On October 22, New York Times published an article on how Chinese people addressing their leaders, which began with the following words: 「As people try to figure out what China will bring the world, they may want to pay attention to what Chinese are calling Xi Jinping, their president, Communist Party leader and military chief. 」
10月22日,紐約時報刊登了一篇介紹中國人怎麼稱呼領導人的文章,開頭就說,「想弄清中國到底能給世界帶來什麼的人們,也許需要注意一下中國人如何稱呼他們的國家主席、黨領導人和軍事統帥:習大大」。
The article explains that Xi Dada means literally Xi Bigbig. The phrase translates as Uncle Xi, or even Daddy Xi, and it is what ordinary people and the state news media are calling him. He is said to like it. While it』s not entirely clear where this began, say 「Xi Dada」 on the street and everyone knows whom you are talking about。
文章解釋說,Xi Dada字面意思是Xi Bigbig, 這個詞的意思可以是習伯伯 (Uncle Xi),甚至可以是習爸爸 (Daddy Xi)。文章說,現在從普通老百姓到媒體都這麼叫他,而且據說習本人也很喜歡這個稱呼。雖然這個稱呼的起源不得而知,但在街上提起這個詞,每個人都知道你在說什麼。
Just as there are many loan words in Chinese, it is nothing new that Chinese words are introduced into English. Different languages will communicate with and influence each other inevitably in the process of cross-cultural communication. In English there are a large number of words related to Chinese ancient culture, mainly food culture. These words have become part of the daily lives of ordinary people, showing the brilliant and influential ancient Chinese culture, of which the most famous is 「kung fu」 and 「tofu」. These two words are known by almost everyone in Europe and may be the most famous symbol of China in the world in addition to Bruce Lee and Confucius (though some people say the word 「tofu」originates from Japanese)。
正像中文裡有很多英文借詞,中文詞進入英語也不是什麼新現象,在跨文化交流的過程中,不同語言之間不可避免地會產生交流和影響。英語里有一大批和中國古代文化有關的詞 (其中大多數和吃有關),如今早已進入了普通人的日常生活,顯示了中國文化曾經的輝煌和影響力。最著名的是kung fu (功夫)和tofu (豆腐),這兩個詞在歐美幾乎人盡皆知,可能是除了李小龍和孔夫子以外在世界上最出名的中國符號(不過也有人說tofu其實來源於日語)。
In recent years, Chinese words appearing on English-language media are often related to political news as well as China』s Internet culture. A little bit spoof website urbandictionary.com. is dedicated to introducing English slang. Everyone can submit a new word, so there were many Chinese Internet buzzwords on it, such as tuhao, and no zuo no die。
而這幾年,出現在英文媒體上的中文詞大多和政治新聞以及中國的網路文化有關。一個稍稍有點惡搞意味的網站urbandictionary.com. 這個網站專門介紹英文俚語,任何人都可以提交新詞,因此出現了許多中文網路流行詞,比如tuhao(土豪)和no zuo no die。
Back in early 2013, Chinese buzzword dama had already appeared on Wall Street Journal, showing that the openness of English language enables more and more Chinese words to enter into English culture. At the same time, English words from Chinese pinyin also appear frequently in overseas media reports, such as guanxi, which is used to portray the unique complex network of relationships in Chinese society. Later, the word was even included in the textbook Rules and Networks used by business schools of western countries。
早在2013年初,中文熱詞「大媽」(dama) 就登上了《華爾街日報》,這說明英語的開放性使越來越多的中文走入英語文化中。此外,「土豪」(tuhao)一詞也被收入《牛津英語詞典》中。同時,取自漢語拼音的英語單詞近年也頻頻在海外媒體的報道中露面。例如特用來描繪中國社會獨有的複雜關係網的「guanxi」。後來,此詞甚至被收錄進了英美國家的商學院[微博]教材《Rules and Networks》中。
The examples go on and on. Single men in China was translated into 「guanggun」 in The Economist. New Yorker called Chinese radical youngsters 「fenqing」 directly. 「Geili」 is the title of an article published on November 18, 2010 in the Point of View column of New York Times. If you feel strange with your poor limited English vocabulary, just read in pinyin!
這樣的例子還有很多,英國《經濟學人》把中國未婚男士譯成「guanggun」(光棍),《紐約客》把中國激進年輕人譯為「fenqing」(憤青)。「Geili」,這是紐約時報網站觀點專欄2010年11月18日發表的一篇文章的題目。如果你有限的英語辭彙里對它感到陌生,不如試一下用漢語拼音來念。