I was examiner for ‘O’ level Mandarin Chinese, University of London Board, for four years in the 1980s.
There’d be two lots: a really big one in the summer when I’d be given 200 scripts, and a re-sit in January.
The paper comprised a number of questions/tasks: translate into Chinese, translate into English, essay.
In spite of the fact that it was meant to be for non-native speakers of Chinese, it was clear from all the names that they were Chinese speakers, mostly — if not all — Cantonese speakers, from the language usage.
It was excruciating to read the English.
At first, I’d go for distraction, just to get away from the agony. After a paragraph, I’d go and wash the dishes. After another paragraph, I’d go and clean the floor. After one more paragraph, I’d go and wash some clothes. Scrub the walls. Clean the windows. Do some dusting. Until I had nothing left to clean. I was quite tempted to ring up my friends and ask them if they’d like to send round their laundry.
After a while, I came up with a half-full approach.
I decided that the bad English can be treated as hilarious rather than painful, perhaps to be published one day as a collection for a laugh. So, I started to have a notepad and pen by the side, and jot down all the howlers as I went along. After a while, I switched to typing them up, using my manual typewriter, set up on the table or a spare chair beside me. This held up my marking just as much, but at least I wasn’t tearing my hair out.
When I later mentioned this to my SOAS* classical Chinese teacher, Mr. George Weys (featured in blogs The swing doors and Skiving off skiing), he said he’d also done some marking in earlier years. He said he was sometimes so exasperated that he was quite tempted to take the whole pile, go to the top of his staircase, and throw them down the steps. Whichever landed on the top step, he’d give a distinction. Whichever landed on the bottom, he’d fail them.
*SOAS: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
(London, early 1980s)
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