experiences of Covering News in English

--LTTC speech outline S.C. Chang June 4, 14:00, 2009

--A Brief History of My Encounter with Journalistic English

1. 4-hr editing job @ CNA/China Post

2. Headline and lead, headline and lead!

3. Rewriting Chinese stories into English

4. UPI-telex, Fax, Infonet, Internet...

5. Chinese key-in software – pinyin (phonetic) vs. ideographic methods

--Memorable and Interesting Incidents While Covering News/Living Abroad

- witnesses said...rock/firebombs throwing students and tear-gas firing riot police...those 'democratization' days and advancement through Asian and Olympic Games, cf. today’s Thailand

- Quebec's 1995 "sovereignty" referendum; "they're my grandchildren."

- Maersk Dubai case and sovereignty tug of war

- Post-911 U.S. politics and corporate scandal (the gravest crisis of capitalism since the late 19th century) – precursor of subprime mortgage crisis and financial tsunami?

- Returning to Taiwan: Domestic and Foreign News "differences": Values, Logic, Common Sense and Cultural Traditions (e.g. 100km/hr speed on Hangzhou S. Road? May 17 march; the number of rally/march participants)

- Some Unforgettable Daily Expressions: pissed off (Chinese equivalent?), bitterly complain, "please walk on the left," pee and poo, swear at/call names (debate in NYC before Iraq war), Canadian eh?

--5-Minute Break or Q&A

--Recent Changes and Questions Concerning News English

1. Grammar confusion? The period ended in March...Toyota posted record net profit 1.72 trillion yen in the ended March 2008. Now, it is forecasting a 350 billion yen net loss for the current fiscal year, ending March 31.

Watanabe and Kinoshita placed strong emphasis on achieving 2 trillion yen in annual operation profit, a level it passed in the year ended March, 2007.

The nine largest [electronics makers] expect net losses to total $19 billion in the fiscal year that ends this month. In the quarter ended Dec. 31, ....

2. Headline rules change. A and the appear on headlines! Will too.

(Luxury Goods Sales May Fall 15-20% In 1H 2009--WSJ) (The Painful Journey Home -- A Reverse Exodus Upends the Lives of Many Migrants/ An Exodus in Reverse Upends Migrant Lives. NTY)

3. hyphen or double hyphen ( - ) or dash (--): where to put it?

4. Computer laziness/fuzziness: where is the apostrophe (')?

5. Noun as adjective (China's Yuan Ambitions)

6. Unidentified sources: Livid, Mr. Zetsche stormed out of his office, say people familiar with the matter, and snapped: "What do we have to do? Lose $10 billion to get a level field?" People who attended the meeting say he (Cerberus founder Stepen A. Feiberg) said he wanted to save this icon of American industry, not to bleed it of assets and value.

Although Mr. Feinberg is famously camera-shy, he allowed a Chrysler photographer to shoot him and the union boss together, a person familiar with the matter said. The photographer was instructed to make two prints of the shot -- one for each subject -- and then to permanently erase the digital files, this person said. Persons familiar with the situation said…

--Suggestions to Those Curious About World Happenings - How to Use the "Dominant Language" Tool to Increase Your Knowledge and Job Skills

1. The Internet

2. TV and Radio: Bernanke, Beckham, Leonard Cohen and Chinese translation

3. Print Media

4. Dictionaries and Web tools

5. Communicating with others

--Concluding Remarks

Media industry as part of the economy or national life, like military and education?

Make use of the knowledge -- turn it into wisdom. From Greed to Compassion.

FYI: A new look at U.S. education reform:

- Why it needs to change: “Old institutions cannot adequately oversee new practices.” “The American economy does not stand still, and neither should the rules that govern it.” (Barack Obama)

- Focus on creativity, ethics, collaboration, cultural competency and other intra- and inter-personal skills … These skills should be integrated throughout the education system.

- When rigor, relevance and relationships are integrated, the focus of schools takes shift from the acquisition and manipulation of knowledge for its own sake to solving real-world problems.

-In a world where knowledge is being made at exponential rates, it makes sense for teaching to focus on its selective acquisition, evaluation and application. NO ONE CAN LEARN IT ALL. Core values and practices must be re-examined to see if they’re truly aligned with the needs of society.

-- More Q&A