Words of Chinese origin are playing a key role in driving the ongoing globalization of English, experts in both languages say.
一些中英文語(yǔ)言專家表示具有中文淵源的單詞在英語(yǔ)中出現(xiàn)是英語(yǔ)全球化的重要驅(qū)動(dòng)力之一。
"The fact that some 300 million Chinese people are now studying or have studied English means the important impact of Chinese on the language can't be denied, " said Paul J.J. Payack, president and chief analyst at Global Language Monitor.
“三億中國(guó)人正在學(xué)習(xí)或曾經(jīng)學(xué)習(xí)過(guò)英語(yǔ)，這意味著中文對(duì)英語(yǔ)的影響力是個(gè)無(wú)法否認(rèn)的事實(shí)，”位于美國(guó)德克薩斯州全球語(yǔ)言監(jiān)測(cè)機(jī)構(gòu)主席Paul J.J. Payack在接受采訪時(shí)表示。
It says some 10, 000 words are added to the English language annually, with about 1.83 billion people using English as their native, second, business or technical language.
該機(jī)構(gòu)數(shù)據(jù)顯示，每年新增英文單詞在10，000個(gè)左右。目前全球大約18.3億人在使用英語(yǔ)，包括母語(yǔ)、第二語(yǔ)言使用者以及用于商業(yè)或技術(shù)用語(yǔ)。
But the global figure was only about 250 million in 1960, with English-speakers mainly located in Britain and its Commonwealth of former colonies, as well as the United States.
全球使用英語(yǔ)的人在1960年大致只有2.5億人，他們主要集中在英國(guó)和它之前的殖民地以及美國(guó)。
"It's estimated that a new English word is created every 98 minutes, " Payack said.
“預(yù)計(jì)每98分鐘一個(gè)新的英語(yǔ)單詞就被創(chuàng)造出來(lái)，”P(pán)ayack說(shuō)。
"One example of a word used in English that originated from Chinese that has appeared recently is chengguan (city patrol officer). A quick Google search results in nearly a million citations, far in excess of our minimum number of required citations."
“例如，最近出現(xiàn)的含有中文淵源的單詞是chengguan (城管)。谷歌搜索中有接近100萬(wàn)次的引用，遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超出我們機(jī)構(gòu)對(duì)新詞要求出現(xiàn)的最少引用次數(shù)，”他說(shuō)。
The Oxford English Dictionary, which waits 10 years before entering a word to ensure it has "staying power", now has about 1, 000 words of Chinese origin, such as taikonaut.
牛津英語(yǔ)詞典中目前大概收錄了1，000個(gè)左右含有中文淵源的詞，例如taikonaut (中國(guó)宇航員)。
In China, taikonaut refers to a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a spacecraft crew member.
Payack認(rèn)為中文作為英語(yǔ)全球化的重要驅(qū)動(dòng)力，其影響力在整個(gè)21世紀(jì)將會(huì)一直持續(xù)。
"It's estimated that Chinese, one of the prime drivers of the globalization of the English language, will continue its influence throughout the 21st century, " Payack said.
今年華爾街日?qǐng)?bào)專門(mén)使用“dama”(大媽)這個(gè)用漢語(yǔ)拼音得來(lái)的單詞關(guān)注中國(guó)大媽不容小覷的黃金購(gòu)買力。
In August, The Wall Street Journal used the term dama, which is Chinese pinyin for "big mother", to describe the middle-aged Chinese women driving the global gold market.
華爾街日?qǐng)?bào)的報(bào)道說(shuō)正是因?yàn)橛辛舜髬專袊?guó)已經(jīng)可以與印度競(jìng)爭(zhēng)成為影響全球黃金市場(chǎng)的一支主力軍。
In a video report, it said it is largely because of dama that China can compete with India as the world's largest gold consumer. Many Chinese people saw the use of dama as evidence that the more advanced a country becomes, the more influential its language is.
很多人認(rèn)為“大媽”一詞的使用證明一個(gè)國(guó)家影響力越大，這個(gè)國(guó)家的語(yǔ)言影響力也會(huì)越大。
Wei Chongxin, dean of Beijing Foreign Studies University's School of Chinese Language and Literature, said he believes such influence is rooted in China's growing global clout.
北京外國(guó)語(yǔ)大學(xué)中國(guó)語(yǔ)言文學(xué)學(xué)院院長(zhǎng)魏崇新認(rèn)為這種現(xiàn)象根源于中國(guó)在世界范圍日益增長(zhǎng)的影響力，包括政治、經(jīng)濟(jì)和文化等多方面。
"When more native English speakers come to learn more about China and have closer relations with the country in daily life, it's normal to see the Chinese and English languages infiltrate with each other's words, " he said.
“當(dāng)更多英語(yǔ)使用者來(lái)到中國(guó)或者在日常生活中與中國(guó)產(chǎn)生密切接觸時(shí)，中英兩種語(yǔ)言互相滲透便是一個(gè)自然而然的趨勢(shì)，”他說(shuō)。
The convergence of the main languages of global powers has many precedents in history, including the Greek and Roman conquests and the unification of ancient China. In more recent times, the languages of Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, France and Britain dominated many of the colonies they established from the 16th to 19th centuries, according to GLM.
全球語(yǔ)言監(jiān)測(cè)機(jī)構(gòu)認(rèn)為大國(guó)間語(yǔ)言的互相滲透和影響在歷史上有很多先例。
However, compared with the impact of English on the Chinese language in the past, experts say Chinese still has a limited influence on English.
但語(yǔ)言專家們認(rèn)為相對(duì)于英語(yǔ)對(duì)中文的影響力來(lái)說(shuō)，中文對(duì)英語(yǔ)的影響力還是相當(dāng)有限的。
"One reason for the difficulty in translation between English and Chinese is that they stemmed from entirely different language families, " Payack said.
“中英文互譯存在困難的一個(gè)重要原因是這兩種語(yǔ)言源于不同的語(yǔ)言家族，”P(pán)ayack說(shuō)。
He added that English, with Proto-Indo-European roots has some kinship with Greek, Latin, Celtic, the Romance languages (which include French and Italian), Polish and Russian, and even Kurdish, Farsi and Sanskrit. Meanwhile, Mandarin stems from the Proto-Sino-Tibetan family of languages.
英語(yǔ)，源于原始印歐語(yǔ)系，與希臘語(yǔ)、拉丁語(yǔ)、羅曼斯語(yǔ)等等有著密切的關(guān)系；而漢語(yǔ)則發(fā)源于原始漢藏語(yǔ)系，他解釋說(shuō)。
"This makes the contemporary mixing, melding or mash-up of English and Mandarin even more interesting and complex, which is one reason why some 'Chinglish' phrasing strikes outsiders as confusing and even amusing, " Payack said.
“這種差異使得兩種語(yǔ)言的融合變得有趣和復(fù)雜，這就是為什么一些Chinglish(中國(guó)式英語(yǔ))讓外國(guó)人迷惑甚至發(fā)笑的原因，”他說(shuō)。
But Han Baocheng, a language professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University, said the use of "Chinglish" phrases cannot be regarded as Chinese words having an influence on the English language.
來(lái)自北京外國(guó)語(yǔ)大學(xué)的語(yǔ)言教授韓寶成認(rèn)為Chinglish的使用不能被看作是中文對(duì)英語(yǔ)的影響力之一。
"At present, most of the limited number of new words with Chinese origins that have been regarded as entering the English language are those that cannot find proper words in English to express the original meanings in Chinese, " he said.
“目前，有限數(shù)量的有中文淵源的英語(yǔ)新詞出現(xiàn)主要是因?yàn)閺挠⒄Z(yǔ)已有的詞匯中無(wú)法找到對(duì)應(yīng)表達(dá)中文確切意思的詞，”他說(shuō)。
But Wei Chongxin, who is also a senior professional in cross-cultural communication, said such mixing of the two languages provides Chinese- and English-learners with an opportunity to improve their studies and make them easier.
但同時(shí)，作為跨文化交流方面的資深專家魏崇新院長(zhǎng)也指出這兩種語(yǔ)言的融合為中、英文學(xué)習(xí)者提供了更有利的學(xué)習(xí)機(jī)會(huì)，并使學(xué)習(xí)這兩種語(yǔ)言變得相對(duì)簡(jiǎn)單一些。
"Moreover, because the two languages can absorb from each other, both can be more vigorous and have a wider range of users, " he said.
“而且，正是因?yàn)檫@種互相滲透和吸收，這兩種語(yǔ)言才具有更強(qiáng)的活力和更廣泛的使用者，”他說(shuō)。
The 24-year-old Canadian can speak Mandarin fluently.
Lisa Hoffman，24歲，是一位加拿大來(lái)華留學(xué)生。她今年畢業(yè)于對(duì)外經(jīng)貿(mào)大學(xué)，可以說(shuō)一口流利的普通話。
"Since the two languages are completely different, it's really difficult for foreigners, especially those living overseas, to remember Chinese words, " she said.
她說(shuō)：“因?yàn)橹杏⑽氖峭耆煌膬煞N語(yǔ)言，所以特別是對(duì)于那些生活在國(guó)外的人，想要記住中文詞匯是非常困難的。”
"For instance, my mom, who can't speak any Chinese, has to remember ni hao (hello) by 'knee' and 'how', " she said. "But she can easily say words with Chinese origins, such as baijiu (liqor), as those words frequently appear in her daily life."
“比如我媽媽，她一點(diǎn)中文也不會(huì)說(shuō)。她需要借助英文單詞：‘knee’和‘how’的發(fā)音記住中文的‘你好’。但她可以很容易記住一些有中文淵源的詞，比如白酒(baijiu),因?yàn)檫@些詞頻繁地出現(xiàn)在日常生活中。”她說(shuō)。
發(fā)表于 2013-11-10 12:25:10
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