《新華字典》最新版里新收錄的俚語和術(shù)語可給中文學習者們帶來了不少樂子。這本字典是學習中國官方語言的首選參考書。這是一本堪比城墻磚的著述,有700多頁,你幾乎得成為一個鉛球運動員才能將其搬動。(據(jù)報道,該字典的電子版正在開發(fā)中。)
The new edition took eight years to compile, according to the deputy editor, Zhou Hongbo, and many of the debut entries are derived from social media. New terms include NBA, animal conservation, credit-card slaves, social harmony and diplomagate, a reference to the widespread faking of academic credentials.
副總編周洪波說,最新版的修訂耗時八年,其中很多新收錄的詞匯來自于社交媒體。新詞匯包括“NBA”,“動物保護”,“卡奴”,“社會和諧”和“學歷門”等。學歷門指的是學歷證書的廣泛造假行為。
Eveline Chao, writing on Foreign Policy magazine's Web site, has a fascinating look at seven of the new words and terms in the dictionary, including "house slaves," "PM 2.5" and "angry youth."
趙懿(Eveline Chao)為《外交政策》 網(wǎng)站撰寫相關(guān)文章,對字典中的七個新詞匯進行了頗為有趣的解讀,包括“房奴”,“PM 2.5”,“憤青”等。
"Banana person" also makes its first official appearance. Ms. Chao notes that the term "usually refers to Chinese-Americans - yellow on the outside, white on the inside - though unlike in the United States this is not pejorative."
“香蕉人”也是首次正式亮相。趙懿寫道,該詞匯“通常是指美籍華人——外面是黃的,里面是白的——但和在美國不同,這個詞沒有貶義。”
An excerpt from Ms. Chao's piece:
以下是該文章的節(jié)選:
This edition includes slang and online terminology for the first time - remarkable for an official Chinese publication for which informal language has long been prohibited. Indeed, the Xinhua Dictionary has always been a guide to what's new and modern in China, but a few steps behind, aimed more at the masses less aware of the cutting edge. In the early days, it was like the Encyclopedia Britannica and the Oxford English Dictionary rolled into one, teaching a mostly illiterate country about everything from umbrellas to fertilizer to how to write the word "pigeon."
相當值得注意的是,新版本首次收錄了一些俚語和網(wǎng)絡(luò)詞匯,因為中國官方出版物長久以來都禁止非正式語言。的確,《新華字典》一直都是中國語言新趨勢和現(xiàn)代性的指南,但通常會落后幾步,其目標受眾更多是對前沿了解較少的廣大人群。早期,《新華字典》像是《大英百科全書》和《牛津英語詞典》合二而一,把各種詞匯教授給該國大多數(shù)目不識丁的民眾,從雨傘到肥料,再到怎樣寫“鴿子”這個詞。
Ms. Chao also explains how NBA has now become an official word in Mandarin:
趙懿還解釋了“NBA”如何成為了普通話里的正式詞匯。
The NBA is by far the most popular sports league in China, domestic or foreign. The inclusion of this term reflects not just China's rabid passion for all things "Kebi" (Kobe Bryant), "Aifosen" (Allen Iverson), and "Lin Shuhao" (Jeremy Lin), but also the inevitable impact of the United States on China - and vice versa.
“NBA”目前是中國國內(nèi)最受歡迎的運動聯(lián)盟。該詞匯的收錄不僅反映了中國對“科比(Kobe Bryant)”“艾佛森(Allen Iverson)”和“林書豪(Jeremy Lin)”的瘋狂熱情,還表明美國對中國產(chǎn)生了重大影響,反之亦然。
Just as English has many loanwords derived from Chinese and various dialects - including brainwash, yen (as in craving), silk, and even ketchup - Chinese has absorbed many words from English, like sandwich, sofa, bye-bye, bus, and chocolate. English letters are especially prevalent in online slang because English is much easier to type than Chinese. "3Q," for example, is phonetic slang for "thank you" because the number three pronounced in Chinese (san) combined with Q sounds like "thank you."
正如英語中的很多外來詞匯來源于中文和其他方言,包括洗腦(brainwash)、渴望(yen)、絲綢(silk)、甚至番茄醬(ketchup)等,中文也從英語中吸收了很多詞匯,如三明治(sandwich)、沙發(fā)(sofa)、拜拜(bye-bye)、巴士(bus)和巧克力(chocolate)等。英文字母在網(wǎng)絡(luò)俚語中特別常見,因為英語比中文更易輸入。例如,“3Q”就成為了“thank you”的俚語表達方式,因為中文中“三”加上“Q”一起發(fā)音很像“thank you”。