[The Chinese students who were raped in Australia?]
Recently, an article called 《那群在澳洲被强奸的中国的留学生们》（The Chinese Students raped in Australia）on Wechat became popular on the Internet at a very short time, triggering the collective shock of many Chinese. There are also many friends and relatives coming to ask me if the content is true.
The original source of the article has been blocked now, but we can still find the content of the article in other places. For example, here is a link below to the content of the article:
http://australia51.com/read/CA079AA6-7BC1-5040-8CA3-C37A76CF6F9A/
I can’t represent Australia’s official to promise everyone that Australia is safe and can’t represent all Chinese students with their own personal experience. So I can’t tell you whether this content is totally wrong or just part of the feelings of international students.
However, the partial translation problem and re-translation problem in this article is very obvious, attesting to the fact that at least the author of the original article was not rigorous enough and exaggerated in this article with a strong seditious nature.
First of all，
The article mentioned at the beginning that “a European public interest investigation agency has conducted extensive investigations of incidents of raped female foreign students in Australia”, but from the pictures published in the article, it can be seen that this so-called “investigation” is actually the “Australian University Sexual Harassment and Sexual Abuse Statistics Report.” From this name, the report is regardless of the gender and the origin of the students. Why did the original author interpret it as a “female foreign student” and even further interpreted as “Chinese students studying abroad”?
(The survey used by the original author. Used with permission. Source: https://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/document/publication/AHRC_2017_ChangeTheCourse_UniversityReport.pdf)
In addition, the publisher of the report is actually the “Australian Human Rights Commission.” Why did the author mistranslate it as “a European public interest investigation agency”? It can be seen that the author has been sloppy in handling the translation.
(The survey used by the original author. Used with permission. Source: https://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/document/publication/AHRC_2017_ChangeTheCourse_UniversityReport.pdf)
Further, even if the author translated right on the name of the survey, the source of the report, etc. There is still a question worthy of thinking: Is the report authoritative? Is the result of the data reliable?
As showed on the chart, the report was targeted at 300,000 people. In the end, only 30,000 volunteers responded. The survey is not random but subjective. Whether this investigation is authoritative enough to represent the entire society is still doubtful.
Second
The 1.6% ratio mentioned in this report refers to sexual assault, while in the original text, it was inexplicably changed to rape.
Here, it is true that the two words have similar meanings, but if we look at the translation point of view, the definition of “sexual assault” on the wiki is this:
Sexual assault is an act in which a person sexually touches another person without that person’s consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence which includes rape, groping, child sexual abuse or the torture of the person in a sexual manner
In other words, rape is just one form of sexual assault. Changing “sexual assault” into “rape” is academically called stealing concept. 480 people were raped rather than 480 people were sexually assaulted, which made the article more provocative.
Third，
“In Australia, rape does not need to go to jail?” After publishing all of the so-called “evidence” above, the author arbitrarily made such remarks and summaries.
According to the documentary cited by the author, the girls in the film did mention that her report was not answered by the police. But what are the reasons behind this? Is the background of the criminal too strong, the police fail to act properly? Or is the victim’s evidence insufficient? We do not know all of these from the documentary, therefore, it is not rigorous enough for us to make that quick conclusion.
When the fact is not yet clear, isn’t it too sloppy to make such absurd conclusions from only a third-party documentary case?
Last but not the least
Let’s talk about campus sexual invasion.
In the report of the Australian Human Rights Commission, the proportion of sexual harassment is 21%, and the proportion of sexual abuse is 1.6%.
Then let’s have a look at the situation in other countries:
According to RAINN, the largest anti-violence organization in the United States, 11.2% of university students in the United States (including undergraduate and graduate students) have suffered sexual assault including rape.
Source: https://www.rainn.org/statistics/campus-sexual-violence
In China, the Survey Report on the Sexual and Reproductive Health of University Students published by the China Family Planning Association shows that 30% of university students have experienced sexual violence or sexual harassment.
Source：http://inews.ifeng.com/yidian/50025835/news.shtml?ch=ref_zbs_ydzx_news
There is no pure land in this world. Australia may not be an absolutely safe place, but it is the same everywhere in the world.
From the currently available data, it should be said that many parts of the world are facing this problem. If we use unilateral data to confirm a radical conclusion, is the translator too hasty or did he has other intentions?
[From wrong translation to cultural mis-understanding]
From the issue of nuclear radiation in Australia to the issue of Chinese students raped in Australia… From the past to the present, we should say that not only Australia but also many other countries suffered for this irresponsible translation. Brought serious misunderstanding of social culture between borders.
The world is becoming a smaller and smaller community. However, language is an insurmountable barrier between the people in this community. A community with insufficient communication of social information and a community that lacks education and reconciliation with civilization will eventually bring about divisions among various groups. We don’t want every people in the world to have the same view and thinking, but we hope that the media and translators, who are both tools of communication for language and cultural exchanges, can work together to deliver each message in a socially responsible manner so that people have a more comprehensive and objective understanding of the world and, on this basis, form their own cognition.
Zoë 's Trans-Culture World 