Oliver Lutz Radtke: Chinglish allows travelers to have a window into the Chinese mind.
纪韶融:中式英语是外国游客了解中国式思维的一扇窗户
这个中文名叫纪韶融的德国人拥有一个中式英文的网上“博物馆”。在他的Chinglish.de博客首页,他声明说“不规范中式英文是英文词汇和中文文法结合的奇妙产物。这是热情的体现,而不是嘲笑!”对于中式英文,这个德国小伙子跟来自美国的老杜有着完全不同的看法和做法。他把自己看到的中式英文拍下来,放在自己的博客上,而且他还邀请大家一起来为这个以Chinglish为主题的英文博客“添砖加瓦”。在网上,这个博客人气很高。
接受媒体采访的时候,纪韶融说:“拍下第一张照片的时候,就知道这些牌子不可能永久站在那边。这就像是在记录历史,记录一个时代。扔掉所有有中文特点的英文有些可惜。哪一个国家能说准确的英文呢?美国人和英国人交流时,也经常有互相不明白的时候。作为国际语言,就是由很多国家的元素组成,不用最地道的英文,而是大家都能听得懂的英文。”
有道理,谁说中式英文就一定是错误的?在英语国家被广泛使用的“Long time no see(好久不见)”不就是标准的Chinglish吗,还有世界上最有名的Chinglish——kung fu( 功夫)和drink tea(饮茶)。在数量不断增加的英语词汇中,难道就不能有Chinglish的一席之地?
Personal Background 个人资料
纪韶融,出生于德国陶努斯山区的霍夫海姆。曾经在美国北部和南部长期旅行和工作,穿行在城市巨人和加拉帕戈斯群岛之间。2000年到2006年他在海德堡大学和上海外国语大学攻读现代汉语专业,辅修世界历史和世界哲学。他每年都会来中国旅行。他做过自由记者和公关专员,如今在新加坡的一家电视新闻制作中心工作。他认为,用写作来和世界对话对他自身很重要。最近他出版了关于中国的第一本书——《Welcome to Presence》(身临其境),描绘了一幅中国城市居民的生活画卷。目前他正在写的第二本书叫做《中式英语——翻译中的发现》。对纪韶融来说,中式英文是英文词汇和中文语法结合的奇妙产物。
Bilingual Time: When did you start this blog and what for?
双语时代:您什么时候开始开设这个博客?目的是什么?
Oliver: Some instances in life happen with such intensity1 that they may well be regarded as the starting point for a wonderful friendship or a lifelong passion. I had such a moment on July 25th 2000. I was about to get out of a taxi near the Shanghai Foreign Languages University, where I had recently started my scholarship year as a Chinese major student, when a neat sticker on the inside of the door told me: "Don't forget to carry your thing", in Chinese literally2 meaning “别忘记带走你的‘小弟弟’”… Chinglish fascinated me immediately. My affection grew over the years as I travelled the provinces and spotted4 them throughout - in the least expected places - as constant reminders5 of the fascinating language they spring from, a language that can grow linguistic6 treasures like the ones on display in my blog. As a journalist and book author conditioned to spot unusual expressions, they hit me everywhere in China. I started this blog in June 2005, so it has been two years now. I started collecting Chinglish in the spring of 2000 when I came to China for the first time.
纪韶融:生命中那些伟大的友谊和长达一生的激情,常常因为一个偶然。对我来说,2000年7月25日便是那个意义非常的偶然的开始。那阵子我刚拿了奖学金去上外学中文,那天我打车回学校,下车时把一个小东西落在车上了,我下车时听到司机对我说“Don't forget to carry your thing”,这种逐字翻译让我很容易想到“别忘记带走你的‘小弟弟’”……我立刻开始对这种中式英语着迷。而随着我的足迹踏遍中国的各个省市,并能够去发掘城市深层的文化,我愈加喜爱中式英语。我起初没对这些地方有多少期待,可旅途中无处不在的中国式英语却时刻提醒着我,这些语言财富正是在这些地方萌芽生长,我博客里那些例子很多都是从这里来的。我当过记者,也写过书,所以我对语言中的非常规用语十分敏感,而在中国,这些惊喜无处不在。我2005年6月开博,现在刚好是两周年纪念,而资料的收集却早在2000年春天,我第一次来中国时就开始了。
Beijing, in the wake of the 2008 Olympics, is gearing up an immense amount of manpower to eradicate7 Chinglish from the capital and planning to extend this linguistic cleansing8 to the rest of the country. My aim is to show the nowadays endangered species of Chinglish beauties in their natural habitat and try to make the reader understand one thing: to see Chinglish as the wonderful result of an English dictionary meeting Chinese grammar.
为了迎接奥运,树立北京的形象,北京街头乃至全中国公共场所的中式英语标识已开始被逐步清除。我的目的是为了展现如今濒临绝迹的自然状态下生成的中国式英语的美丽,也希望看官们清楚,中国式英文是英文词汇和中文语法结合的奇妙产物。
It is not my intention to offend anyone, and it never will be. Chinglish.de carries a disclaimer saying "This is about passion, not mockery." I mean what I say. I have lived, studied and worked in China, have taught English there, have been mocked about my hilarious9 mistakes in speaking Chinese many times, and I have shared all this fun with friends, Chinese and Non-Chinese alike. These friendships have greatly contributed to my first book Welcome to Presence - Abenteuer Alltag in China (Adventurous Daily Life in China) that was published in Germany this year.
For me, Chinglish is not wrong English, but English with Chinese characteristics. Of course, there are mistakes that should be corrected. For example, if a tourist doesn't know what to make of a "wife man lung slice" which is just pork 夫妻肺片, or even more important if he is allergic10 to somethings and needs to know what ingredients are really used. But in general Chinglish allows travelers to have a window into the Chinese mind.
我不是想要去冒犯谁,永远也不会想去冒犯谁。我在我的博客Chinglish.de的首页就声明:“这是热情的体现,而绝非嘲笑。”我言行一致地遵循着这一承诺。我在中国生活过,学习过,工作过,也在中国教过英语,也曾经无数次因为说中文时犯可笑的错误而被大家嘲笑,我也把这些笑料同我的中国朋友和其它国家的朋友们一起分享。我今年在德国出版的第一本书《Welcome to Presence - Abenteuer Alltag in China (Adventurous Daily Life in China)》得到了这些朋友的鼎力帮助。在我眼中,中国式英语并不是错误的英语,而是带有中国特色的英语。当然,中国式英语中的很多错误还是需要改正的。比方说,如果一个游客不知道被翻译成“wife man lung slice”的夫妻肺片的原料其实是猪肉的话,就容易引起很多误会;或者更重要的,如果游客对某些原料过敏,而中式英语却不能体现出来,就更麻烦了。但是大致来说,中国式英语是外国游客了解中国式思维的一扇窗户。
Bilingual Time: Generally, who posts entries to your blog? Chinese or foreigners? If they all do, then what's the proportion?
双语时代:一般会在你的博客上面贴帖子的是中国人还是外国人?比例如何?
Oliver: Most posts are my own pictures since I really have a lot, I lived in China for 2 years in total, and I travel there each year at least once. I think I will never stop seeing Chinglish there. Nearly all of my contributors are foreigners, that is, American-born Chinese or German friends or English-speaking academics. Most of the latter wish to remain anonymous11, though, fearing colleagues' reactions which really shows the sensitivity of the issue, still, I think it's a pity.
纪韶融:很多帖子里的照片都是我自己拍的,因为我真的收集了很多。我总共在中国住了2年,每年我都会至少出去旅行一次,我总是很愿意留在那些地方去瞧瞧那儿的中国式英语。而大部分给我提供材料的朋友也都是外国人,包括一些在美国长大的华人,一些德国朋友和说英语的学者。学者们大部分都要求匿名发表,毕竟,有的图片会特别敏感,他们还是害怕同事们会有不好的反应。对此,我觉得遗憾。
Bilingual Time: Where do you find Chinglish? In Beijing, Shanghai, or Taiwan?
双语时代:帖子上的中式英语一般都是在哪里被发现的?是北京,上海还是台湾?
Oliver: A small percentage is from Taiwan for two reasons: most of my friends are in China and Taiwanese English is better while more signs are proofread12 in Taiwan. Most Chinglish is from Mainland China and literally from all over the country, since I travel a lot around China and my contributors do the same. Of course, nowadays you find most Chinglish in more rural provinces such as Hebei or Hunan and in tourist spots, such as Lushan or Gugong. Since I have lived in Beijing and in Shanghai, a lot of the displayed Chinglish is from there.
纪韶融:台湾的资料其实很少,因为我大部分的朋友都生活在大陆,而台湾人的英语水平普遍较高,他们也有这种意识去认真校对公共场所标语上的英语。大部分资料都是来自中国大陆,其实因为我和给我提供资料的朋友们都在中国各省市旅行过,所以全国各地出现的中式英语都有收录。当然了,如今在偏远省份更容易找到中国式英语的踪迹,例如河北、湖南等,还有一些例如庐山、故宫这样的景点儿也会有。因为我曾经在北京和上海居住过,所以也有这两个地方出现的中式英语。
Bilingual Time: What do you think about Chinglish?
双语时代:您如何看待中式英语?
Oliver: Chinglish is not solely13 incorrect English; it is English with Chinese characteristics. Of course, there are mistakes that should be corrected. I do not deny that I greatly enjoy many of the sometimes faulty translations I have put online. But so do thousands of other readers of my blog. At the same time we are not putting down China or the Chinese. I know that because I read my readers' comments carefully, in English, Chinese and German. Linguistic variations exist in any language including my mother tongue - there are wonderful German websites making fun of the language - and they possess a creative potential that we should cherish more.
纪韶融:中国式英语不仅仅是不正确的英语,它是有中国特色的英语。当然,中国式英语中的很多错误还是需要改正的。我不得不承认,有时候读到我放在博客上那些漏洞百出的翻译时我总是很享受。但同时,博客的上千读者也开始知道中国,接受中文。为什么会这么说呢,是因为我一直用心去读读者们用英语、中文和德语给我留下的评论。每种语言都会存在变异,我的母语德语也不例外——其实也有很多不错的德语网站在和语言开玩笑——我们应该倍加珍惜语言的变化过程中产生的创作潜力。
Chinglish is also funny because of the sometimes scarily direct nature of the new meaning produced by the translation. A "deformed14 man toilet” in Shanghai or an “Anus Hospital” in Beijing are funny because they instantly destroy linguistic euphemisms15 we Westerners have carefully built up when talking about sensitive topics. Chinglish annihilates16 these conventions straight away. Chinglish is right in your face.
中国式英语很有趣,有时候是从中文到英文一个字一个字地翻译过去的,给英语词汇创造了不少新意,但有些直白得可怕。上海的“deformed man toilet”和北京的“Anus Hospital”让人觉得有趣是因为它们顷刻就破坏了西方人辛辛苦苦形成的在遇到敏感话题时的委婉用语。中国式英语天然去雕饰,把习惯丢在脑后。中式英语直奔主题,不拐弯抹角。
In general Chinglish allows travellers to have a window into the Chinese mind. At the same time, the re-interpretation of a language allows for a tremendous amount of humour, and humour is, and always has been, a form of communication across cultures. It is my sincerest hope that Chinglish.de will continue to be understood as a bridge, rather than a border.
大体上,中国式英语是外国游客了解中国式思维的一扇窗。同时,语言的再创作需要大量的幽默,而幽默一直都是跨文化交际的重要组成部分。我由衷地希望Chinglish.de能继续成为中西方沟通的桥梁而不是阻碍。
LINKS
最热中式英语
We two, who and who
咱俩谁跟谁
Give you some color to see see
给你点颜色看看
Heart flower angry open
心花怒放
Handsome Year, Morning Die
英年早逝
Good good Study, Day day up
好好学习,天天向上
中式英语之美国人吐血版
来了个美国人,进到某招待所,前台小姐左看右看,大家都在打游戏,只有自己比较清闲,于是:
前台小姐:"Hello." 美国人:"Hi." 前台小姐:"You have what thing?" 美国人:"Can you speak English?" 前台小姐:"If I not speak English,I am speaking what?" 美国人:"Can anybody else speak English?" 前台小姐:"You yourself look. All people are playing,no people have time,you can wait,you wait,you not wait,you go!" 美国人:"Good heavens, anybody here speak English?" 前台小姐:"Shout what shout, quiet a little, you one people have what thing? " 美国人:"I want to speak to your manager. " 前台小姐:"Head not zai. You tomorrow come." 美国人吐血……
(仅供娱乐,请勿模仿。)
Correcting China's English Signs Demands Immediate3 Attention
规范英语标识,刻不容缓
想要让少量Chinglish进入English的大熔炉不是完全不可能,但对公共场所的不规范英语标识进行规范是完全有必要的。尤其是对于正在紧锣密鼓的筹备2008年奥运会的北京,这一举动的必要性更是有目共睹。
2006年,北京市政府组建了规范公共场所英语标识工作小组,专门负责整治更换公共场所英语标识设施。所有的更换工作计划到2007年底在全北京市完成。
而据统计,到目前为止,北京市城区市政道路的6530块英语标识牌已经全部更换。旅游景区、商业服务业、博物馆、展览馆、文化设施、地铁、公交、出租站牌,以及医疗卫生机构、体育场馆、环卫设施等场所,都在按标准进行检查、修改、更换或增加新的标识牌。
北京市政府外事办公室副主任刘洋在接受媒体采访时候表示,北京市今年内将完成公共场所英语标识的规范工作。今年10月到12月,有关部门将进行全面检查,确保年底之前完成这项工作,以迎接2008年奥运会的到来,同时也为众多前来北京旅游和工作的外国人提供方便。
去年12月,北京市颁布了我国首部地方标准的《公共场所双语标识英文译法》,对道路交通、旅游景区、商业场所、体育场馆、公共文化设施、医疗卫生、环卫设施、地铁公交、博物馆等公共场所,实施双语标识英语译法规范。以下是《公共场所双语标识英文译法》的部分内容。我们一起来学习一下吧!