《中式英语》登上百老汇论文
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What a Play on Words Says about Business in China
Did Henry Hwang’s entertaining new play, Chinglish , which has just opened on Broadway, is about what is lost and what gets inflated in translation. It begins with a British consultant giving the main character, American businesan Daniel Canaugh, some advice so he can get around the widespread problem of poor interpreting, “When doing business in China, always bring your own translator.”
In the play, Daniel has come to Guiyang, the all provincial capital of Guizhou, to sell English signage to the city for its fancy new arts centre. On a trip to China in 2005, Hwang visited an arts centre in Shanghai. It featured sleek German design and the best Italian marble, but also the badly translated signage that is ubiquitous in China. The rest room for the disabled had a sign reading, “Deformed Man’s Toilet”.
剧作家黄哲伦的喜剧新作《中式英语》(Chinglish)最近在百老汇上演,该剧讲述的是翻译中失去和被夸大的东西。该剧一开场,一名英国顾问给剧中主人公美国商人丹尼尔·卡瓦诺提供了一些倡议,这样他就能避开普遍存在的蹩脚翻译理由:“在中国经商,要永远带着自己的翻译。”
剧中,丹尼尔来到贵州省会贵阳,向该市新建的漂亮的艺术中心推销英语指示牌。2005年,当黄哲伦来到中国时,他在上海参观了一个艺术中心。这个艺术中心运用德国的时尚设计,来自意大利上好的大理石,但标牌的翻译很差,而这在中国是普遍现象。残障人士洗手间的标牌是这样翻译的:“残疾人厕所”。
As the comedy unfolds, however, one realises that language is among the least of the problems. The misunderstandings are more fundamental. When Daniel pitches for a contract to the cultural minister of a province, the translator describes his hometown, Cleveland, as close to Chicago, and the minister takes the conversation in unexpected directions. He loves Chicago, he says, especially its steakhouses. Daniel’s sales pitch is thrown off course, but he replies that the steak chain Smith & Wollensky is his second home. “A steak restaurant, where he sometimes lives,” explains the translator.
Poor translation cuts both ways as Daniel discovers whenthe minister’s assistant looks at the website for his company, Ohio Signage, and ridicules the poor Chinese on the website, which Daniel had asked a languages student to write.
然而,这部喜剧的展开,人们意识到,语言是最不的理由之一。误解是更根本性的理由。当丹尼尔力求与某省文化局长达成一份协议时,翻译描述了他的家乡克利夫兰离芝加哥很近,于是文化局长把谈话带到了意料之外的方向。他说,他喜欢芝加哥,特别是那里的牛排餐厅。丹尼尔的销售说辞被带离了轨道,但他回答,连锁牛排餐厅史密斯&沃伦斯基是他的第二个家。翻译则解释说:“有时他会住在这家牛排餐厅。”
蹩脚的翻译对双方都有影响。这位局长的助手在浏览丹尼尔的公司“俄亥俄名片”的网站时,就对网站上糟糕的中文大加嘲笑,而丹尼尔是让一个学语言的学生来写这段文字的。
Yet for all the mishaps along the way, more Chinese are learning English and more Americans and other nationalities are learning to speak Chinese. It is apparent that to do business in China has become much easier. Almost everyone spoke enough English to get by just fine with a bit of sign language, a decent product catalogue and that handy tool for all complicated haggling in China—the calculator.
But, as Chinglish brilliantly sets out, the problems of two vastly different cultures interacting but never quite integrating he less to do with language than one would think.
然而,尽管存在这些小意外,但越来越多的中国人在学习英语,越来越多的美国人和其他国籍的人在学说中文。人们明显看出了如今在中国经商已经变得容易多了。借助一些手语、像样的产品目录以及用于中国复杂侃价的方便工具——计算器,再加上够用的英语,几乎人都能顺利交流。
但,正如《中式英语》睿智的情节那样,两种有着巨大差异、互动但从未相互融合的文化存在的理由,不仅仅是人们所认为的语言理由。
Chinglish is a play, of course, but similar differences in outlook abound in real life when doing business in China.
As Daniel says while giving a lecture in the US at the end of Chinglish, “Nowadays to be succesul, you he to understand your place in their—China’s—picture. Just be aware that you may not—well, I can assure you that you will not get everything you want. And that may just he to be enough.”
当然,《中式英语》只是一部戏,但在中国经商时,在实际生活中,类似的观点分歧大量存在。
正如在《中式英文》结尾丹尼尔在美国做演讲时所说的:“如今,要想成功,你清楚你在他们——中国人——眼中处于什么位置。要知道,你或许不会——这我可以向你保证,你不会你所想要的一切。或许只能这样。”
Did Henry Hwang’s entertaining new play, Chinglish , which has just opened on Broadway, is about what is lost and what gets inflated in translation. It begins with a British consultant giving the main character, American businesan Daniel Canaugh, some advice so he can get around the widespread problem of poor interpreting, “When doing business in China, always bring your own translator.”
In the play, Daniel has come to Guiyang, the all provincial capital of Guizhou, to sell English signage to the city for its fancy new arts centre. On a trip to China in 2005, Hwang visited an arts centre in Shanghai. It featured sleek German design and the best Italian marble, but also the badly translated signage that is ubiquitous in China. The rest room for the disabled had a sign reading, “Deformed Man’s Toilet”.
剧作家黄哲伦的喜剧新作《中式英语》(Chinglish)最近在百老汇上演,该剧讲述的是翻译中失去和被夸大的东西。该剧一开场,一名英国顾问给剧中主人公美国商人丹尼尔·卡瓦诺提供了一些倡议,这样他就能避开普遍存在的蹩脚翻译理由:“在中国经商,要永远带着自己的翻译。”
剧中,丹尼尔来到贵州省会贵阳,向该市新建的漂亮的艺术中心推销英语指示牌。2005年,当黄哲伦来到中国时,他在上海参观了一个艺术中心。这个艺术中心运用德国的时尚设计,来自意大利上好的大理石,但标牌的翻译很差,而这在中国是普遍现象。残障人士洗手间的标牌是这样翻译的:“残疾人厕所”。
As the comedy unfolds, however, one realises that language is among the least of the problems. The misunderstandings are more fundamental. When Daniel pitches for a contract to the cultural minister of a province, the translator describes his hometown, Cleveland, as close to Chicago, and the minister takes the conversation in unexpected directions. He loves Chicago, he says, especially its steakhouses. Daniel’s sales pitch is thrown off course, but he replies that the steak chain Smith & Wollensky is his second home. “A steak restaurant, where he sometimes lives,” explains the translator.
Poor translation cuts both ways as Daniel discovers whenthe minister’s assistant looks at the website for his company, Ohio Signage, and ridicules the poor Chinese on the website, which Daniel had asked a languages student to write.
然而,这部喜剧的展开,人们意识到,语言是最不的理由之一。误解是更根本性的理由。当丹尼尔力求与某省文化局长达成一份协议时,翻译描述了他的家乡克利夫兰离芝加哥很近,于是文化局长把谈话带到了意料之外的方向。他说,他喜欢芝加哥,特别是那里的牛排餐厅。丹尼尔的销售说辞被带离了轨道,但他回答,连锁牛排餐厅史密斯&沃伦斯基是他的第二个家。翻译则解释说:“有时他会住在这家牛排餐厅。”
蹩脚的翻译对双方都有影响。这位局长的助手在浏览丹尼尔的公司“俄亥俄名片”的网站时,就对网站上糟糕的中文大加嘲笑,而丹尼尔是让一个学语言的学生来写这段文字的。
Yet for all the mishaps along the way, more Chinese are learning English and more Americans and other nationalities are learning to speak Chinese. It is apparent that to do business in China has become much easier. Almost everyone spoke enough English to get by just fine with a bit of sign language, a decent product catalogue and that handy tool for all complicated haggling in China—the calculator.
But, as Chinglish brilliantly sets out, the problems of two vastly different cultures interacting but never quite integrating he less to do with language than one would think.
然而,尽管存在这些小意外,但越来越多的中国人在学习英语,越来越多的美国人和其他国籍的人在学说中文。人们明显看出了如今在中国经商已经变得容易多了。借助一些手语、像样的产品目录以及用于中国复杂侃价的方便工具——计算器,再加上够用的英语,几乎人都能顺利交流。
但,正如《中式英语》睿智的情节那样,两种有着巨大差异、互动但从未相互融合的文化存在的理由,不仅仅是人们所认为的语言理由。
Chinglish is a play, of course, but similar differences in outlook abound in real life when doing business in China.
As Daniel says while giving a lecture in the US at the end of Chinglish, “Nowadays to be succesul, you he to understand your place in their—China’s—picture. Just be aware that you may not—well, I can assure you that you will not get everything you want. And that may just he to be enough.”
当然,《中式英语》只是一部戏,但在中国经商时,在实际生活中,类似的观点分歧大量存在。
正如在《中式英文》结尾丹尼尔在美国做演讲时所说的:“如今,要想成功,你清楚你在他们——中国人——眼中处于什么位置。要知道,你或许不会——这我可以向你保证,你不会你所想要的一切。或许只能这样。”