One of the most perplexing language issues at the Olympic games is how to translate the all-purpose Chinese cheer, “加油!” (jiayou!), into English (or any other language).
本屆奧運(yùn)會中，一個(gè)比較考驗(yàn)人的語言問題就是，怎么來翻譯中國人鼓舞斗志的“百搭”詞語“加油”。
加 means to “add.” 油 means “oil” or “fuel.” (And technically gas stations are often called 加油站, or jiayou stops). But it’s almost never chanted in the context of a gas station. Instead, you’ll hear it often chanted at these Olympic games when the audience wants the competitors to dig deep and put in an extra effort.
“加”的意思是“添加”，“油”的意思是“油”、“燃料”，中國人給汽車加汽油的地方就叫做“加油站”。但這個(gè)詞并不用在加油站里，你在奧運(yùn)賽場上倒是到處能聽到觀眾用這個(gè)詞給選手助威。
But around the Web you can find a variety of struggles as the Chinese try to translate this all-purpose cheer into English. (On some chat boards it even makes it into the category of most frequently asked translations.)
有趣的是，在互聯(lián)網(wǎng)上你能看到中國人為了把“加油”這個(gè)詞翻譯成英文所作出的各種努力。有的聊天論壇上，它們甚至被列為高頻問題。
At the nail-biting China-Spain basketball game on Tuesday, thousands of Chinese fans performed the wave, which they call the “Mexican wave.” (Are Mexicans known for doing the wave? They are in China, and apparently in Britain and among scientists too). The fans also cheered “加油! 加油!” In that context the chant would seem best colloquially translated as “Go team! Go!” Except that 加油! can be used in contexts where there is no team to do the going, like a marathon or judo match.
周二中國男籃對戰(zhàn)西班牙隊(duì)，比賽十分緊張，上千名中國球迷在看臺上表演他們口中的“墨西哥人浪”（墨西哥人做這種人浪嗎？貌似中國人、英國人還有科學(xué)家們更喜歡做這個(gè)。）球迷們大喊“加油！加油！”這種場合下，加油被翻譯為“Go team! Go!”比較貼切。當(dāng)然，“加油”也被用在一些沒有團(tuán)隊(duì)的賽事中，比如馬拉松、柔道。
So at the game, the big Jumbotron screen flashed “Let’s go!” in green when it had 加油! That seems like a good, all-purpose translation.
比賽中，巨大的電子版上寫出綠色的“Let's go!”，這是一個(gè)非常貼切又好用的翻譯。
But at an Indian restaurant in China (with a buffet!), the staff handed out flags that said “加油”, where it was translated at “Come on!” One translation blog offers “come on” (as well as “go go go” and “hop on”). But Come on! doesn’t have the same sportsy chanting rhythm to it.
不過我去過中國的一家印度菜館里，工作人員發(fā)給我們印有“加油”字樣的小旗子上，這個(gè)詞卻被翻譯成為了“Come on!”有一個(gè)翻譯博客把“Come on”、“go go go”、“hop on”都寫作了“加油”的譯法，但是“Come on!”這個(gè)詞顯然沒有很好的運(yùn)動節(jié)奏感。
Another blog offers to translate it into different languages like Spanish (Vamos!) and Korean (파이팅! which apparently is rough transliteration of the English world “fighting” — bringing back fond memories of the last two World Cups, where “Korea Team Fighting!” was a popular, and much remarked-upon refrain).
另外一個(gè)博客還把“加油”翻譯成了別國語言，比如西班牙語“Vamos!”、朝鮮語“파이팅! ”。這句朝鮮語是從英文單詞“fighting”直接音譯過來的。說起這個(gè)詞，就讓人不由想到上上屆日韓世界杯上隨處可見的流行語“Korea Team Fighting!”。
But the tricky thing is that 加油 is not just used in sports contexts. It’s also a way to encourage people to persevere through other sorts of difficulty. For example, after the Sichuan earthquake in May, 中國加油 (zhongguo jiayou, or China jiayou) and 汶川加油 (Wenchuan jiayou, Wenchuan was one of the hardest hit areas) became rallying cries in China. It’s a way of expressing sympathy, support and solidarity that “Let’s go” doesn’t quite capture.
不過比較有趣的是“加油”這個(gè)詞并不只用在體育賽事上。人們也用這個(gè)詞來鼓勵別人堅(jiān)持下去戰(zhàn)勝困難。比如，五月的四川大地震中，“中國加油”、“汶川加油”成為流行全中國的詞匯。這時(shí)，“加油”所表達(dá)的同情、支持和團(tuán)結(jié)一致的情態(tài)則是“Let's go”所不能完好展現(xiàn)的。
But leaving the China-Spain basketball game, I saw a bunch of middle-aged Chinese men in white T-shirts that said 加油中國 in red lettering. They must have used an automatic translator for the English (perhaps Google’s), because it read: “Refueling China!”
越過中西籃球比賽不說，我看到很多中年中國男子身穿著印有紅色“加油中國”字樣的T恤。不過他們可能用的是某種翻譯機(jī)器（沒準(zhǔn)是Google翻譯），因?yàn)樯厦鎸懙氖牵骸癛efueling China!”。
本屆奧運(yùn)會中，一個(gè)比較考驗(yàn)人的語言問題就是，怎么來翻譯中國人鼓舞斗志的“百搭”詞語“加油”。
加 means to “add.” 油 means “oil” or “fuel.” (And technically gas stations are often called 加油站, or jiayou stops). But it’s almost never chanted in the context of a gas station. Instead, you’ll hear it often chanted at these Olympic games when the audience wants the competitors to dig deep and put in an extra effort.
“加”的意思是“添加”，“油”的意思是“油”、“燃料”，中國人給汽車加汽油的地方就叫做“加油站”。但這個(gè)詞并不用在加油站里，你在奧運(yùn)賽場上倒是到處能聽到觀眾用這個(gè)詞給選手助威。
But around the Web you can find a variety of struggles as the Chinese try to translate this all-purpose cheer into English. (On some chat boards it even makes it into the category of most frequently asked translations.)
有趣的是，在互聯(lián)網(wǎng)上你能看到中國人為了把“加油”這個(gè)詞翻譯成英文所作出的各種努力。有的聊天論壇上，它們甚至被列為高頻問題。
At the nail-biting China-Spain basketball game on Tuesday, thousands of Chinese fans performed the wave, which they call the “Mexican wave.” (Are Mexicans known for doing the wave? They are in China, and apparently in Britain and among scientists too). The fans also cheered “加油! 加油!” In that context the chant would seem best colloquially translated as “Go team! Go!” Except that 加油! can be used in contexts where there is no team to do the going, like a marathon or judo match.
周二中國男籃對戰(zhàn)西班牙隊(duì)，比賽十分緊張，上千名中國球迷在看臺上表演他們口中的“墨西哥人浪”（墨西哥人做這種人浪嗎？貌似中國人、英國人還有科學(xué)家們更喜歡做這個(gè)。）球迷們大喊“加油！加油！”這種場合下，加油被翻譯為“Go team! Go!”比較貼切。當(dāng)然，“加油”也被用在一些沒有團(tuán)隊(duì)的賽事中，比如馬拉松、柔道。
So at the game, the big Jumbotron screen flashed “Let’s go!” in green when it had 加油! That seems like a good, all-purpose translation.
比賽中，巨大的電子版上寫出綠色的“Let's go!”，這是一個(gè)非常貼切又好用的翻譯。
But at an Indian restaurant in China (with a buffet!), the staff handed out flags that said “加油”, where it was translated at “Come on!” One translation blog offers “come on” (as well as “go go go” and “hop on”). But Come on! doesn’t have the same sportsy chanting rhythm to it.
不過我去過中國的一家印度菜館里，工作人員發(fā)給我們印有“加油”字樣的小旗子上，這個(gè)詞卻被翻譯成為了“Come on!”有一個(gè)翻譯博客把“Come on”、“go go go”、“hop on”都寫作了“加油”的譯法，但是“Come on!”這個(gè)詞顯然沒有很好的運(yùn)動節(jié)奏感。
Another blog offers to translate it into different languages like Spanish (Vamos!) and Korean (파이팅! which apparently is rough transliteration of the English world “fighting” — bringing back fond memories of the last two World Cups, where “Korea Team Fighting!” was a popular, and much remarked-upon refrain).
另外一個(gè)博客還把“加油”翻譯成了別國語言，比如西班牙語“Vamos!”、朝鮮語“파이팅! ”。這句朝鮮語是從英文單詞“fighting”直接音譯過來的。說起這個(gè)詞，就讓人不由想到上上屆日韓世界杯上隨處可見的流行語“Korea Team Fighting!”。
But the tricky thing is that 加油 is not just used in sports contexts. It’s also a way to encourage people to persevere through other sorts of difficulty. For example, after the Sichuan earthquake in May, 中國加油 (zhongguo jiayou, or China jiayou) and 汶川加油 (Wenchuan jiayou, Wenchuan was one of the hardest hit areas) became rallying cries in China. It’s a way of expressing sympathy, support and solidarity that “Let’s go” doesn’t quite capture.
不過比較有趣的是“加油”這個(gè)詞并不只用在體育賽事上。人們也用這個(gè)詞來鼓勵別人堅(jiān)持下去戰(zhàn)勝困難。比如，五月的四川大地震中，“中國加油”、“汶川加油”成為流行全中國的詞匯。這時(shí)，“加油”所表達(dá)的同情、支持和團(tuán)結(jié)一致的情態(tài)則是“Let's go”所不能完好展現(xiàn)的。
But leaving the China-Spain basketball game, I saw a bunch of middle-aged Chinese men in white T-shirts that said 加油中國 in red lettering. They must have used an automatic translator for the English (perhaps Google’s), because it read: “Refueling China!”
越過中西籃球比賽不說，我看到很多中年中國男子身穿著印有紅色“加油中國”字樣的T恤。不過他們可能用的是某種翻譯機(jī)器（沒準(zhǔn)是Google翻譯），因?yàn)樯厦鎸懙氖牵骸癛efueling China!”。