A pedestrian interviewed by a US TV station in New York early last week described the novel coronavirus situation as “surreal”. A local media friend of mine described the lobby of a hotel-casino resort in Cotai left empty by the COVID-19 pandemic as a “surreal” sight. Much to my surprise I have heard the word too many times – almost ad nauseam – in TV reports about the viral threat.
Well, COVID-19 is surely not surreal. It is mortally real. The threat is out there, and it’s all too real for comfort.
Intergenerational solidarity
One of the often heard comments on international news channels is that the novel coronavirus outbreak isn’t a big deal as its mortality rate is relatively low and most of the fatalities are old people with underlying health issues, “so what?.” This kind of viewpoint is shocking, to say the least. What happened to intergenerational solidarity and the age-old tradition across different cultures across the world to show respect for the elderly? So it’s no big deal for the elderly coping with multiple chronic conditions to die of the novel coronavirus? Well, there are certainly common chronic diseases afflicting senior citizens, but we should nevertheless do our utmost to protect them from the viral threat and not just shrug our shoulders and accept their relatively high COVID-19 mortality rate as a kind of fait accompli. Give them a chance to live a few more years beyond the current public health crisis!
I watched in disbelief a TV interview last week with a teenager on a beach in Europe who said she wasn’t worried about the novel coronavirus pandemic because it mostly affected the elderly and the chronically sick. I wonder what she would say when just one of her grandparents is killed by COVID-19.
I was very happy when listening to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s address to the nation about tough anti-COVID-19 measures last week as he appealed to the younger generation to accept the country’s lockdown because it was their very own way to protect the older generation from the virus. Bien dicho, Sr. Sánchez.
From epicentre shift to paradigm shift
The World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva announced last week that the epicentre of the novel coronavirus pandemic has shifted from China to Europe, after which the central government in Beijing promptly decided to send a medical support team to Italy to help the Mediterranean country tackle its alarming COVID-19 situation. Last night (Macau time), Italy had 24,747 confirmed cases including 1,809 deaths.
Beijing’s move is not only another indication of its preparedness to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with other members of the international community facing a serious health crisis but also marks a paradigm shift in international relations. While Beijing has assisted other developing countries in a wide range of matters over many decades, its readiness to assist developed countries – irrespective of its virtually permanent political crises, Italy is one of the world’s most industrialised nations – in tackling the COVID-19 threat proves that China as one of the world’s most important nations is fully assuming its international responsibilities on a par with (or even beyond) other major countries. Just a few years ago one could hardly imagine China helping one of the EU’s major economies tackle a major crisis.
Moreover, apart from Italy also Spain has clearly learnt from the Chinese experience in dealing with the viral threat by imposing a nationwide lockdown (I should point out that even the larger European countries are of the size of a single Chinese province in terms of area and population).
Even the US finally seems to have learnt a few things from China’s approach to the COVID-19 predicament by putting some areas under lockdown (which, in my view, is the most efficient, probably the only way of stemming the pandemic from spreading further). Besides, the Trump administration appears to have finally got its act together by declaring a national emergency to combat the novel coronavirus and, commendably, ordering free COVID-19 tests for all US citizens – including the tens of millions without health insurance.
The local government’s high-intensity fight against COVID-19 is putting even more pressure on our hard-working translators and interpreters than in normal times. I have the utmost respect for them, also because I know from my own professional experience how difficult their work is. As a young student I passed the state examination for sworn Spanish-German translators (one of the most difficult examinations I have gone through) and in my work as a journalist in Macau for over three decades I have translated countless Portuguese news articles into English. So, in all modesty, I know what I am talking about.
What I have noticed in the past few weeks in particular is that some of our interpreters and translators still fail to grasp the political implications of the “One China” and “One Country, Two Systems” principles for their work. Translations such as “China-Macau” border (which should, of course, be mainland-Macau border) are a political blunder and therefore absolutely unacceptable. This still happening over 20 years after the establishment of the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) is inexcusable.
This issue reminds me of what Paul Schmidt, the late chief interpreter of Germany’s Foreign Ministry, once said: “Over the years I have arrived at the conviction that a good diplomatic interpreter must possess three characteristics: Most important, he must, paradoxically, be able to be silent; he must be expert in the subject he is translating; and only in third place is his mastery of the language he translates”. Absolutely!
Last but not least, I would like to once more express my admiration for both the central and the local governments’ successful efforts in getting COVID-19 under control. Well done! Let’s hope that Hong Kong and Taiwan will follow suit soon.
Open borders (such as within the EU) and relaxed entry rules (such as in Macau) can be a plus, but not in times of a very serious public health threat as they could ultimately prove fatal.
- Harald Brüning
