Saturday 26 April 2008

The Best Of The Best English?


For all the talk about the proper use of language in communication, I truly find standards have dropped dramatically all over. For example, today, I came across the following report at CNA's website talking about a new Halal certification system. However, if you look at the circled portion below, the word 'actions' should be 'action' because the contex
t of the sentence refers to 'taking action' (definition). One would hardly expect such elementary mistakes from our local journalists but that is the case sadly.


Some of the articles in the press are hardly satisfactory as far as communication of ideas is concerned and the general reporting these days seems 'tired'. I reserve comment as to WHY this is so (I do have my theories) but the description and observation hold true.

Amazingly, some of the glaring mistakes that I have come across include the following notable institutions as well. On Harvard University's website for example, one thesis proposal form has the department name misspelled.


Meanwhile, on a professor's profile page at the University of Glasgow's website, an obvious typo error reflects badly on the image of this 'Covener of the Creative Writing Programme' - although they do have a very good Masters-Doctorate programme in Creative Writing that I am eyeing.


Other than for the CNA report, I have actually emailed the department concerned at Harvard University as well as the professor concerned at the University of Glasgow regarding the respective faux pas. Whilst only a lecturer at the Harvard University's department replied to acknowledge the mistake, both websites continue to carry the errors as of this post.

It is indeed sad that correcting the mistakes that undermine one's specific specialisation carries such little importance in today's world.