熱心鼓吹透過英文原文閱聽來提升英文能力的張老師 ( Ya Hui Chang 在 英文原文閱聽時間_Time for Real English Reading/Listening.) 提出 “Anticipation vs. Expectation?
哪一個是輸不起，不准讓我失望的 “期待” ? 哪一個英文字是台灣國高中生比較熟悉的字? 什麼時候學另一個字? (另一種態度?)”
有臉友回應：“查閱的字典好像兩個字的定義差別不大，幾乎可以說是同義字。字典也沒有指出哪一個字有比較強烈的憧憬，所以事不如己的話會很失落....”
張老師舉了 Cambridge English Dictionary 的解釋：(節錄)
anticipate -to imagine or expect that something will happen:
We don't anticipate any trouble.
expect -to think or believe something will happen, or someone will arrive:
We are expecting a lot of applicants for the job.
臉友還是回應：沒有「不准讓我失望的 “期待”」這個意味在呀？
我覺得 Macmillan English Dictionary 對 anticipate 與 expect 的解釋比較清楚，如果透過合適的中譯，就更能區別兩者了：
anticipate - to think that something will probably happen
The organizers hadn’t anticipated the huge interest there was in the event. (主辦單位没預料/預期那麼多人對這活動那麼感興趣。)
anticipate (someone/something) doing something:
We don’t anticipate this causing any difficulties. (我們没預料到這會造成困難。)
因此，anticipate 相當於「預料/預期」。
expect - to think that something will happen
We’re expecting good weather at the weekend.(我們期待/期望周末有個好天氣。)
expect someone/something to do something:
I didn’t really expect you to understand. (我倒不期望你能了解。)
We were expecting the letter to arrive by now. (我們期待那封信現在能送到。)
expect 相當於「期望/期許/期待」。
以往有人排斥透過翻譯學英文，其實得體的翻譯可以幫助我們深入了解中文與英文。(Jerome Su, June 9, 19; Revised June 10, 19)