Message from Trump川普說…

我從來都不欣賞 川普/特朗普，甚至覺得他評論近乎荒謬，完全不像一位候任總統。今天他發了兩則有關他及台灣蔡英文總統通電話的推特，對中美關係引起了點風浪。他第二則推特是回應評論家對這對話的反應。但我較有興趣是本地媒體對此推特的理解。

I’ve never been a fan of Trump and frankly speaking, find a lot of his comments bordering ridiculous, not something one would expect from a President elect.

Today he tweeted a couple of comments regarding his phone call with the President of Taiwan which has caused a bit of storm on the US Sino relations.  However, I was more amused by his second tweet in response to critics commenting on the phone call, and how some of the local media have interpreted it.

“Interesting how the U.S. sells Taiwan billions of dollars of military equipment but I should not accept a congratulatory call“

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 3, 2016

從中文版本來看記者們應當是用網上自動翻譯程式把推特翻譯成中文，而完全沒有理解 川普/特朗普的諷刺意思。一句挖苦美國不介意賺台灣錢但又怕冒犯別人的說話，翻譯出來卻完全失去其原本意思，變成如下：

聯合報高凌雲 「美國賣給台灣幾十億的軍事裝備，很有意思，但他不應該接這通恭賀電話。」

中時李靖棠 「他（覺得）不該接這通賀電，因為這好像會與美國對台灣出售價值數十億美元的 軍事武器有關。

It seems the journalists have done an online translation of the tweet and failed to understand the sarcasm in it.  The meaning of “interesting how” has become “it is interesting” and the rest of the tweet has been taken at its literal meaning.  So the Chinese translation becomes  “US sold military equipment to Taiwan, but I shouldn’t have taken the call“.  The tweet has become a statement, and totally misses the point Trump made.

我以前也有提及台灣傳媒質素及缺乏國際視野，看來我忘記說如果報導國際新聞，務請要準確報導。

I have written in the past about the quality of the local media and their lack of international insight.  Perhaps I should be more specific and add, if you do report on international affairs, please ensure it conveys the correct message.