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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: Have you noticed that many English-teaching text books are full of mistakes?
Went to a bookshop to pick up a few English-teaching text books and struggled to find one that didn't have silly grammar mistakes and typos. Even the official TOEFL books were full of Chinglish and mistakes. Clearly, most of these books are written by Chinese who have not mastered the English language and are passing their mistakes onto clueless students. Sad just sad!
10 years 46 weeks ago in Teaching & Learning - China
To be published in China, they have to be approved first. Approval means having the Chinese text even for an English book. Then it's translated back into English and re-edited by a non-native English speaker. Look at product labels, they could simply ask a native English speaker if their label makes sense...but they sooner trust an electronic dictionary.
GuilinRaf:
Or, the neighbor, their best friends kid, nephew, etc. who studied one summer in (US/Canada/New Zeland/ Etc.).
Happens to me also when correcting a paper or a sign. There is always a 50% chance that my edited version will not be used, because "the neighbors kid" knows better.
For Example:
"This gas tank is for heating the shower, not for cooking" became
"Gas for wash just for not to cook"
The neighbors kid....
GuilinRaf:
Happens with movies too. The movie in English is captioned to Chinese which in turn may be captioned back into English. For example. I was watching "Attack of the Clones" the other day. I am hard of hearing, so I use a hearing aid. However, when watching a movie I will use the close captions.
The captions were hilarious!
My favorite was the name of the Jedi Council. It appeared in my captions as "The Presbyterian Church!"
mArtiAn:
Following on from Raff, i've come across some classic reviews on the back of dvd covers. My favourite being on the back cover of 'Alien Versus Predator', and it read, 'A fascinating portrayal of young love between two teenage men discovering themselves.' In a Freudian sense, who knows, they might have been right on the money.
You'd be better off buying English-teaching books from native English speaking countries, preferably from well-known editorial companies. I've spent a year in India and even though I am not an English native speaker, I've noticed that my friends' English study books contained a lot of grammar and spelling mistakes. Even the English they used in books for teaching other European languages contained mistakes.
Yes, I noticed that immediately. One of my students borrowed some books from the library to study, and they all had mistakes. It was horrible.
Well, then what kind of English teaching material is acceptable? I think it's controversial in terms of big difference between American English and British English. On the other hand, there's no need to become so precise and correct if you are doing business with non-european customers, say, india, philipine, etc.. You may notice that it's easy to communicate if you are on the same level.
GuilinRaf:
Actually, if it were only the difference between UK/US English, I would not have a problem. What we mean here are words that do not exist (anglicized versions of Chinese words), inconsistent grammar, exercises that do not make any sense, etc.
To give you an example:
A dialog in a book we had in Guilin, this Canadian businessman was introducing his wife to his Chinese business partner. The conversation went something like this:
Peter: Hello David! I would like you to meet my lover, Sally. Sally, this is my partner David Chen.
David Chen: Nice to meet you Sally! Peter has told me all about you!
In China, "ai ren" literally means "lover" except that "lover" refers to the husband or the wife. In the west, a lover is something.... different (i.e. not the husband nor the wife).
Now as funny as this may be, imagine if a Chinese businessman, upon meeting an important potential business partner were to mistake the spouse for the lover. This could lead to a great financial loss or even the loss of the entire contract. And that would not be funny at all.
GuilinRaf:
P.S.
The people I have met from India and the Philippines here have excellent English, especially in terms of grammar and vocabulary (though the accent can be difficult at first for those who are not used to hearing it). In fact, the only ones who say that their English is terrible are the Chinese.
A few years back I offered to edit a textbook for a company I was working for. I was met with. "No need, in China this is very good book, very famous."
Unfortunately, as a teacher, your hands are tied when it comes to the English books. China will only change and get serious about learning English when the government drops this ideological battle they have with the West. One day, they will admit that native speakers know more about their own language than they. Until then, everything foreign in this country will have "Chinese characteristics".
I remember many years ago seeing a yellow hardbacked copy of an English text book designed for younger learners. Some of the English was really amusing. Examples included a picture of a boy surrounded by different kinds of balls e.g. football, basketball etc. There was also a word bubble coming from his mouth containing "I've got plenty of balls". Another page had a woman washing pots and pans. Her word bubble being "I am cleaning my bowels".
my school has a contract that they have to buy original books, already broke the agreement with cambridge ielts copies that are misprints. some have the complete final section missing with corrected answers and printed dialogue from the listening parts. these beijing western educated chinese that publish ielts books could at least have someone proofread the damn book and not tell anyone so they dont look like idiots. very popular book last week had starts instead of stars in a description of what their name means.
What I find interesting is that New Zealand is apparently becoming one of the fastest growing providers of English language text books.
teaching with outdated books and not changing curriculum is my biggest complaint here.
last year on ielts part 1 , driving popped up on the test. no books on driving and no concern to print up handouts, had to do it myself.
this year , describing bags, luggage, book bags, and discussing boat rides or boat ride you would like to take. no books with any information for students, more handouts by myself with no help.
the topics are available in other books in different countries because the question move around the globe, but even the training schools dont adapt to this in most cases.
Well you can't blame someone for trying they still probably made a huge profit off of selling those books to unsuspecting students!!