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Poor English: Why Should Hong Kong Care?
Speaker :

Mr Barry Kalb (Honorary Lecturer, Journalism and Media Studies Centre, HKU)

Moderator: Professor Ying Chan (Director, Journalism and Media Studies Centre, HKU)
Date : 9 September 2010 (Thursday)
Time : 7:15 pm - 9:00 pm
Venue : Special Collections, 1/F, Main Library, The University of Hong Kong
Language : English

About the Talk

China has become a major player in global business, and Hong Kong and its people are a major factor in the Chinese economy.  Yet Hong Kong’s grasp of English, the international language of commerce, is embarrassingly poor.  Barry Kalb, a veteran journalist and journalism lecturer at the University of Hong Kong, discusses the situation and what is needed to rectify it.  Mr. Kalb is the author of the recently published You Can Write Better English.

中國在世界經濟舞台上扮演重要角色，而香港也是中國商貿往來的重要元素，但香港人的英文水平卻差強人意。在香港大學教授英文新聞寫作，也是You Can Write Better English一書作者的資深傳媒人Barry Kalb，將於講座中探討現況和提供如何寫好英文的良方。

About the Speaker

Mr Barry Kalb

Barry Kalb has taught reporting and news writing at the University of Hong Kong's Journalism and Media Studies Centre since 2005, emphasizing the basics of good English writing. His work with hundreds of Chinese from Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan and Southeast Asia has given him an insight into the problems native Chinese speakers encounter when trying to write English. Kalb started his journalism career in Washington, D.C., in 1967. He was a CBS News correspondent in Hong Kong, then joined TIME Magazine as Eastern Europe bureau chief, and later moved with TIME to Rome, New York and back to Hong Kong. From 2002 to 2007 he served as an editor in the Voice of America’s Hong Kong bureau.

Barry Kalb是資深傳媒人，2005年起任教於香港大學新聞及傳媒研究中心，教授新聞寫作及報導課程，特別注重學生的英文寫作技巧。Barry擁有逾30年國際傳媒經驗，積累了多年與數以百計來自中國、台灣及東南亞的華人共事的經驗，從中了解到中國人書寫英文常見的毛病和瑕疵。Barry 於1967年起在美國華盛頓開展傳媒工作，曾任美國哥倫比亞廣播公司（CBS）駐港特派員，其後出任《時代周刊》(Time Magazine)駐東歐分社主任，《美國之音》（Voice of America）香港分社編輯等。

About the Book

English is the language of international commerce and communication. Young professionals working in Hong Kong and doing business with the rest of the world are more likely to conduct that business in English than in any other language, and employers nowadays are accordingly looking for people with a good level of English. You Can Write Better English is a practical handbook to help improve written English, with special focus on mistakes native Chinese speakers routinely make when writing in the language.

香港立足大中華，和世界接軌，良好的英文書寫能力是溝通的重要媒介， You Can Write Better English由香港大學新聞及傳媒研究中心及香港大學出版社聯合出版，針對以中文為母語的人書寫英文的弊病，由淺入深為讀者奠下英文寫作的基本功，書中包括書寫流暢英文的要訣；美式及英式英文的對照；撰寫新聞稿、新聞公告及商業信函的實例指導及改正，輔以真實例子，取自公營機構及政府新聞稿；政府官員講稿；商業信函內出現的英文錯處，加以改正，為一實用英文寫作指南。