August 15, 2006

Comme une vache espagnole


They say in French il parle français comme une vache espagnole — he speaks French like a Spanish cow, usually referring to someone speaking bad French (we have heard that not being able to speak French is being illiterate and speaking bad French is barbaric). But the superficial essence of the phrase manifested in an out-of-the-station copy that landed the newsroom a couple of days ago. The copy was larded with mistakes in each of its line, without making any trouble in being understood though. But one of the editors said there was a mistake which cannot be excused. The last sentence of the copy had the phrase 'others received past aid from different clinics'' where the writer means to say 'first aid.' The people of Noakhali had a persistent problem of pronouncing 'f' as 'p' in Bangla, which manifested in his English writing. It shows schooling, espeically primary, still has a long way to go in Bangladesh.

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