WELCOME TO BEIJING--在雅典是否用詞不當？

在奧運閉幕式上，由張藝某導演的中國8分鐘給人新鮮感。然而，當打出「WELCOME
TO BEIJING」橫幅時，我怎麼感覺怎麼不對味兒。「WELCOME TO BEIJING」是「歡
迎來到北京」，即「WELCOME ARRIVED BEIJING」的意思。只有在某人已經到了的時
候才用的。中文裡「歡迎到北京」也包含「歡迎去北京」的意思。但如果想用英語
表達「歡迎去北京」，我覺得 應該用「SEE YOU IN BEIJING」更恰當。

學習語言，最忌諱的是把兩個單詞直接划等號。兩個單詞，在某些上下文中可以划
等號，但有的時候不能划等號。正如概念的內涵和外延一樣，不會完全等同。張藝
某可能認為「歡迎」=WELCOME，「去」=TO，所以，「歡迎去北京」就是「WELCOME
TO BEIJING」。也許我本人才疏學淺，請教專家或母語為英語的人說說看。

Your question is interesting and smart too. But you are wrong. When coming to a huge international gathering event such as the Olympic, nothing is better than WELCOME To.

The word "WELCOME", as we know, can be a noun or verb. But the WELCOME in the context of "WELCOME TO ..." is neither of them. Instead, "WELCOME TO ...." as a whole is an interjection, just as "WHAT A DAY !" or "WHAT A WOMAN !". So it should be written as "WELCOME TO BEIJING !".

"WELCOME TO BEIJING" is sending a message carrying a warm or even passionate invitation to all over the world. "SEE YOU IN BEIJING" just can't achieve that.

So why not "WELCOME TO BEIJING !" ???

agree~~~

Thank you Downs! The word seemed so simple and straightforward to me that I never bothered to think about it a second time. Now I know what kind of a mistake I was making.

I checked with the Webster's unabridged only to find the following:

wel'come, interj. you are welcome: an expression of cordial greetings.

Then I tried to put it in a context and expand it a little bit. I found I could get it better (though it is a clumsy way to do things

Welcome
Welcome back
Welcome to Beijing: Our cordial greetings for all who may come to visit us in Beijing.

See you
See you there
See you in Beijing: it could be used as a gesture for invitation or as a reminder for a trip of agreed upon and expected.

[:461:]

good!

I looked the word up in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.  Here is what I found:

1. Welcome interj [(to)] (an expression of greeting to a guest or someone who has just arrived or returned): Welcome to our home!|Welcome home|back! (=when returning from another place)|Wecome to England!---Think one more time, this does not apply to the situation in Athens?  First, you need to physically stand in the place where you "WELCOME SOMEONE TO".  Second, it does not have any invitation meanings.

2. Welcome v 1. to greet (someone arriving in a new place) esp. with friendliness: The Queen welcomed the President as he got off the plane. 2. to be glad to accept; wish to have: I'd welcome any suggestions.

3 Welcome adj. 1. gladly accepted; received with pleasure: a welcome suggestion|All suggestions will be welcome.| You are always welcome at our house. {Note: I guess Mr Zhang could also use "YOU ARE VERY WELCOME IN BEIJING" instead of "WELCOME TO BEIJING" which means something else.} 2. Freely allowed (to have or do) something, esp, when this is something that no one else wants: You're welcome to try, but you won't succeed.  3. You're welcome (="my pleasure" in US and "That is alright" in Australia.).

4. Welcome n. 1. a greeting given to someone when they arrive: They gave us a warm welcome. 2. outstay/overstay one's welcome: to stay too long as a guest.

So do you still think using "WELCOME TO BEIJING" in Athens is appropriate?  Does the phrase fit any of the above usage?  Now I would say "You are welcome to continue the discussion with me."

躺在院子里草席上，仰觀那浩瀚銀河，閃閃繁星，聆聽那水塘里此起彼伏的蛙聲。

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Very nice, thank you.

在雅典說

Beijing is expecting you in 2008

之類的客套話更好些。

又：

Welcome to 是 You are welcome to 的簡略式。Welcome 在這裡應是動詞。

在雅典說

Beijing is expecting you in 2008

之類的客套話更好些。

Solute!

有些詞不用太這麼細節化吧~這麼說是比較簡單易懂的~~SEE YOU IN BEIJING當然也是可以的~~我看都沒有語病吧~而且外國人也都能聽懂~但是在北京見是不是有點要旅行在某個地方會合的意思？

sguan, you are right.

welcome to beijing was inappropriate at that monment.

sguan, could it be?
welcome to (going to)  Beijing, when you are not in Beijing,
welcome to (coming to) Beijing, when you are in Beijing.
i just guess, hehe.

I have checked the Cambridge Online dictionary (http://dictionary.cambridge.org/). It showed the same meaning as sguan's notes from LongMan.

welcome   [Show phonetics]
exclamation
said as a greeting to someone arriving at a place:
Welcome - please come in.
Welcome home/back - we've missed you!
Welcome to Cambridge.

chemgirl, 謝謝你的回帖。實際上，任何一種較發達的語言，它的容納性都很好。譬
如漢語，小日本說「你的，良心的大大的壞了」。中國人也能明白。同樣，張藝謀
在雅典打出「Welcome to Beijing」，大部分外國人恐怕也能明白。然而，這就不
是很好的英語。學外語我想應該盡量尊重人家的用法習慣。

再談你的「welcome to = welcome to (going to)」。 我考慮，一句話如果簡略了
就變成了另一種意思，或者可以被理解成別的意思。那最好不要簡略。譬如，上海
有個吊車廠，簡稱「上吊」。我說「某人去上吊了」。你能明白我說的是什麼意思
么？另外，「welcome to」後面跟動名詞。這符合不符合英語的語言習慣也值得探
討。

在雅典使用 Welcome to Beijing 是對的、恰當的。

當然，說 See you in Beijing、Beijing is expecting you 也對。但這兩個說法與 Welcome to Beijing 比較起來有一個主要差別：前兩者提到北京時，是把北京當作第三地說的。而 Welcome to Beijing 是把北京當作「這裡」說的。Welcome to 的說法，確實含有「站在本地說話」的意味。

那麼，雅典不是北京，把北京當作「這裡」來提，為什麼對呢？

在雅典閉幕式上，中國人上演了節目。既是下一屆東道主中國人演的，那麼這閉幕的節目，同時就又是「開場鑼鼓」了。現場的觀眾身在雅典，電視機前的觀眾身在世界各地。眾人隨著節目的內容，心思都聚到了中國身上。這時，中國人向他們道一聲「歡迎來到北京！(Welcome to Beijing)」當說合情合理。

張藝謀也許會點英語，也許不會英語。這不影響他當他的著名導演。但在這樣一個重大的場合，Welcome to Beijing 這樣的一條英語口號，小是小了點，但決不會是張藝謀寫定的。應該有高人在後面。

噢，還有這麼高深的說法。在下領教了。不過我還是認為把人家的地盤當作自己的，
有點不妥。另外，這畢竟是雅典的閉幕式，並非北京的開幕式。我本人也沒有任何
到了北京的感覺。我想，雅典給中國8分鐘，有電視劇後面的「下集預告」的意思。
如果你經常收看國外的電視節目，你會發現人家是怎麼說的。最普通的有「See you
next time; Join us at 8:00 central on NBC...」。如果張先生打出「2008 BEIJING」，
恐怕比這也強。

i brought this issue to my office and asked coworkers( well educated americans, white, male or female) for their favor. they all picked "See you in Beijing". they told me they would be uncomfortable saying "Welcome to Beijing".

they did say 張藝謀在雅典,在這樣一個重大的場合道一聲「歡迎來到北京！(Welcome to Beijing)」應該有special consideration even though they didn't feel it this way.

i agree with sguan. and really, maybe "2008 Beijing" is better than "Welcome to Beijing". i think this is a serious thing to us. i hope Mr.Zhang can find a resonable explain to us.

在９月２８日雅典舉行的第十二屆殘奧會閉幕式中，中國殘疾人藝術團的聾啞姑娘姜馨田用手語「說」：「感謝雅典，相聚北京！」