關於 initiative in a sentence ，我們在網路上蒐集到這些相關的討論、資訊與評價

😃Free Happy Meal when you order in Chinese! Sounds easy but it’s a tall order for Lauren who doesn’t speak Chinese socially.

To encourage children to use Chinese more frequently outside of the classroom, Xin Zhong Wen has launched Project 开心点. On Feb 16 & 17 (this weekend!), children aged 12 and below will receive a complimentary McDonald’s Happy Meal and a Xin Zhong Wen Lesson Experience voucher when they order in Chinese. This initiative is available at McDonald’s outlets at Great World City, Jem, NEX and United Square from 11am onwards.

If your kids need practice, Xin Zhong Wen has also produced an upbeat jingle and a special guide that teach specific vocabulary, quantifiers and simple sentence structures for kids to order a Happy Meal in Chinese. It’s free to download at www.xinzhongwen.com.sg/en/kaixin/

Nicely done, 新中文 Xin Zhong Wen for the practical and experiential methods to teach Chinese. For once, Lauren was actually excited to speak Chinese in public!

#Project开心点 #sp @ McDonald's

Taipei Times 英文臺北時報今刊出讀者投書致賴揆：
官方一直示範菜英文，還想列英文為第二官語？

舉例之一：交通部觀光局行之五年的「借問站」計劃英文宣傳名稱「Taiwan Ask Me」是「菜英文」。無誤！

繼之前的菜英文「Taiwan Touch Your Heart」之後，不意外。

最後這一段切中要害：

// Finally, Premier Lai, how can Taiwan effectively pursue the valuable and challenging goal of making English an official language of this country if the ROC government’s own ministries are not even able to correctly compose a simple advertisement in English? //

猜測作者 Xue Meng-ren 很可能是薛孟仁（Dr. Bruce G. Shapiro），逢甲大學外國語文學系副教授。

謝謝薛教授用專業的聲音告誡政府勿失策。

以下全文轉錄投書內容，連結見留言。

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An open letter to Premier William Lai

By Xue Meng-ren

Wed, Oct 24, 2018

Dear Premier William Lai (賴清德):

You have admirably and lately led Taiwan in an ongoing discussion about whether to make English a second “official” language. Many articles have appeared defending both sides of this argument.

As it stands, Taiwan uses the traditional style of Mandarin Chinese for all official government, legal and business documents. However, the Taiwanese government frequently uses English in a non-official capacity to facilitate outreach initiatives and better communication with non-Chinese-speaking residents and tourists.

“Taiwan Ask Me” is one such governmental initiative, which the Ministry of Transportation and Communications initiated five years ago.

As a Cabinet-level governmental body charged with communications, the ministry’s standard of English should be a model of English usage for the rest of the nation, particularly the tourism industry, which the ministry also officially administers.

Unfortunately, the ministry has demonstrated that its use of English is both inept and even — albeit inadvertently — insulting.

On the Republic of China’s National Day, on page 5 of the Taipei Times, the ministry’s Tourism Bureau published an announcement about the fifth anniversary of the “Taiwan Ask Me” initiative. This announcement features not only elementary grammatical errors, but also incorrect English usage that renders it meaningless and embarrassing.

To begin, in English, the phrase “Taiwan Ask Me” is nonsense, that is, it has no meaning. It must at least have some defining punctuation, such as, “Taiwan? Ask Me” or “Taiwan, Ask Me.”

The service is supposed to be for tourists in need of answers to questions about traveling around Taiwan, but the phrase “Taiwan Ask Me” absurdly means that Taiwan should ask someone, “me,” something about itself.

And, who does this “me” refer to? Certainly, the initiative does not limit itself to employing a single individual, but rather a team of individuals. Therefore, the phrase should be “Taiwan, Ask Us” not “me.”

This type of error, along with the rest of the advertisement, not only demonstrates poor English usage, but more importantly, it suggests a lack of awareness about what service to others actually means.

It suggests that the initiative “Taiwan Ask Me” is merely paying lip service to a valuable concept of a democratic government that it does not truly value or even understand. This poorly written advertisement reveals that it is more interested in celebrating its own anniversary than it is in providing the service for which it is lauding itself.

The announcement states that the ministry “launched the ‘Taiwan Ask Me’ friendly travel information service” five years ago, and now has 450 Information Stations “that prove warm and friendly services.”

Obviously, the Information Services must provide not “prove” their services. “Prove” is the incorrect English word, unless the intention is for the ministry to pat itself on the back by saying that over the past five years the service has “proved its services are warm and friendly,” but then the grammar is still incorrect.

Furthermore, the use of both “warm” and “friendly” is repetitive, since the words are synonymous in this context. Using repetitive words in this way is a feature of the elementary English usage quite common in Taiwan, but governmental English has no excuse for being elementary.

In addition to offering “domestic and foreign tourists the warmest greetings,” through the Taiwan Ask Me Information Stations, “the service further incorporates rich travel elements.” The phrase “rich travel elements” is verbal nonsense. It correctly connects words that have no discernible meaning. The article does not define or elaborate upon them.

In the following run-on sentence, the article connects these “rich travel elements” with “five unique features,” the first of which is “local gourmets.” Why would a tourist want to meet a gourmet? And what kind of a gourmet?

The ministry probably means “local food” or perhaps “local delicacies,” whereas a “gourmet” is a food connoisseur, that is, a lover of good food. “Gourmets” is an example of another English error common in Taiwan, which is to use the incorrect English word to say something related to that word.

Using Google Translate often helps Taiwanese students make these ridiculous English errors. Unfortunately, government ministers are no longer students. Thus, one expects them to have a better grasp of English, certainly as it pertains to their own special purpose or field of employment.

Together, the “five unique features” mentioned in the article are supposed to “form [a] synergistic local economy of tourism,” whatever that is. Thus, the advertisement uses yet another nonsensical phrase, the meaning of which even the necessary grammatical insertion of “a” does not clarify.

The tourist economy in Taiwan is definitely important, and it is possibly important to connect different aspects of the tourist economy into a unified plan for development. However, linking the so-called five unique features does not create an economic synergy.

Taiwan Ask Me is a free information service. It does not make money or use money to link things together to form economic relationships. Even a government minister should recognize that specious phrases reveal fake values.

For the fifth anniversary event, “Eunice LIN,” (which should be “Eunice Lin,”) “is invited to be the tour guide, and experience the friendliness of ‘Taiwan Ask Me.” This sentence means that Ms Lin is going act as a tourist guide and experience for herself the friendly services of the Information Stations. More absurd nonsense, for why would she be both the tourist guide and the tourist?

Furthermore, the ministry should take responsibility for inviting Ms Lin. Instead of writing “Eunice LIN, a popular TV personality, is invited,” the correct sentence would be: “The MOTC has invited Eunice Lin, a popular TV personality, to be a tour guide.”

Finally, Ms Lin may be a local celebrity, but she is a Taiwanese film and television actor, not a TV personality. The latter is someone who appears on TV as herself, perhaps as the host of a variety show, but not someone who appears as characters in films or a TV series. (“Actor” refers to either male or female, the distinction “actress” being no longer necessary.)

The next sentence in the article is so riddled with grammatical errors, it would take several more paragraphs to explain them all. Suffice it to say that much of what the sentence tries to say means the opposite of what it must intend, which is the major problem with the article in question, especially its conclusion.

The advertisement closes with an egregious insult to all foreign residents and tourists.

Setting aside the grammatical errors and confusing phrasing, the advertisement announces the “Hi Taiwan! Give Me 5 Point Collection Campaign,” which started on Oct. 1.

However, this campaign is only for “all citizens of Taiwan [who] are invited to visit Information Stations and get a taste of the warm and friendly services of ‘Taiwan Ask Me.’”

Apparently, foreign tourists are not allowed to “experience in-depth local travels” and only “citizens will also get an opportunity to win lovely prizes!”

Who in the world is this advertisement for? It would seem to be for foreign tourists and residents since it is in English and appears in the only English print newspaper published in Taiwan. And what citizen of Taiwan needs to read an English advertisement? Surely, any citizen of Taiwan can read all about “Taiwan Ask Me” in Chinese. And yet, this advertisement about a tourism service concludes by disinviting the foreign residents and tourists who are not only most likely to read the advertisement, but also most likely to benefit from the Taiwan Ask Me initiative.

With this appalling advertisement, the ministry makes a mockery of not only the government’s attempts to use English effectively but also its own ministerial responsibility over communication and tourism in Taiwan.

If the Taiwanese government does have the personnel to compose articles in correct English that do not insult English readers and tourists and perhaps visiting foreign dignitaries, then it should hire copy editors with the skills to do it for them. It is certainly worth the expense when compared to the embarrassing cost of losing face, which means so much to Taiwanese society.

Finally, Premier Lai, how can Taiwan effectively pursue the valuable and challenging goal of making English an official language of this country if the ROC government’s own ministries are not even able to correctly compose a simple advertisement in English?

What a conundrum, and where does one begin to solve it?

Respectfully yours,

Xue Meng-ren

Taichung

明天要記得👉🏻👉🏻👉🏻#likePolska
What do you like Poland for? 🤔

我愛波蘭#likePolska: 在重新獨立紀念日昭告天下你對波蘭的愛

波蘭的湖光山色或是名勝古蹟，也許是歷史與傳統，還是最喜歡的美食? 在11月11日波蘭重新獨立紀念日時，上傳照片或短片到推特，臉書或IG，記得標記#likePolska，告訴我們你最愛波蘭的哪些地方。這項活動是為了彰顯波蘭的瑰寶: 淵遠流長的歷史，引人入勝的美景，底蘊深厚的文化及人民對世界的貢獻。跟大家一起分享你最愛波蘭的原因，無論在世界的哪個角落，都期待看到你的故事。
我愛波蘭活動辦法: #likePolska
克拉科夫的大廣場，華沙的老城區或是你最喜愛的專屬角落。香氣撲鼻的燉湯，金黃酥脆的餃子或是傳統風味的起士。關於聖誕節的溫暖回憶，或是美好假期的餘音。用照片或是短片說出你最愛波蘭的地方，分享到推特，臉書或IG (記得要設成公開)，然後加上#likePolska標籤，就可以與全世界分享你的故事並紀念重新獨立紀念日。波蘭外交部會選出最有趣的貼文放在官網(Poland.pl)及各大社群媒體的官方帳號喔!你也可以將臉書頭像換成#likePolska logo, 或是加上特效邊框。更多資訊請看官網及官方帳號，也別忘記要注意#likePolska貼文的更新喔!
#likePolska – show what you like most about Poland on Independence Day

Poland’s mountains, the sea, or perhaps its history, traditions, or a favourite dish? Take a picture, shoot a short film and share your post on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram on Polish Independence Day using the hashtag #likePolska. Show us what you like most about Poland.

The objective of the #likePolska campaign is to showcase Poland’s numerous treasures: its rich history, places worth visiting, culture, traditions, customs and notable accomplishments by Poles. The possibilities are endless; anyone can share their favourite story about Poland. You can take part in the initiative from anywhere in the world, all that it takes is a positive association related to Poland that can be presented on social media platforms.

Rules of the #likePolska initiative

Send photos you have taken of your favourite spots in Poland: Krakow’s Main Square, Saska Kępa in Warsaw, or perhaps a cute little corner that only you know of. Take photographs of pierogi, rosół broth, as well as the famous oscypek cheese. Share holiday memories, because it could be that you associate Poland with Christmas Eve. Turn on your phone camera and say, in one sentence, what you value most about Poland.

Share your post on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook (make sure that the settings of your post are “public”) using the #likePolska hashtag and join others in celebrating National Independence Day. The most interesting posts will be published on the Poland.pl page on Facebook as well as @Polska and @Poland handles on Twitter.

You can also join the campaign on Facebook, by changing your profile photo to the #likePolska logo, and also by using the camera logo overlay on your mobile device.

More details about the campaign can be found on the Poland.pl website and Facebook page facebook.com/polska/ as well as by following posts with the #likePolska hashtag. #likePolska – w Święto Niepodległości pokaż za co lubisz Polskę

Bałtyk, Tatry, Wisła, Wawel, kujawiak, orzeł bielik, a może pierogi lub bigos? Pokaż za co najbardziej lubisz Polskę. Zrób zdjęcie, nagraj film i 11 listopada w Narodowe Święto Niepodległości opublikuj wpis na Twitterze, Facebooku albo Instagramie z #likePolska.
Celem kampanii #likePolska jest zaprezentowanie wszystkiego, co w Polsce najlepsze: bogatej historii, miejsc które warto odwiedzić, kultury, tradycji, zwyczajów czy osiągnięć Polaków. Możliwości są nieograniczone, każdy może podzielić się swoją ulubioną historią o Polsce. Do akcji można włączyć się z każdego miejsca na świecie, wystarczy pozytywne skojarzenie z Polską, które można przestawić w mediach społecznościowych.
Zasady akcji #likePolska
Znajdź w swoim telefonie lub zrób zdjęcie przedstawiające ulubione miejsce w Polsce: Rynek Główny w Krakowie, Saska Kępa w Warszawie, a może zakątek znany tylko Tobie. Sfotografuj pierogi, rosół, oscypek. Przywołaj wspomnienia ze świąt, bo może Polska kojarzy ci się z Wigilią Bożego Narodzenia. Włącz kamerę w telefonie i opowiedz jednym zdaniem za co najbardziej cenisz Polskę. Przygotowany wpis opublikuj 11 listopada na Twitterze, Facebooku (wpis powinien mieć charakter „publiczny”) lub Instagramie z hasztagiem #likePolska i ciesz się razem z innymi Narodowym Świętem Niepodległości.
Najciekawsze wpisy zostaną opublikowane na profilu Poland.pl na Facebooku oraz @Polska i @Poland na Twitterze.
Do kampanii można również włączyć się poprzez dodanie do zdjęcia profilowego na Facebooku logo #likePolska i na urządzeniu mobilnym (smartfon, tablet) korzystając z nakładki na aparat fotograficzny z logo kampanii dostępnej w aplikacji mobilnej Facebook.
Więcej szczegółów na temat kampanii można znaleźć na stronie Poland.pl i profilu facebook.com/polska/ oraz śledząć wpisy z hasztagiem #likePolska.