英文不是我們的母語,用英文表達時,其實都是在從事中英雙語互換的工作,難免受到中文的影響。許多耳熟能詳的說法,有時候是正確的,如:Pure gold fears no fire. (真金不怕火) ; 但有時是以訛傳訛,大家見怪不怪。如:「冬瓜茶」、「杏仁豆腐」可以譯為 *winter melon tea, *almond tofu 嗎?「戲劇選讀」課是 *Selected Readings of Drama 嗎?〈蘇老師的英語天地夏季班〉周六開講 7/13 (Sat.) 14:00-16:00; 台北市新生南路3段88號2樓之5書林書店 Tel: 02-23658617; 歡迎大家一起來探討這類中譯英以及提升寫作的問題。以下為昨天臉友的提問。
Q: Dear Mr. Su, Sorry to bother you. Would you please help me check this English in our final musical correct or not?
# Where are we? Where are we? Where are we?
We are on a small island named Taiwan in Asia on the Pacific Ocean on Earth in the solar system of the Milky Way Galaxy in the universe.
A: 把原來的歌詞按順序改成較短兩句,然後用 Google 來檢視:
*We are on a small island named Taiwan in Asia on the Pacific Ocean. *We are on Earth in the solar system of the Milky Way Galaxy in the universe.
"We are on a small island called" 約有 77,800 項結果 (Google July 10, 19)
"We are on a small island named" 約有 1 項結果
"in Asia on the Pacific Ocean" 約有 0 項結果
"in the Pacific Ocean in Asia" 約有 3 項結果
找不到 "on Earth in the solar system of " 的結果。
"on the Earth in the Solar System within" 約有 6 項結果
"in the Solar System within the Milky Way Galaxy" 約有 9,810 項結果
根據以上搜尋結果,可修改為:
We are on a small island called Taiwan in the Pacific Ocean in Asia. We are on the Earth in the Solar System within the Milky Way Galaxy in the Universe. (Jerome Su, July 10, 19)