SPEAKERS
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WHAT THEY SAID... Featured highlights of event speakers at FCC
Book launch: Is the Hong Kong Judiciary Sleepwalking to 2047? by Henry Litton Retired judge Henry Litton pulled no punches in a speech to launch his book of essays, Is the Hong Kong Judiciary Sleepwalking to 2047?, illustrated by cartoonist and FCC member Harry Harrison. Litton warned that some judgments by former colleagues come under scrutiny and hoped they would read his essays “with broadmindedness and tolerance”. Litton, born in Hong Kong, was appointed to the Court of Appeal in 1992 and became a permanent judge of the Court of Final Appeal in 1997. He said: “Unlike all other Common Law countries, the Hong Kong Common Law system has a shelf life. Like Cinderella’s carriage, it turns into a pumpkin at the last stroke of midnight on 30 June 2047. “When HK’s governing system and lifestyle were an issue last time … the decision makers were the two great powers of China and Britain… this time around, maybe only 10 years from now, Hong Kong will stand alone. It will have to advocate that the Common Law system should remain. Can it be taken for granted that it may continue for another 50, 100 years? “The Common Law is effective because it is pragmatic, its focus is on remedies and practical decisions. In 1983 that was the system that Britain and China agreed should continue… But slowly, insidiously, this has changed. Now,
Florence de Changy, Harry Harrison and Henry Litton
real issues get swept away in a flood of words, common sense gets submerged.” Litton, 84, cited the co-location scheme at the West Kowloon rail terminal of the high-speed rail link between Hong Kong and mainland China where two legal systems operate side-by-side to process immigration, customs, and quarantine etc. The trains had been running for one month when four people challenged this set-up and the case went to court. They lost. Of this challenge, the judge said, “a Frankenstein monster had been born”. “The four people had no more interest in the rail project than you or I. No common law jurisdiction in the world would allow such an application to wreak havoc in their community.” Needless to say, the Q&A session was lively. Evening book launch, January 21, Sue Brattle
Jamie Angus | Lost in Translation: Making the News in 42 languages Jamie Angus, who was appointed director of the BBC World Service Group last year, spoke about the many “challenges” broadcasting in 42 languages brings, not least whether the service actually uses 41 or 42 languages. He said that loaded language use changes over time. The Bengali service broadcasts to a Muslim community predominantly, but also Hindus. “Hello” is different for each, so presenters for the service use “Good Day”. Referencing God in broadcasting presents endless opportunities for causing offence; which term should you use? The BBC has opted for “the Creator”. “We have a big challenge when we use Chinese. We have a glossary of business terms in three languages, and for written Simplified Chinese and Cantonese.” He said everything about the monarchy in Thailand is sensitive and enshrined in Thai law. There are three words in Thai to describe a death, each particular to the deceased’s social status, which posed a conundrum when the King passed away in 2016. “On legal advice we felt none of the phrases were correct so we went with “the king is no longer alive,” Angus explained. The Two Lakes service for Rwanda and Burundi poses a problem as the words for July and September are the same, so the BBC now uses the number of the month rather than a name.
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Enda Curran, Keith Richburg, Jamie Angus, Florence de Changy and Eric Wishart
Value-loaded words, like “committed suicide”, can give a sentence a different, and misleading, meaning. “We once described soldiers as “pulling back” from a situation, but actually they had retreated, an entirely different action.” Euphemisms create another challenge. Angus said local journalists sometimes prefer an accepted euphemism, for example for the word “rape”, to avoid stigmatising the victim. The BBC, however, prefers to use clear language. The term “martyrs” for deaths in military conflicts is never used, he said. Angus said he has to trust his colleagues’ translation skills. “Bluntly, I have to get our words translated so I am clear what is being broadcast,” he said. He ended with a clip of Prince Charles making a brave attempt to speak Pidgin. Lunch, January 24, Sue Brattle
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