最近看電視有個教英文的節目，主持人是香港一間私立大學英文系的高級講師。好奇去該大學看看這人的背景，看見這個應該是她自撰的biography：
Dr
ZZZ is a Senior Lecturer at the
Department of English, the XXX University of Hong Kong. As the XXX’s Teaching
Excellence awardee (2014/15 and 2017/18), and also one of the top ten teachers
nominated by students with good online teaching practices (2019/20). As the
organiser of XXX and the initiator of XXX Club, Dr ZZZ is dedicated to
fostering innovative pedagogy to meet the ever-changing on-site and online
needs of students in the education of English language.
Committed
to the study of English, she majored in English and Translation in her
undergraduate study and then sociolinguistics in her postgraduate journey. Her
passion for this language has further grown to its teaching as a second
language, leading to her pursuit of a postgraduate diploma of Education with
the concentration in English-language. ZZZ is also keen on building a bridge
between her research endeavours and her role as a teaching practitioner,
steering her towards the completion of her Doctor of Education in
Organizational Leadership.
Dr
ZZZ has nearly 15 years of experience as an English-language teacher. She is
also engaged in reference book writing in areas like creative writing and
collocation. Committed to promoting English-language to all walks of life, she
is also the host of an English-language educational programme broadcast in a
local TV channel. She once worked as a freelance translator and interpreter for
legal firms and publishing houses, and a subtitle writer and editor for
English-language TV programmes.
短短二百多字的一篇biography便至少錯了六、七個英文文法，而其中一些錯誤更絕對不應該出現在一個英文老師身上，我很好奇該大學是基於什麼準則聘用她的。我們今天來分析一下她的英文有些什麼問題。
這位博士的biography第一句中提到：
1) a Senior Lecturer at the
Department of English
一個學系的講師英文怎麼說？這位博士寫了lecturer at the
department。以一個英文系的講師來說，這句算是錯得相當利害了。我以前說過，要說在一間大學的教授或學生，英文是a professor or a
student at a university，介詞要用at，不是in。但要說一個講師在大學的某一個學系工作，英文不是at the department，我們會用in the department。但是如果你要說的是一個學系或學院的主任，你就要說the
Head/Dean of a department/faculty。而當要說一個教授教些什麼科目， professor級別會用of，而lecturer就會用in。
所以要說一個大學講師的背景，正確的說法是：
a professor
of/ lecturer in a subject in the XXX department of/at a university
例句：
e.g. He was previously a lecturer of
pharmacy department of Queen's University.(Cambridge
Business English Dictionary)
e.g. He is a lecturer in the
department of psychology at Trinity College, Dublin. (OALD)
以她這篇英文而論，若這位高級講師只是一個碩士或學士，她的英語水平最多只能教初中生。但考慮到她是一個博士，又教了15年英文，但卻寫出這樣的英文，我認為此人根本沒資格教書，因為第二句更離譜。
2) As the XXX’s Teaching
Excellence awardee (2014/15 and 2017/18), and also one of the top ten teachers
nominated by students with good online teaching practices (2019/20).
看完這句德我真是無語，很難想像這是一個英文教師寫出來的英文，更別說是一個博士。無論是因為她大意寫錯，還是沒做proof-reading，這都是不可原諒的。它像是一個初中生寫的英文，簡直不知所謂。這句英文的直譯是：
「作為XXX大學優秀教學獎的得主和由學生選出的十佳網上教學老師之一。」 （完）
你看到這裏你就會問，然後呢？說完了嗎？下半部呢？不好意思，她只寫了上半部就當寫完了，句子的下半部卻不翼而飛。你能想像有大學英文老師這樣寫英文的嗎？我還是第一次見。
在語法中，句子的前半部是個subordinate clause，是個不完整的子句；而句子的後半部則是一個main clause，可以獨立成一句句子。但現在句子卻是有前冇後，而寫的人竟然是一個大學博士英文講師？！
這還只是問題之一，句子還有其他問題。
3) one of the top ten teachers nominated by
students with good online teaching practices
在這句中，good online teaching practices是要修飾那十個老師的，而不是選他們出來的學生，所以若將這句片語放在students後面便會顯得很怪，好像在網上教學的是學生而非老師。正確的寫法應是這樣：
one of the top ten teachers with good online teaching practices
nominated by students
4) to meet the ever-changing
on-site and online needs of students in the education of English language
這個不算是一個嚴重的錯誤，但不應該出現在一個英文老師身上，因為她教的就是英語。
英文，我們可以稱之為English或English Language，不過可能有90%的人都不知道，English Language這字作名詞用時前面必需要有定冠詞the。English和the
English Language有些什麼分別？English就是泛指英文，而the English Language就是指英文這套語言溝通系統，包括講和寫。Language這個英文字可以是countable或uncountable
noun，但大部份時間這個字的解釋都作不可數名詞使用，前面是零冠詞：
e.g. She
does research into how children acquire language. (CALD)
而當你說到某一種語言時，不單是英文，中文，法文，日文等也如是，你是專指某一種語言，這時該語言前面要有定冠詞：
e.g. one
of the best-known poems in the English language. (LDOCE)
e.g. She has a good command of the Spanish language. (OALD)
繼續看下一句：
Her passion for this language
has further grown to its teaching as a second language, leading to her pursuit
of a postgraduate diploma of Education with the concentration in English-language.
這句我們可以分開二部份看，前半部是：
5) Her passion for this language
has further grown to its teaching as a second language
句子裡面的its是什麼？我想應是English吧，這樣句子就變成了：
Her passion for
this language has further grown to English teaching as a
second language
我不敢說這句錯，但我總覺得這句是怪怪的：
她對英文的熱誠更發展成為英文教學作為第二語言。
整個意思是不是有點不倫不類？
如果是我，會這樣改寫，將English teaching改為teaching English：
Her passion for
this language has further prompted her to take teaching English as a second language as her life-long career.
句子的第二部份是：
6) leading
to her pursuit of a postgraduate diploma of Education with the concentration in
English-language
句子最後的English-language漏了the我就不理了，因為上面剛提過。但比較奇怪的是English-language這個字中間多了一個hyphen，她是想將這當作形容詞用嗎？但在這裏它明明是一個名詞啊，奇怪！
我們再看English-language的前面四個字with the concentration in。concentration在這個解釋中指「集中精力在某種活動上」，這時它是一個不可數名詞，前面是零冠詞，後接介系詞on，不是in。女博士在四個字中便錯了二個：
e.g. He
stressed the need for greater concentration on environmental issues. (OALD)
最後一個錯誤：
7) Committed to promoting
English-language to all walks of life, she is also the host of an English-language
educational programme broadcast in a local TV channel.
不知何故，這位女仕很喜歡寫English-language，一篇短文中便出現了四、五次之多，但在現實世界中這用法其實並不常見。另外，留意這句最後幾個字in a local TV
channel，這算是一個頗低級的錯誤。在電視上的某個頻道，介詞用on不是in。從這篇文中可以看出，此人除了對介詞的掌握運用非常差外，肯定也極少查字典。否則只要她稍為查一下字典都知道說電視頻道要用on喇：
e.g. The
kids are watching cartoons on the Disney channel. (LDOCE)
以上便是今天香港英文教師的英語水平。你別說可能只是私立大學是這樣，我敢說在其他公立大學肯定也能找到寫這種英文的大學講師。其實別說是一個英文教育博士，就算是一個化學博士寫出來的英文也不會那麼差。即使撇開以上那麼多的語法錯誤，這篇英文也寫得絕對不好，遠未達一個大學英文講師應有的水平。例如在一篇200多字的短文中，以committed
to開首這樣的participle
phrase就出現了二次。外國人不是不會用participle
phrase/clause在文章中，但香港人現在無疑是用得太過頻密了，這明顯是近三十年受那些補習班毒害太深，現在這位英文高級講師就好像一位不懂算加減乘除的數學博士一樣。
