暴笑篇: “梁”家婦女 Quanta Women

自從廣達電腦公司的副董事長梁次震先生在台北的信義計劃區幫太太及三位千金蓋了一座精品購物中心 (Bellavita) 以後, 這四位梁姓婦女在一夕之間變成媒體的焦點。 她們四位自然而然的成為模仿節目喜愛的題材。 日前, “全國最大黨” 表演了一段有關她們四位的滑稽短劇,非常好笑!! 上面這則新聞就可以看到四位本尊。

Many have said that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. But in the world of television and parody, this may not be the case. A recent opening of an high-end mall in the most exclusive neighborhood of Taipei brought to light a family of wealthy women. The head of the family, Liang Ci Zhen, who is the Vice Chairman of Quanta Computer, bought the land and built a spacious mall from scratch simply because his daughters had the idea of opening an European-style cafe. Unfortunately, they were unable to find a place big enough to fulfill their dream, so they asked their father for help. The result was Bellavita (http://www.bellavita.com.tw/) where many exclusive European brands situate their flagship stores. Most of the Taiwan public were not aware of these women until the opening of Bellavita. With a bit of envy, the press didn't have anything bad to say about the mother and her three daughters. At least they work when they didn't have to. With a proud husband and father looking on at the Bellavita grand opening, the four women became instant media sensation.

With press came notoriety. People are curious about who they are, what they wear, and how they live. But they are really rich, so they can afford to show to the public only the parts they want to show. The rest remains private. Because these people are indeed rich and they dress and look different from the norm, they are the obvious targets of parody shows in Taiwan. The show "Country's Largest (political) Party", an actor and three actresses imitated the four Liang women. It's very funny. Apparently, the Hermes Birkin bags that these actors were carrying were made from paper! There are 2 parts to the Liang parody:

PART 1


PART 2

孤狗 = Google

我今天才知道原來 Google 的中文俗稱是孤狗。 太有趣了,順便跟大家分享一下中英及英中翻譯所衍伸出的故事。 我就曾經看過一本以翻譯失誤為主題的書。 書名是 “Are you kidding?你是凱蒂嗎?”。 作者是呂安琪。 下面這故事是我從BBH的雯雯媽媽家中的日記裏看到的。懂中英文的人一定能瞭解這笑話:

老外學中文的第一堂課就昏倒! 據舊華社報導，一位老外在中國準備長期居留，於是，他報名了專給老外準備的中文課程。 第一堂課,中文老師教了兩個英文單字的中文解釋--Wife 和 Husband.

老師的要求是必須記住以下解釋：

Wife=
1.妻子，
2.老婆，
3.太太，
4.夫人，
5.老伴，
6.愛人，
7.內人，
8.媳婦，
9.那口子，
10.拙荊，
11.賢內助，
12.對象，
13.孩他媽，
14.孩他娘，
15.內子，
16.婆娘，
17.糟糠，
18.娃他娘，
19.崽他娘，
20.山妻，
21.賤內，
22.賤荊，
23.女人，
24.馬子，
25.主婦，
26.女主人，
27.財政部長，
28.紀檢委，
29.渾人，
30.娘子，!
31.屋裏的，
32.另一半，
33.女當家，
34.渾家，
35.髮妻，
36.堂客，
37.婆姨，
38.領導，
39.燒火婆，
40.黃臉婆

Husband=
1.丈夫
2.愛人
3.那口子
4.當家的
5.掌櫃的
6.不正經的
7.潑皮
8.不爭氣的
9.沒出息的
10.該死的
11.死鬼
12.死人
13.傻子
14.臭不要臉的
15.孩子他爹
16.孩子他親爹
17.哎
18.老公
19.豬
20.親愛的
21.先生
22.官人
23.相公
24.大人
25.挨千刀的
26.老伴
27.男客

I just found out today that Google's Chinese nickname is 孤狗 (goo-go) and its literal translation is "Lonely Dog". Being bilingual, the process of translating English words into Chinese and vice versa always fascinated me. BBH's "Kirsten & Charlene's Attic" wrote in her Diary that there are 40 ways to say WIFE in Chinese and 28 ways to say HUSBAND in Chinese. Pretty amazing if you stop to think about it.

Many years ago, I came across a book on Chinese-English translation faux pas. The book, "Are you Kidding? 你是凱蒂嗎?”, written by Anchi Lue, showed many examples of Chinese translations of English gone wrong. It's a fun read if you are fluent in both English and Chinese.