從冬奧會標識看，英語需盡善盡美

文/馬克·力文（Mark Levine） 譯/史聰一

2022年，在2008年舉辦夏季奧運會14年后，北京又將舉辦冬季奧運會。盡管許多賽事將移師聯合舉辦地河北省張家口市，但其余賽事仍將在北京北部的延慶舉行。

自2017年以來，我積極聯合一群英語母語者，并同北京外事辦公室并肩工作，實現政府賦予我們的使命：提高（事實上是“完善”）英語指示標牌的質量與正確性。接下來，我將列出一些目前已知的“中式英語”。

使用“Slide carefully”（意為“小心地滑”）或“Beware of landslide”（意為“當心山體滑坡”），來提醒人們洗手間內地板濕滑。

餐廳門口經常張貼著“No bring your own food and beverage shop”，旨在表達“本店謝絕自帶食品與飲料”。

多年來，對于上述類型的“中式英語”，以及其他的“奇異”翻譯，我均盡可能地用手機拍照留存。這些英語翻譯，有些僅是拼寫錯誤，有些很搞笑，有些甚至生澀難懂。久而久之，我已不再對此表示驚訝。每當有人打開其手機相冊，并向我展示類似標識照片時，我通常會拿出自己的手機，并打開一個名為“有趣英語”的手機相冊，向對方展示我所收集的相似標識照片。

在外事辦，我的工作很大程度上都是為了“使英語翻譯盡善盡美”，其中涉及修改一些地鐵站的英文翻譯，或是其他場所的英文翻譯。此類英語翻譯素材，均經由專人通過郵件的方式發送于我。我需要在標識制作前完成修正。實際上我的工作有時也包括與外事辦的工作人員一道，前往北京的某一地點，檢查那些已經安置好的標識牌。盡管每次都是前往完全不同的地點，但于我而言，第二次旅程最為有趣。

2019年8月27日，我加入了一個小組，其中，有五六名成員來自外事辦，還有近20名成員來自北京市人大（即負責監督政府工作的普通民眾）。我們以“使英語盡善盡美”為目標，共同前往延慶。首先，我們來到延慶奧林匹克運動場，參觀了展覽館，并看到了部分尚處于建筑階段的雪橇賽道。隨后，我們去往一處旅館，與約14到15名延慶區人民政府官員會合。人大的成員均來自一個小組委員會，主要負責與外籍人士和中國少數民族群體打交道的政府部門。而我們此次到訪的目的，便是對這里的英文翻譯質量進行評估。在這個團隊中，共有40名中國官員，以及我這個唯一的外籍人士。毋庸置疑，我對此深感驚訝……40名官員共同關注英語（翻譯）的質量，此舉表明他們對雙語標識尤為重視，正在不遺余力地加以改善。

In 2022, 14 years after the 2008 hosting of the Summer Olympics,Beijing will be hosting the 2022 Winter Olympics. While many events will be held in the co-host city of Zhangjiakou in Hebei Province, others will be held in Beijing’s Yanqing District to the north of the city.

Among my many activities, since 2017 I have been active among a group of native English-speakers working with the Beijing Foreign Affairs Office to realize the government mandate of improving－actually “perfecting”－the quality and correctness of English-language signage. A few examples of the problems include.

“Slide carefully” or “Beware of landslide” to urging caution on potentially slippery bathroom floors.

“No bring your own food and beverage shop” on the door of a restaurant meaning outside food and drink not allowed.

For years I have collected photos of these and other “strange”translations－sometimes simply misspellings, sometimes humorous and sometimes hard, if not impossible, to understand－of English-language signs on my mobile phone. I am no longer surprised when on the frequent occasions that I might open my phone’s photo file called “Interesting English”,the person I am showing it to responds by showing me the photos of similar signs on their phones.

Much of my work with the Foreign Affairs Office aimed at“making the English perfect” involves correcting a list of subway stations or other venues that is emailed to me. In this case, I make the corrections before the signs are made.Sometimes, however, my work actually involves joining the FAO staff on a trip to some location in Beijing to check the signs that have already been created and installed. While each of these visits has been to places I have not had a chance to visit previously, my second such trip is the most interesting.

馬克·力文（左一）在延慶進行實地考察

On August 27, 2019 I joined a group of about 5 or 6 people fromthe Beijing FAO and about 20 from the Beijing People’s Congress(ordinary citizens who supervise the work of the government).We are going to Yanqing District with the objective of “making the English perfect.” First, we go to the Yanqing Olympic venue,see the exhibition hall, visit the partially constructed luge track and we then proceed to a hotel where we are joined by about 14-15 officials from the Yanqing district government. The People’s Congress people are all members of a sub-committee that oversees the government departments that work with foreigners and Chinese ethnic groups. Purpose of the visit is to deal with evaluating the quality of the English. There are 40 Chinese officials and me, the only none Chinese.Needless to say, I am stunned … 40 officials just to focus on the quality of the English.It shows they pay a special emphasis on bilingual signs and are making great efforts for improvement.

延慶區區長的歡迎致辭將本次會議拉開帷幕，一系列報告也隨之展開。這些報告內容充實，并附帶十分詳盡的PPT演示與紙質資料。第一位嘉賓的演講內容是奧運場館中的標識，以及其他的宣傳成果與計劃。第二位嘉賓的演講則與延慶市區相關。

第三位嘉賓是一位官方人士，其演講主要關注八達嶺長城附近的工程，不但涉及已經完工的部分，還涉及尚處于規劃階段的部分。不僅如此，包括運動員、官方人員、記者以及粉絲在內的諸多奧運參與者們，都希望奧運場館建設能夠借助靠近八達嶺長城的“東風”，發揮自身優勢。

在三位嘉賓發言完畢后，延慶區的其他參會代表及與會的人大代表們也紛紛發表了意見與建議。

雖然未被告知需要發言，但潛意識告訴我：這便是我們此行的目的。既然我確有事情要陳述，假如沒有人邀請我，我也務必要提出自己的看法。因此，我決定做一些筆記，并在隨后像其他嘉賓一樣進行發言。

最終，還是有人問到我是否要提供一些意見與建議。

在表達對所見所聞的深刻印象時，我也同樣注意到這里顯然還有許多工作尚未完成。于是，我繼續講道：“我在中國待了很多年，因此我相信這些工作一定能在規定的時間內完成并取得成功。”接著，我也提出了一些不足之處。

The meeting begins with greetings and welcoming speeches from the leaders of the Yanqing district a series of reports follows. The reports are quite detailed with very elaborate power point presentations and printed materials.The first speaker talks about the accomplishments and plans for signage and other publicity at the Olympic venue. The second speaks about the same things related to the urban area of Yanqing.

The third official focuses attention on the work, both completed and planned for the nearby Badaling section of the Great Wall.This is in anticipation of many Olympic attendees, including athletes, officials, journalists and fans, wanting to take advantage of the Wall’s proximity to the Olympic venue.

“中國是一個能夠辦大事、解決重大問題的大國。相應地，在語言方面，漢語寫成的句子往往很長，涵蓋了太多的單詞與想法。這在中文里或許沒有問題，但在英文中，我們則力求讓一切簡單化。在英語文學作品中，我們喜歡使用諸多形容詞與副詞，但對于告知某人如何前往酒店或停車場，這些修飾詞是沒有必要的。因此，在很多情況下，我們需要的不是字面直譯，而是這些標識的英文版本。”

“為了能夠讓事情盡可能簡單，最大限度地使用國際標識與符號是十分重要的。”

“因為就英語本身而言，即使在不同的英語國家間，用法也不是完全一致的，所以我建議成立一個小型委員會，其成員應以英語為母語，包括來自美國、英國，或許還有一些來自澳大利亞的人，讓他們聚在一起協同檢查，并就最終措辭達成共識。此外，這些工作應在制作實體標識前完成。”

最后，北京市人大的一位領導人進行了發言。關于長城，他表示：“這是北京最為重要的旅游景點，所以有必要做好標識。”接著，他進一步解釋道：對于英語標識，當地政府擁有自己的一套標準。“奧運會的籌備工作進展十分順利，但仍需加快進度，同時人大也必將會為此類規定的完成保駕護航。每強調一項工作，我們就一定能夠做到。”

最后，他鼓勵組委會認真考慮我的建議。

至此，我對他們的行動充滿期待，并希望再次回到延慶時，能夠見證我們的工作成果。

延慶世園會

Following these three presentations, other representatives of Yanqing and the People’s Congress offer comments.

Although not being told to plan to speak, I realize that this is why I am here and that since I do have things to offer, I must ask to speak if I am not asked. Therefore,I decide to make a few notes as some of the other presentations are taking place.

At the end, I was asked if I had something to offer.

Conveying how impressed I am with what I have seen, I note that it is clear that their remains much to but done. I continue“I have been in China long enough to be quite confident that success will be achieved within the necessary time.” I then offer the following.

“China is a big country that does big things and takes on big problems. Correspondingly, in terms of language, Chinese sentences are often quite long with too many words and too many ideas. This might be OK in Chinese but in English, we try to keep things simple. In literature we prefer many adjectives and adverbs but those are unnecessary to tell someone how to get to the hotel or the parking area. Therefore, in many cases,what is needed is not an actual translation but an English version of the signs.”

“In line with the idea of keeping things as simple as possible, it is important to make maximum use of international signs and symbols.”

“Because English is different even between different Englishspeaking countries, I recommend a small committee of native speakers, including a few from US and the UK and potentially from Australia, come together to check and come to a consensus on the wording. This should be done before the actual signs are produced.”

A leader from Beijing People’s Congress is the final speaker.In relation to the Great Wall he says it “is the most important tourist site in Beijing so it is necessary to do the signs well.” He further explains that there are local government standards for English signs. “The preparations for the Olympics are going well but it needs to speed up and the People’s Congress must help in the work to meet those regulations. When we emphasize the work, we can do it.”

He concludes by encouraging the Organizing Committee to take my advice and suggestions into careful consideration.

I am looking forward to seeing what they come up with and,later, returning to Yanqing to see the product of our work.