中西文化差異:老外笑點我不懂

身處異國他鄉(xiāng)，最大的悲哀莫過于歪果仁笑得人仰馬翻，你卻不知所云。想跟歪果仁打成一片，光是語言能力過硬是遠遠不夠的。不過也不必妄自菲薄，能不能get笑話，更多是文化背景和幽默感知的問題。

It is beyond awkward when everyone around you bursts outlaughing at a joke that you do not find funny, especially if it’s ajoke told in a foreign language.

世間最尷尬的事莫過于周圍的人都被段子(笑話)逗得哄堂大笑，只有你還沒發(fā)現(xiàn)笑點。如果這段子是用外語講的，那么尷尬值增加一萬點。

While Chinese students find it easy to adapt to a foreign lifestyle, socializing with locals is muchharder, according to a recent study. Researchers looked at how well Chinese students integratedinto communities across the world. Of all the activities they struggled with, understanding jokeswas considered the toughest.

最近一項研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，中國學生很容易適應(yīng)國外的生活方式，但和老外打交道就沒那么簡單了。研究者對中國留學生如何融入世界各地群體進行了分析。在留學生面對的所有問題中，理解笑話被認為是最難的。

Most of the time, jokes are funny only for people who share a common cultural background orperceive humor in the same way.

多數(shù)情況下，笑話只有在文化背景相同或幽默感知方式相近的人中間才有笑果。

Chinese-American comedian Joe Wong found this out first-hand. He had achieved huge successdoing stand-up comedy in the US, but when he returned to China in 2008 for his first live gig inBeijing, he discovered that humor doesn’t translate. People didn’t think his Chinese jokes were asfunny as his English ones, the Global Times reported.

美籍華裔脫口秀主持人黃西對此感同身受。他在美國脫口秀節(jié)目中一炮而紅，不過2008年，當他回到中國在北京開第一場現(xiàn)場脫口秀時，他發(fā)現(xiàn)幽默是無法被翻譯的?！董h(huán)球時報》報道說，大家覺得他的英語段子比中文的有趣。

Being able to understand local jokes can help students feel a sense of belonging. But even withoutthe ability to understand jokes, students should not feel any less confident about themselves.

理解當?shù)厝说男υ捘茏屃魧W生更有歸屬感。不過就算聽不懂老外的笑話，也不必喪失自信。

“It’s OK if you don’t get the jokes. Don’t doubt yourself [because] a lot of the times, it is not aproblem of language ability; it’s a matter of the known and unknown,” said Christine Han, whowas once an overseas student and is now an Australian permanent resident.

曾在澳洲留學、現(xiàn)在是澳大利亞永久居民的克莉絲汀•韓說：“理解不了笑話也沒關(guān)系。不必自我懷疑，(因為)這不是語言能力的問題;這是知道就知道，不知道就不知道的事兒。”

Australian humor

澳式幽默

The fact that Australia is called “Down Under” is funny by itself. Australia is ready-made for jokes,thanks to its history as a colony for convicts, its peculiar accent, the Outback and its strangecuisine. However, to most Chinese overseas students, understanding jokes about sports is thebiggest headache.

事實上，澳大利亞的別稱“在南方的下面”( 英語里北為up，南為down，澳大利亞在舊大陸的南邊)本身就很有趣。它曾是流放犯人的殖民地，它的古怪口音，它的內(nèi)陸和奇葩菜肴，都讓澳大利亞的笑話俯拾皆是。不過對大多數(shù)中國留學生來說，最頭疼的還是理解和體育有關(guān)的笑話。

“The hardest jokes are related to rugby because I know nothing about rugby,” said Melody Cao,who was once a student in Australia. “When I heard jokes I didn’t get, I just laughed along.”

“最難懂的笑話是和橄欖球有關(guān)的，因為我對橄欖球一無所知，”曾在澳洲留學的梅洛迪•曹說。“當我聽不懂笑話時，我就跟著大家一起笑。”

Sport is an important part of Australian national identity. According to the Australian Bureau ofStatistics, 16 percent (2.8 million) of the population aged 15 years and over watched Australianfootball in 2010. About 9 percent (1.6 million) attended a rugby league game.

體育是澳大利亞民族認同的重要部分。據(jù)澳大利亞統(tǒng)計局數(shù)據(jù)，全國15歲及以上人口中有16%(約280萬)觀看了2010年的澳式足球賽，9%(約160萬)參加過橄欖球聯(lián)賽。

The rugby jokes are usually about how immature and dumb rugby players are, like in these twodialogues:

橄欖球的段子常常拿那些水平欠佳，不太靈光的球員開涮， 比如下面兩段對話：

A: “Why don’t rugby players have mid-life crises?”

A：“為什么橄欖球運動員沒有中年危機?”

B: “They stay stuck in adolescence.”

B：“因為他們被困在了青春期。”

A: “Why do rugby players like smart women?”

A：“為什么橄欖球運動員喜歡精明的女人?”

B: “Opposites attract.”

B：“因為異性相吸。”

British humor vs American humor

英式幽默vs 美式幽默

British actor and comedian Simon Pegg discussed the differences between British and Americansense of humor in a column for The Guardian. He believes that while Brits use irony on a dailybasis, the Americans do not see the point of using it so frequently. He wrote: “British jokes, on theother hand, tend to be more subtle with a dark or sarcastic undertone... the [American] jokes aremore obvious and forward, a bit like Americans themselves.”

英國喜劇演員西蒙•佩吉曾在《衛(wèi)報》專欄探討過英式和美式幽默的區(qū)別。他認為英國人每天都會用反諷的幽默，而美國人用的卻不是很多。他寫道：“換句話說，英式笑話更隱晦，伴有黑色和諷刺的潛臺詞……而美式笑話更明顯、直白，和美國人的個性很像。”

Pegg illustrated his point by transcribing a joke he heard a British friend make, in the wake offamily tragedy.

佩吉轉(zhuǎn)述了他從英國朋友那聽到的一個笑話，調(diào)侃的是一出家庭悲劇。

A: “I had to go to my granddad’s funeral last week.”

A：“上周我去參加了我爺爺?shù)脑岫Y。”

B: “Sorry to hear that.”

B：“節(jié)哀順變。”

A: “Don’t be. It was the first time he ever paid for the drinks.”

A：“別這么說。這可是他第一次掏錢買喝的。”

In her book Watching the English – the Hidden Rules of English Behavior, Kate Fox, a British socialanthropologist, describes her country’s humor rules. She argues that irony, understatement andself-depreciation are ingrained in the English mindset. “Humor is our ‘default mode’... We do nothave to switch it on deliberately, and we cannot switch it off,” wrote Fox.

社會人類學家凱特•?？怂乖谒臅队说难孕袧撘?guī)則》中描述了英國的幽默方式。她認為，諷刺、輕描淡寫和自黑是英國人骨子里根深蒂固的東西。她寫道：“幽默是我們的‘默認模式’……我們不必刻意啟動它，當然也不能關(guān)掉它。”

“American humor is more straightforward like the punchlines in the famous TV show Friends,” anInternet user named “Zac” wrote on Zhihu. “You burst out laughing immediately when you watchAmerican humor, and then you forget about it quite quickly, but it takes time to digest Englishhumor, and it may be funnier when you reminisce about it.”

知乎網(wǎng)友Zac說：“美式幽默一般直白、淺顯，如《老友記》的笑料。”“美式笑料屬于當場大笑，笑過就忘，而英式幽默屬于細嚼慢咽型，回味或許比看的當下更覺得好笑。”