I was in Shanghai last month. As I strolled around 徐家滙 shopping area, I saw a big familiar store. It is “Best Buy” with three Chinese characters imprinted on the wall outside the building. It is 百思買. These 3 characters pronounce like Best Buy. However, in Mandarin, it means "Think 100 times before you buy". Personally, I think the translation is cute but it is a bad idea to use a store name like this. If a guy has to think twice, the probability of buying it is around 50%. If I have to think 100 times, I am sure I won't buy it as the probability of buying it is almost 0. When two cultures meet, all kinds of idiosyncrasies occur. This leads to that good old translation problem most Chinese encounter. 牛頓 or 牛敦? 詹森 or 強生? 聖地亞哥 or 聖地戈? 春田城 or 泉地市? 新奧而良 or 紐堮連斯? There is no standard way of name translation, it is a complete chaos. Japanese use kata kana for foreign names & they get by nicely. As to language improvement, Japanese is ahead of China about 1,600 years. Chinese always think Japanese learned the language from them & so it must be inferior. It is hard to swallow the pride to admit that now they have to follow the similar path to simplify characters & some others. I think it is hard to overcome 1,600 years of language evolution. Chinese need a quantum jump. One way to do this is just to get rid of the translation. Instead, make English as the mandatory second language everyone needs to learn from the primary school. So for all the foreign names or whatever foreign, we have the option to use English directly. This shifts the translation to the English instead of Chinese. Nowadays, all Chinese middle schools teach English, so just extends this to all primary schools & within 20 years, all the problems about foreign name disappear.
As a matter of fact, the way we communicate now (this writing) is writing English & insert Chinese word as we need it. The reverse of this is to write Chinese & insert English word as we need it. As long as every Chinese understand English as a second language, this method solves the problem. We will also find eventually that the language advantage of India & Singapore over Chinese will diminish. In a larger sense, this is very beneficial when it comes to 与世界接軌.
8 comments:
幸峰的想法，把英文直接放在中文裏面，是一個非常實用的辦法。可以應一時之急，與世界早日接軌。但如果中文裏面英文越來越多，中文就不成中文了。還有讀音的問題，是不是標準的美國音？還是像日本人一樣，英語和讀。習慣了之後，不敢講英語了。
幸峰在上海看到 Best Buy 翻譯成 「百思買」的確不很好，大慨太強調同音了。若翻成「最佳購物店」，生意該也不會差。有很多新名詞，若照原音，不會有現在的中文字傳神，像︰ 電視，飛機，航空母艦。若在中文裏唸成，television， airplane ，carrier ，有點礙耳。
前些日子，我也寫了一篇類似的文章，也許你喜歡。
中文裏面的一些新名詞 楊照崑
文字總要不斷的進步，中文能有今天，為我們所喜愛，與它豐富的詞匯有關。像「小人」，「矛盾」，「魚雁」，「紅顏」，「筆刀」，「猴急」，「新人」等都是古代某一個時候開始，付於該詞一個特別的含義，大家覺得生動可愛，就一直沿用至今。近代當然也不例外，我舉一些例子與大家分享。
A。從英文翻譯的
意音義具全的。Show翻譯成「秀」，如「作秀」，神來之筆。cool譯成「酷」也 很好，Miss譯成「蜜」，稱女友為「小蜜」，非常巧妙 。call in譯成「扣應」音意都合。
只音無意者。把Taxi譯成「的」，如「小麵的」。Bus譯成「巴」，如「小巴」，「大巴」。Clone譯成「克隆」，Coke譯成「可樂」。其他像「雷射」，「托福」，「大哥大」，「馬殺雞」也是。
譯得不好的。Virgin作行容詞譯成「處女」很不好。如Virgin Voyage譯成「處女航」就不雅，因為英語Virgin沒有女人的必然性，而中文處女只能指女人。Virgin Voyage應譯成「初航」。又Airport有時譯成「航空港」也不適合，因為港字中文有水字傍，只應用在船方面。Fans 譯成 「粉絲 」最為惡劣。因為「粉絲 」已是一件常用的食品。
B。大陸的新詞。
「手軟」。非常傳神，六四時「抓反革命不手軟」，現在台灣法務部長陳定南也說「抓黑道絕不手軟」。「加溫」指暗地里鼓動風潮，「吹風」指加強宣傳，也很傳神。最近訪北京，在高速公路上的標志都是些「橋」，像「六里橋」，「蓮花橋」。我想北京沒有幾條河，那有這麼多「橋」？原來北京人把「交流道」稱為「橋」。三字簡化成一字，而「交流道」非「橋」不可，字用得很巧。其他有「串連」，「路線」，「統戰」，「山頭」，「解放」，「平反」，「倒爺」，「坦白」，「表態」，「走後門」，「槍桿子」，「筆桿子」，「三上三下」，「一窮二白」，「又紅又專」，「秋後算賬」。台灣也很喜歡用。
C。台灣的新詞。
台灣的新詞極大多數是台語的加入，因台語與中文相差不大，大部分一看便知。如「贊」，「打拼」，「不爽」，「免驚」，「唱衰」，「開講」，「幼齒」，「假仙」，「搞怪」，「鴨霸」，「抓狂」，「歪哥」，「草地人」，「出頭天」，「強滾滾」，「霧殺殺」。也有一提示就明白的，像「修理」（體罰），「沒頭路」（無工作），「牽手」（夫妻）。也有完全不相關的，例如「查某」（女人），「白賊」（說謊），「槓龜」（賭輸），「給路」（差勁）。
要造一個新詞很不容易。柏楊在60-70年代寫了大量的幽默諷刺作品，創造了許多新名詞。像「醬缸」，「二抓牌」(一抓錢二抓權的官)，「三作牌」(警察)，「打狗脫」（doctor），「坎殺爾」（cancer），「洋大人」。除了「醬缸」成名之外，其餘的似乎不夠輕巧，用的人不多。
最難行成的是四個字的成語，像「狐假虎威」，「洛陽紙貴」，「滿城風雨」，
「胸有成竹」，他們後面都有一個精彩的故事，又要能把故事縮短成四個字，如今看到的還不多。前教育部長認為「三隻小豬」也可以算新的成語，引起不少批評。大慨故事還不夠精彩。
I agree with most of Mark Yang’s comment. My argument mainly applies to the proper name of people & places. They are unlike television (电視), airplane (飛机), there is no meaning attached to the translated name. For example, 約翰韋恩 doesn’t mean anything. It is just the pronunciation close to the original name. No wonder you can have multiple entries for the same name. If you read newspapers from Taiwan, China & Hong Kong, you will understand what I mean. If we can get rid of the translation of proper names, we will save a lot of confusion & cost related to map print & daily communication. As to whether we should insert TV or microphone in Chinese text, the answer is Yes or No. Take a look at the next three sentences:
我有电視和麥克風
我有 TV和 擴音器
我有 TV和 microphone.
There are all convey the same meaning. What counts here is the Style of Writing. Good style will eventually become popular and accepted by the public or most intellectuals.
As to the pronunciation, it is better to adopt the most popular one, American English. Why, isn’t it true that we deal with Americans most often? One reason the Japanese get a lousy English pronunciation is the Katakana they use for foreign names. If we skip the Katakana step (ie without tone translation) & go directly to English, we save a lot of trouble & have a quantum jump over Japanese.
I always think my中文 is pretty good until I read Mark Yang’s article on 中文裏面的一些新名詞. Perhaps I haven’t read Chinese newspaper often enough, I am lack of knowledge on the newly created words or expressions. Language is like a living thing, it keeps evolving. If two places are isolated by mountains or rivers, their languages will eventually be different. This explains why there are so many dialects in China & India. If time is long enough, like 1600 years, you got Chinese & Japanese, two different languages. I am especially amazed that Mark Yang’s knowledge on Taiwanese dialect since he was not born in Taiwan.
The following are my comments on some words mentioned by Mark Yang:
Virgin has several definitions.
1. somebody who has never had sexual intercourse
2. a woman who has taken a vow of chastity for religious reasons
Apparently, 處女 used in Chinese is the definition of 2, not the first one. My opinion is that處女 is still a very good translation of Virgin, 很傳神.
港 though related to water in writing, it becomes equivalent to Port. So 海港 means sea port & so air port is logically 空港. It is much better than 飛机場 as used most often.
橋 is like港., it no longer related to water strictly. It only means some kind of link between two places. So 陸橋, 空橋, 高架橋 are all very meaningful.
Two Taiwanese expressions修理」（體罰） and），「白賊」（說謊），「 are very creative. Related to this is 黑手 (mechanic).
Mark Yang probably read a lot of 雜文 by 柏楊. His creation is 傳神 but not very elegant. This may be the reason that his new words do not become popular. I like 三作牌(作之君,作之師,作之父) and 三沈牌 (after 3 ships sunk by 招商局).
I forgot to mention one incidence related to 四個字的成語 in my last comment. In 1960, we all went to take Joint Entrance Examination for College. The school that I took the exam had big panels on both side of the building outside the classroom. There were a lot of postings that are designed to boost the morale of exam takers. I noticed on left side, a poster said: 胸有成竹 (竹中校友會). I turned around & see another poster on the right hand side, it reads: 勢如破竹 (建中校友會).
This blogging program does not automatically save the comment in progress. I accidentally changed web page and all my labor in that comment was gone. So, I am doing it again.
It is always fun to read your thoughts. I don't have much exposure to the media in Chinese, and I have to admit that I have hard time understanding the Taiwan newspapers, especially the commercial advertisement part. As for media from China, the simplified Chinese appears so foreign to me that I just don't bother to read them.
Many of the words and phrases used in Taiwan were derived from the broken Japanese that people learned during the occupation. I wonder whether there is anyone taking an academic approach to find the origin of those derivatives. Well, it is the same as Taiwanese being a derivative of Chinese. And now, English is becoming more frequently a source for such fashionable words and phrases; sometimes in ridiculous way such as turning "fans" into "vermicelli".
To embed English, particularly American English, in Chinese writing does make things a lot less confusing, as long as English does not overtake Chinese in the society. However, in embedding, would you use Firenze, Napoli (Italian) or Florence, Naples (American)? If American translation is used, wouldn't it appear that Chinese is subordinate to American? This indeed would be hard to swallow for some. But, again, American English is so ubiquitous in the advance of technology and culture nowadays, using it would avoid problems such as spelling German, Greek, French or Russian. Yeah, American English is the most global language now, and , I think, will be for a long time in the future. Is there any programming language not in English?
As for Japanese, I have to say I am quite dismayed with the fact that we have been learning from Japanese for almost a century. After hundreds of years of complacency by our ancestors, boasting China as the center of the universe where all pilgrim came to, and seeing themselves as rulers of the supreme nation under the heaven. It is good to see the leadership in China has revitalized the Chinese pride some. But I am hesitant to say the same for Taiwan because the leadership there seems to yearn for the Japanese or Koren tourists money still, yet without showing much on the international stage. Excuse me for rumbling off course.
Not until 2000 did I return to Taiwan (I prefer "return" to "visit"). And I have been back each year since. Whenever I was back, folks always liked to talk with me. Maybe because I still spoke in the old way, and when I spoke in Mandarin I still had the heavy Taiwanese accent. They saw me as the "classic", and that made me feel like the forgotten breed in Tao Yien-Ming's Tao-Hwa-Yuen_Chi. Except I look no different from the people surroundng me.
I was amused when the mainlanders called the mandarin we speak as pu-tong-hwa instead of standard or official Chinese language. I am really puzzled what that means.
按中華人民共和國相關機構的解釋，普通話的「普通」二字的涵義是「普遍」和「共通」，不稱為「國語」是對少數民族語言的尊重。
There is a famous writer 二月河 who wrote 雍正皇帝. 二月河 is a pen name, his original name is 凌解放. His 雍正皇帝 was adapted as a TV series & became very popular in the last few years. Do you know there is one thing called 正月河 in this world? What is 正月河 anyway? Please take a guess.
Hint: This is something related to the idiosyncracy of the translation of foreign name into Chinese.
It sounds not a bad idea to mix up English into Chinese text. You have to very careful, though, in
spoken language. I had a very interesting personal experience. In
1974, my whole family returned to Taiwan for a short visit. In a family reunion, my mother was paasing the candies to Eric (5 yr.) and Neil (3 yr.). Neil said 我要two. My mother became nervous and asked Neil if 你要吐? Of course, this was not the case.
I have to admit that I haven't visited our Blog for sometime and have to catch what has happened in
pass.
As I said before my idea of inserting English in the Chinese text mainly applies to the proper names. As to extending to other area, common sense should be used to reduce confusion. Lately I encountered two cases I'd like to share with you:
1. "劍橋人的智慧"(book), pg.156, 著名物理学家克斯書負責卡文迪什實殮室, 1874年他當了第一任实驗室主任, 直到他1879年因病去世...
2. "牛津人的輝煌"(book), pg.210, 英國軟件公司奧特諾米, 它的創始人是邁克.林可, 在牛津大学攻讀博士時...
After you read the above two paragraphs, do you know what's going on? Are they meaningful to you? In the first case, who is 克斯書? I think I know who he is but just don't know why & where the translator got this name 克斯書. In the second case, you will have tough time since you can't really look it up or double check what the company is & who is this 邁克.林可. After a while I found the answer but I shouldn't have spend extra time to decipher it. Mark Yang has a lot of imagination, perhaps he can figure it out in no time. In both cases, if the author includes English or just inserts English names without translation, he will save us time & trouble.
Nobody responds to "正月河" in my last comment. Yes, there is 正月河 in this world, it is the famous city of Brazil, Rio de Jeneiro. In primary school, we called it 里约熱內盧, in high school, some called it 里約. Until two years ago, a map from Beijing China, listed 正月河 on the map, amazing!!! In Portuguese, Rio is river, Jeneiro is January & so we got the puzzle solved. But we shouldn't have wasted all this time in playing words.
It is quite entertaining to guess the Chinese translations of foreign subjects. As Mark Lin said, it is like puzzle solving. Therefore, wouldn't it be fun to have a daily or weekly column in newspapers of "reverse translation" where your challenge is to find the original foreign name of a given Chinese translation?
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