去年4月,北京市人民政府外事辦公室的專家顧問到朝陽區(qū)CBD、西城區(qū)金融街進(jìn)行檢查,發(fā)現(xiàn)這些地區(qū)普遍設(shè)立了英語標(biāo)識(shí),但其國際化、準(zhǔn)確率仍有待提升。
Do not glissade when you see a sign in a washroom telling you to "Slide carefully!" as it actually means "Caution wet floor!"
在衛(wèi)生間看到“Slide carefully”這樣的標(biāo)識(shí)千萬不要想著表演芭蕾滑步,因?yàn)樗囊馑计鋵?shí)是“地滑,小心”。
Likewise, do not look for a bowl when a bank sign asks you to "wait outside a rice noodle". Instead, search for a yellow line, or "one-meter line," which is spelled the same as "a (serving of) rice noodle" in Chinese.
跟上面那個(gè)一樣,在銀行看到“wait outside a rice noodle”這樣的標(biāo)識(shí)也不要去想著去找個(gè)碗來。其實(shí),你得找一條黃線,或者“一米線”,它和“米線”的字是一樣的。
2022年北京將舉辦冬奧會(huì),如何向世界展示國際大都市形象,外語標(biāo)識(shí)是第一扇窗口。對(duì)于機(jī)場和CBD等國際化程度較高的地區(qū),外語標(biāo)識(shí)更是“臉面”,要確保準(zhǔn)確規(guī)范。
In order to make the city a more foreigner-friendly place, Beijing is in the midst of a colossal clean-up of the hilarious, ubiquitous English mistranslations known as Chinglish.
為了讓城市對(duì)外國人更友好,北京最近在大量清理那些到處都有的搞笑英語雷翻譯,一般也叫作中式英語。
Chen Mingming, executive vice president of the Translators Association of China and advisor to the correction campaign, said: "Translations of public signs not only help foreigners, but their quality also shapes the image of a city."
中國譯協(xié)執(zhí)行副會(huì)長,本次糾錯(cuò)活動(dòng)的專家顧問陳明明表示:“公共場所標(biāo)識(shí)的翻譯不僅能幫助到外國人,標(biāo)識(shí)的翻譯質(zhì)量也塑造著城市形象。”
Some mistranslations were a result of verbatim translations such as a shop sign that reads "name smoke name liquor" (branded cigarette and liquor) on Beijing's shopping street Wangfujing, while some others stumbled at polysemantic Chinese words like an emergency exit whose English translation sign reads "export"(export and exit share the same word in Chinese).
有些翻譯錯(cuò)誤是因?yàn)樽謱?duì)字的直譯,例如說北京購物街王府井的一個(gè)商店標(biāo)識(shí)“name smoke name liquor”(名煙名酒),另外還有一些讓人讀不順的標(biāo)識(shí)是用到了多義的中文詞,比方說有一個(gè)緊急出口的英文翻譯是“export”(export和exit的中文字是一樣的,都是“出口”)。
Zhang Qian, vice head of the office, said signage of private businesses where owners often resort to the Internet for quick solutions, have formed a new citadel for wrong translations.
北京市人民政府外事辦公室副主任張謙表示,私營企業(yè)的老板往往在網(wǎng)上翻譯他們的標(biāo)識(shí),出成品快,因此也就多出了一大堆錯(cuò)誤譯例。
不少企業(yè)和商家設(shè)立了英文標(biāo)識(shí),但或許是出于成本的考慮,許多標(biāo)識(shí)的翻譯看起來都是不準(zhǔn)確的機(jī)翻,改正這些Chinglish還是很有必要的。另外還有一些在非應(yīng)試場合出現(xiàn)也無傷大雅的中式表達(dá),因?yàn)樗鼈兊囊子眯?,而成功普及開來,最終得到權(quán)威的認(rèn)證。