7 O& K, N/ i M1 O* _5 n( G华人进步协会促请州务卿起码在华人比较聚居的波士顿率先实行双语选票服务。Lydia Lowe表示，选票上的候选人姓名翻译成中文这一点很重要，这样可以确保投票人独立地、不受任何外来干扰的情况下投票。 , ~4 g. k* c/ d5 g4 v4 K - z0 l7 `; _( M% A9 I0 f7 x亚裔美国人法律辩护和教育基金会的Margaret Fung指出，根据联邦选举法，亚裔美国人有资格在拥有众多非英语选民的七个州十六个司法管辖区的投票地点获得帮助。其中，在加利福尼亚州和纽约州的七个郡，选票上都有候选人的译名。 " d8 p# T7 N) m0 F' \2 e$ K4 c6 F: {2 N! Y$ {% V* ^
今日美国报指出，在波士顿地区，亚裔是增长最快的少数族裔。在2006年市议会的特别选举中，当地选举机构已将候选人的译名印在选票上。但监督全州和联邦选举的州务卿加尔文则表示，将不会再这样做，其中包括在3月4日的总统大选的预选。加尔文称，如果候选人对译名提出诉讼，那么就会花掉州政府的“数十万美元，但更糟糕的是诉讼和时间”。 ( T3 c/ n' n9 u# {0 ?: ~) o) c w4 G$ H0 Z
但波士顿华人进步协会的社区组织者Alice Leung认为，如果候选人可以检查他们的中文译名，就不太可能发生这样的诉讼案件。Alice Leung说，“对于那些不中文的人来说，听起来译名可能会有些含意，但若把格林先生(Green)或布朗先生(Brown)当成颜色，中文读者会认为那很无聊。” % ?# y$ M, k& s- `2 |- \ ( H: U S% C) E3 Y& o( {) fCandidates lost in Chinese translation 3 r/ i: f5 S) D/ Q * o, |; |# n' |9 w d! `# CBoston's 2008 presidential primary ballot could read like a bad Chinese menu. 2 y! t# }+ {: x% Z n* S& A6 E. [% ]: L) a5 i7 J9 n" BThere might be "Sticky Rice" in column A, "Virtue Soup" in column B and, in column C, "Upset Stomach." 8 s( j6 {2 D# I# [: O" A! I - S: Y! l5 Y9 KThose could be choices facing some voters if the names of Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson and Hillary Rodham Clinton were converted into Chinese characters, according to Massachusetts' top election official. And that gives Secretary of State William Galvin heartburn. " s1 b0 [' ~% H8 B* \3 O; Q
4 _: ~+ G& Z- bOn Tuesday, Galvin filed a challenge in federal court to a Justice Department agreement requiring that ballots be fully translated to protect the rights of Chinese-speaking voters.: `3 ]/ p h( X" U0 W- b4 f
/ t a' u6 U+ T* m, \% nGalvin says Chinese — which uses characters, not letters; has sounds with several meanings; and is spoken in several dialects — will create ballot chaos. 4 n L3 T+ M6 H0 \ : B3 U0 n' {' O6 D"Elections have to be precise," says Galvin, who wants ballot instructions in Chinese but candidate names in English. He says transliteration — using characters whose sounds approximate the way the names are spoken — can have "unintended negative inferences." ) ]6 Q6 Q' Q( H$ C : M; y) F9 c2 ?1 Y( O# l, \6 zThe federal government and some Asian-American activists disagree. Transliterating candidate names "is an effective way to allow voters to vote independently," unaccompanied by someone to translate, says Justice Department spokeswoman Cynthia Magnuson. 3 n* f* \9 @' v+ j0 A* F
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Ann Har-Yee Wong of Boston's Elections Advisory Committee says asking Chinese-speaking voters to read a candidate's name in English is "akin to a Boston cabdriver navigating the streets in Beijing while trying to read street signs only in Chinese characters." ' q* r+ \* @7 O! S3 k |) T! @: b! V7 `1 k. q: b; {
Margaret Fung of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund says: "If you take seriously that voters be able to exercise their vote and cast an informed ballot, then the election officials should" transliterate names. * `) e- U' Q8 g3 c3 ]* y
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The controversy stems from a lawsuit filed by the Justice Department that accused Boston poll workers of mismarking the ballots of Asian voters who didn't speak English. A 2005 settlement requires the city to translate instructions, office titles and candidate names on ballots in precincts with large numbers of Chinese speakers. 6 l) N7 d) _" J% R: U% S * Z- j* N# s b! d7 D% lFung says Asian-Americans are eligible under the federal Voting Rights Act to receive help at polling places in 16 jurisdictions in seven states with large numbers of non-English-speaking voters. Among those, seven counties in California and New York transliterate candidates' names on ballots. ' ^6 v; u5 g5 ^/ L+ O0 S' E1 L* z' g, g- }9 W J. e: S
Asian-Americans are among the fastest-growing minority groups in Boston. Officials there first transliterated candidate names last year in special city council elections. But Galvin, who oversees state and federal elections, is balking at doing the same, including for the March 4 presidential primary. He says it would cost Massachusetts "thousands of dollars but, worse than that, litigation and time" if candidates sued over how their names are translated. 8 P0 e" i: m% l7 h5 f: \$ W4 J# W5 L2 n8 J* M
Alice Leung, a community organizer with Boston's Chinese Progressive Association, says that would be unlikely if candidates could review how their names are translated. "For those not familiar with the Chinese language, it may sound possible that the transliterated names carry some meaning. However, Chinese readers would see this as silly as assuming Mr. Green or Brown to be colors," she says. & L* e2 n6 F2 J7 K0 y. ]/ l L# F0 K3 B; q
Still, things can be lost in translation. Hope Chu of the Organization of Chinese Americans says hers is a tonal language in which a sound has many meanings. Take the "ma" in Barack Obama. It can mean "horse," "mother," "how," "what" or "to scold." And while Obama comes out as "Oh Bus Horse" in Cantonese, in the Mandarin dialect the Democrat's full name, according to a translation provided by Galvin, means "Oh Intellectual Overcome Profound Oh Gemstone." Or, says Siri Karm Singh Khalsa, president of The Boston Language Institute, "Europe Pulling a Horse." 5 O6 O& S. V! ]+ N/ U6 Z `; \ O! l. t" i* i2 q9 Z& ^+ lIf Obama's alias appears inscrutable, Clinton's sends an unpleasant message: "Upset Stomach." Phil Singer, spokesman for Clinton's campaign, says Chinese-American campaign workers told him that the characters usually used in Chinese-American media for her name mean "Like Prosperity." + I& k# x8 \8 q0 d" s1 R3 v6 h {$ y6 C& d# Q. Z
Not all translations are distasteful. Neither Thompson weighing a bid for the Republican presidential nomination is likely to get hot or sour over his Chinese name. In Mandarin, Fred Thompson's name could mean "Fortune Virtue Soup." In Cantonese, Tommy Thompson is "Beautiful Soup." % u6 k1 {" W2 @3 n
2 y# ?7 o; Q* @1 Z, a; z! x# aAs for "Sticky Rice," Romney spokesman Kevin Madden says, "it could have been worse. My obvious preference would have been that it translated as 'Tax Cutter.' " 3 s; ~* n. h9 T0 ? E" {. p8 c' i7 T& d# X5 u' @0 q1 S; P
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% {( p6 c+ h6 [; c. C/ T$ x# O: Z+ yGuo Yan Mai, 71, waves to passersby in Boston as he holds up a sign expressing his support for fully bilingual election ballots during a demonstration in front of the Statehouse.
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