One of the most difficult words to translate... - Krystian Aparta

翻译人员: zixuan chen 校对人员: Jenny Yang

Which is the hardest word to translate in this sentence?

哪一个单词是这个句子中最难翻译的

"Know" is easy to translate.

“know”是很容易翻译的

"Pep rally" doesn't have a direct analog in a lot of languages and cultures,

“pep rally”（比赛前的动员大会）在许多语言与文化中没有一个直接的对应意义

but can be approximated.

但是可以被猜出含义

But the hardest word there is actually one of the smallest: "you."

出乎意料的是这里最难的单词实际上是最短小的“you”

As simple as it seems,

尽管它看起来很简单

it's often impossible to accurately translate "you"

实际上经常很难准确翻译出“you”

without knowing a lot more about the situation where it's being said.

在不大清楚具体被应用的语境下

To start with, how familiar are you with the person you're talking to?

首先，你对你讲话的对象到底有多熟悉

Many cultures have different levels of formality.

在许多文化中都有着不同标准的礼节

A close friend,

一个亲近的朋友

someone much older or much younger,

一个年长或是年幼许多的人

a stranger,

一个陌生人

a boss.

一个上司

These all may be slightly different "you's."

这些用“you”的时候都有细微的差别

In many languages, the pronoun reflects these differences

在许多文化中，代词的不同通过

through what's known as the T–V distinction.

被称为T－V distinction（即用复数形态来表示来表示敬语）来反映这些差异

In French, for example,

比如说在法语中

you would say "tu" when talking to your friend at school,

你可能会在学校里和你的朋友聊天时用“tu”来称呼对方

but "vous" when addressing your teacher.

但是当与你的老师讲话时便会用“vous”

Even English once had something similar.

甚至在英语中也曾经有过相似的

Remember the old-timey "thou?"

还记得古风的的“thou”吗

Ironically, it was actually the informal pronoun

讽刺的是，它实际上是对你亲近的人的

for people you're close with,

不正式的人称代词

while "you" was the formal and polite version.

然而现在所用的 “you” 才是一种更加正式，礼貌的版本

That distinction was lost

这种差异不过已经

when the English decided to just be polite all the time.

在英语决定只维持礼节性之时就遗失了

But the difficulty in translating "you" doesn't end there.

不过在翻译“you”的时候的差异并没有就此终结

In languages like Hausa or Korana,

比如说在豪萨语和科拉纳语中

the "you" form depends on the listener's gender.

“you”的这个形式取决于听者的性别

In many more, it depends on whether they are one or many,

而更多的情况下，它取决于听者究竟是一个还是很多

such as with German "Du" or "ihr."

比如说德语中的“du”和ihr“

Even in English,

即使在英语中

some dialects use words like "y'all" or "youse" the same way.

某些方言以同样的方式用类似于“y‘all”或者是“youse”的词

有些复数形式，比如说法语中的‘vous’

Some plural forms, like the French "vous"

and Russian "Вы"

和俄语中的“Вы”

are also used for a single person

也都是由一个人

来表示语言接收方的至关重要性

to show that the addressee is that much more important,

much like the royal "we."

非常像高贵版的“we”

And a few languages even have a specific form

并且很多语言甚至都有特殊的形式

for addressing exactly two people,

来额外强调仅仅两个人

比如说斯洛文尼亚语的“vidva”

like Slovenian "vidva."

如果那还不够复杂的话

If that wasn't complicated enough,

关系，数量与性别都可以同时出现对选词产生影响

formality, number, and gender can all come into play at the same time.

In Spanish, "tú" is unisex informal singular,

在西班牙语中，“tu”是一个阴阳皆宜的非正式的单数词

"usted" is unisex formal singular,

“usted”是一个阴阳皆宜的正式单数词

"vosotros" is masculine informal plural,

“vosotros”是一个阳性的非正式的复数词

"vosotras" is feminine informal plural,

“vosotras”是一个阴性的非正式的复数词

and "ustedes" is the unisex formal plural.

“ustedes”是一个阴阳皆宜的正式的复数词

Phew!

唉哟

After all that,

说了那么多

it may come as a relief

让人释然的是，

that some languages often leave out the second person pronoun.

有些语言常常省略掉第二人称代词

In languages like Romanian and Portuguese,

在像罗马尼亚语和葡萄牙语中

代词可能从句子中省略掉

the pronoun can be dropped from sentences

because it's clearly implied by the way the verbs are conjugated.

因为动词结合的方式很明显地顺便就将其给指了出来

And in languages like Korean, Thai, and Chinese,

又比如在韩语，泰语及汉语中

代词可以在没有任何语法暗示的情况下给省略掉

pronouns can be dropped without any grammatical hints.

Speakers often would rather have

讲话的人常常会宁愿

the listener guess the pronoun from context

听众根据文本来猜这些代词

than use the wrong one and risk being seen as rude.

而不是使用错误的代词然后冒着被当成是粗鲁的风险

So if you're ever working as a translator

所以如果你曾有当过笔译者

and come across this sentence without any context:

然后碰见这个句子并且没有任何上下文联系

"You and you, no, not you,

“你和你，不，不是你，

you, your job is to translate 'you' for yourselves" ...

你，你的工作是为了你自己翻译“你”

Well, good luck.

那么，祝你好运咯

And to the volunteer community who will be translating this video

然后对于那些将要把这个视频翻译成多种语言的

义务翻译者们

into multiple languages:

Sorry about that!

抱歉咯