█陳昱元博士提出媒體把「bumbler」誤譯成「笨蛋」後，前20日NOWnews跟進報導，今21日中國時報繼續發燒報導，總統府強調「經濟學人沒有侮辱的意思，這字只是猶豫、困惑、憨慢、窮忙之意」。
評論：
一、既使「經濟學人」說是「只是猶豫、困惑、憨慢、窮忙之意」，總統府就相信了嗎？可以趾高氣揚「引用」蒙哄臺灣人嗎？臺灣高官素質太差了。
二、英文是國際語言，「字」與「意」之間有一致性的定義，不容任何人誤導詮釋，這是普通常識，總統府高官連普通常識都沒有，台灣人有夠丟臉！
三、陳昱元博士19日指正「bumbler」的真義，NOWnews20日跟進報導，今21日中國時報繼續報導，事實如后。
四、今再提世界上權威字典的解釋如下：
1. person who behaves in a confused, disorganized way, making mistakes and not usually achieving much (Collins English Dictionary)
翻譯：混亂沒有組織的行為者：犯錯且通常不會有什成就（哥林因思英語字典）
2. someone who makes mistakes because of incompetence (wordnik)
翻譯：因無能而犯錯者（歐尼可字典）
3. someone who bumbles; a stumbler or blunderer (Wicktionary)
翻譯：犯錯者、雜亂無章者、無能犯錯者（威可字典）
4. A bumbler is someone who makes mistakes because of incompetence. (ChaCha)
翻譯：因無能犯錯者（恰恰字點）
5. someone who makes mistakes because of incompetence (RhymeZone)
翻譯：因無能犯錯者（瑞美融字典）
6. someone who makes mistakes because of incompetence (Free Dictionary)
翻譯：因無能犯錯者（自由字點）
7. someone who makes mistakes because of incompetence (Mnemonic Dictionary)
翻譯：因無能犯錯者（米摩尼可字典）
8. someone who makes mistakes because of incompetence
翻譯：因無能犯錯者（百科全書）
9. someone who is not competent to take effective action (Thesaurus)
翻譯：因無能無法採取有效行動者（百科全書）
綜上：
（一）bumbler的真義可為「因無能或思緒紊亂或無組織能力」造成「犯錯」或「行為沒什效用」。絕對不是「經濟學人沒有侮辱的意思，這字只是猶豫、困惑、憨慢、窮忙之意」。
（二）「媒體騙子」＋「傻瓜官員」＝「沒有尊嚴的臺灣人」
█經濟學人解釋原文如下：
Taiwan media mistranslate 'bumbler': Economist editor
Joseph Yeh
The China Post
Publication Date : 21-11-2012
Taiwan media mistranslated the word “bumbler” into ben dan, meaning fool in
Mandarin, an Economist editor said Monday, adding that the description was not
meant to insult President Ma Ying-jeou.
According to Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Mofa) spokesman Steve Hsia, The
Economist's Asia editor Dominic Ziegler said in an email to Taiwan's representative
office in the United Kingdom that he noticed his weekly's recent description of Ma as
an “ineffectual bumbler” has caused quite a stir in Taiwan.
But Ziegler said in the email that he has noted some Taiwanese media have
“irresponsibly mistranslated” the word “bumbler” into a phrase meaning stupid or
fool in Chinese, Hsia said.
Ziegler's email was written in English but he used Chinese to write “ben dan” to
ensure accuracy and avoid causing a controversy, Hsia said.
It was a “gross mistranslation” and the word was not meant as an insult, Hsia quoted
Ziegler as saying. A bumbler is a person “who acts indecisively or in a slightly
confused manner,” according to Ziegler.
The Economist said in its November 17 issue that popular satisfaction with Ma, who
was re-elected January 14, had plunged to a low of 13 per cent in a poll taken by local
TV channel TVBS on October 22 and 23.
“The country appears to agree on one thing: Ma is an ineffectual bumbler,” the
magazine said in an article.
According to Mofa, Ziegler's email came after Taiwan's representative to the UK,
Shen Lyu-shun, contacted The Economist to express concern over the magazine's
eport, which was published last week.
Hsia reiterated that Mofa's effort to protest The Economist's comment about Ma was
not ordered by the Presidential Office.
The ministry said it was part of its overseas representative office's routine job of
collecting foreign news reports and making timely clarifications in response to
“inaccurate ones”.
█指正提案人陳昱元博士，指正事實如下：
教授：
上次聚會問及「bumbler」的真義，經查證如下：
一、someone who makes mistakes because of incompetence：因無能犯措者
二、someone who is not competent to take effective action：無能採取有效行動者
綜上：本質無能不是犯錯就是行為無效者
評論：
（一）個人無能犯錯或行為無效事小，國家領導人影響國家命運，非同小可。
（二）媒體把「bumbler」譯成「笨蛋」，錯誤翻譯；應譯成「無能」。因「笨蛋」
指智慧不足，往往是與天俱來；「無能」指能力，往往是後天學習。
語文法資管教育博士陳昱元
中華民國一○一年十一月十九日星期一
█NOWnews跟進報導，有敏感度，值得讚許
批馬笨蛋？經濟學人：台灣媒體誤譯
NOWnews – 2012年11月20日 上午9:31
記者李鴻典／綜合報導
專文寫出「bumbler」遭指批評總統馬英九，英國《經濟學人》連日引發廣泛討
論，但，對於這個字被解釋成笨蛋；《經濟學人》表示，標題內bumbler一字被
台灣媒體嚴重誤譯為「笨蛋」，事實上用這個字絕無侮辱意味。
16日《經濟學人》以「bumbler」分析馬英九，引發極大風波，有媒體第一時間
翻譯成笨蛋，笨蛋說不脛而走，引發連日政治風暴。根據中央社報導，目前在國
外出差的亞洲版主編齊格勒（Dominic Ziegler）回函給中華民國駐英代表處時指
出，他注意到這篇報導在台灣引發爭議，但他指出，台灣媒體「不負責任地錯誤
翻譯（irresponsibly mistranslated）」bumbler一字為笨蛋。
中央社報導指出，齊格勒說，這是「嚴重的錯誤翻譯」（gross mistranslation）。他
說明，bumbler這個字只是形容一個人「行事猶豫」，絕對沒有侮辱的意思。為了
澄清，他特別向駐英代表處及中華民國政府提出說明。
其實，對於「bumbler」一詞，曾為馬核心幕僚的學者游梓翔說，《經濟學人》用
了《Ma the Bumbler》為標題。子題是“A former heart-throb lose his shine”，中
文翻譯應該是《頻頻犯錯的馬：昔日明星失去光芒》。《自由時報》帶頭翻成“馬
是笨蛋”顯然過重，還有其他媒體連標題都翻錯。《經濟學人》文中對馬失去支
持的觀察倒是頗能反映台灣多數民意。
他說，《經濟學人》報導敘述了馬連任後滿意度低、房價高漲、勞工抗議、決策
反覆、年金改革、要員涉貪、丐幫爭議，都是事實。它提到經濟問題相當程度來
自大環境，並分析了直接挑戰馬的人因不想承擔責任短期不會出現，也夠中肯。
能抗議的只有“The country appears to agree on one thing: Ma is an ieffectual
bumbler”，以及因這句而下的“Ma the bumbler“標題。台灣人是否「似乎同意
馬無能笨拙」呢？
游梓翔說，吳伯雄說的「孩子罵笨」、王建煊說的「無能」，對馬施政不滿的6、
7成選民也常用類似語言批他，要抗議有難度。那就剩標題了。可惡的《經濟學
人》竟然用台灣人自己（包括監察院長和前主席轉述）對元首的批評下標題，所
以馬的更正函應該要求標題改為“Many Taiwanese: Ma is a Bumbler”。至於抗議
記者沒有署名，那更好笑，那整段對中國、日本、尼泊爾、印度的報導也都沒署
名，代表署名的就是《經濟學人》，要抗議這個嗎？第一天迅速決定四平八穩回
應，第二天看民意有人吞不下去就又要求抗議，不正印證了《經濟學人》說的馬
決策「indecisive」？
█中國時報繼續強烈批判，論點一針見血
政府瘋查字典 還不笨嗎？
2012-11-21 01:25 中國時報 【仇佩芬／特稿】
不過就是一篇針砭馬氏決策的評論，不過就是標題上用了有譏諷意味的bumbler」，台灣上下著魔似地捲入馬總統笨不笨的爭論。為了幫總統洗刷笨名，
本該是「總理各國事務衙門」的外交部，頓時降格為專事翻譯的同文館；而一向
以清代名臣之後、中英文造詣俱佳自豪的駐英代表沈呂巡，反倒像是公關祕書了。
總統遭國際媒體奚落，人民和執政團隊自然感到不是滋味。緩頰也好、解釋也罷，
做點什麼挽回顏面也是應該。只是媒體評論發乎於情，政府回應就該止之於禮，
若太過氣急敗壞，反讓人懷疑是不是真被踩到痛腳。
更何況經濟學人那篇評論並未寫出什麼新鮮事，從薪資停滯，到房地產投機；從油電雙漲，到軍公教年終慰問金，件件都是台灣媒體罵到沒力的議題。就連「ineffectual bumbler」這種說法，從藍到綠都不知說了多少次，一句「反省改進、謝謝指教」足矣。
但外交部卻巴巴地追到經濟學人總部，硬要人家出面解釋；連國家通訊社都發動學者說文解字，然後喜不自勝地大表其功，強調經濟學人沒有侮辱的意思，這字只是猶豫、困惑、憨慢、窮忙之意。
這樣的解釋，真的有幫上忙嗎？就算外交部有通天本領，讓牛津字典把bumbler的定義改成「果斷英明」，就能減輕民眾對施政的不滿嗎？
而反馬陣營也跟著大湊熱鬧。平素已看不慣馬英九喜歡引用國際媒體自我肯定，這次索性抓住國際媒體一句話，狠酸猛批，彷彿國際媒體的評論可以扭轉執政態勢。這和馬英九不斷引用國際評比證明自己政績的習慣，又有什麼不同？
就在我們計較bumbler字義的這幾天，中日韓已經啟動ＦＴＡ談判，東南亞國家撇下台灣討論南海行為準則，現任美國總統首次訪問緬甸，以巴戰火已殃及平民。
在台灣，屏東有小朋友就快沒有早餐吃，年金改革迫在眉睫但財政危機依然無解，而政府卻四處查字典，輿論只顧說風涼話。彷彿只要掌握bumbler的定義權，台灣一切問題都能迎刃而解。這，難道還不笨嗎？
不管bumbler是什麼意思，世界還在往前走。拜託別耍笨了，做點正經事吧！
█經濟學人批判原文：
Taiwan politics
Ma the bumbler
A former heart-throb loses his shine
Nov 17th 2012 | TAIPEI | from the print edition
WHEN he was first elected in 2008, Taiwan’s president, Ma Ying-jeou, offered Taiwanese high hopes that the island’s economy would open a new chapter. He promised ground-breaking agreements with China to help end Taiwan’s growing economic marginalisation. At the time, Mr Ma’s image was of a clean technocrat able to rise above the cronyism and infighting of his party, the Kuomintang (KMT). He was a welcome contrast to his fiery and pro-independence predecessor, Chen Shui-bian, now in jail for corruption.
Five years on, and despite being handily re-elected ten months ago, much has changed. In particular, popular satisfaction with Mr Ma has plummeted, to a record low of 13%, according to the TVBS Poll Centre. The country appears to agree on one thing: Mr Ma is an ineffectual bumbler.
Ordinary people do not find their livelihoods improving. Salaries have stagnated for a decade. The most visible impact of more open ties with China, which include a free-trade agreement, has been property speculation in anticipation of a flood of mainland money. Housing in former working-class areas on the edge of Taipei, the capital, now costs up to 40 times the average annual wage of $15,400. The number of families below the poverty line has leapt. Labour activists have taken to pelting the presidential office with eggs.
Exports account for 70% of GDP. So some of Taiwan’s problems are down to the dismal state of rich-world economies. Yet Mr Ma’s leadership is also to blame. He has failed to paint a more hopeful future, with sometimes hard measures needed now. Worse, he frequently tweaks policies in response to opposition or media criticism. It suggests indecisiveness.
Public anger first arose in June, when Mr Ma raised the price of government-subsidised electricity. Few Taiwanese understood why, even though Taiwan’s state-owned power company loses billions. In the face of public outrage, Mr Ma postponed a second round of electricity price rises scheduled for December. They will now take place later next year.
People are also worried that a national pension scheme is on course for bankruptcy in less than two decades. Yet Mr Ma cannot bring himself to raise premiums sharply, because of the temporary unpopularity it risks. When Mr Ma does try to appeal to Taiwanese who make up the island’s broad political centre, it often backfires with his party’s core supporters. Following public grumbles that retired civil servants, teachers and ex-servicemen were a privileged group, the cabinet announced plans to cut more than $300m in year-end bonuses, affecting around 381,000. The trouble was, veterans are among the KMT’s most fervent backers. Now some threaten to take to the streets in protest and deprive the KMT of their votes until the plan is scrapped. Meanwhile, Mr Ma’s clean image has been sullied by the indictment of the cabinet secretary-general for graft.
Cracks are starting to grow in the KMT façade. Recently Sean Lien, a prominent politician, criticised Mr Ma’s economic policies, saying that any politician in office during this time of sluggish growth was at best a “master of a beggar clan”—implying a country of paupers.
But the next election is four years away, and presidential hopefuls will not try to oust or even outshine Mr Ma anytime soon. After all, they will not want to take responsibility for the country’s economic problems. Nothing suggests Mr Ma’s main policies will change (or that they should), but his credibility is draining by the day.
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