Happy Hour & Rush Hour Jerome Su

Non-native speakers tend to say “happy hours” & “rush hours” but native speakers almost always say “happy hour” & “rush hour.”

I have offered an explanation that’s easy to understand and remember:

“happy hour” is like 限時搶購/歡樂時光/優惠時段 in Chinese & “rush hour” is like 尖峰時刻.

For a department store限時搶購 can be a period of one month. Usually a karaoke or pub will offer 3 to 4 hours as歡樂時光.

As for尖峰時刻, because it’s a nightmare, psychologically we want it to get over very soon, so we say “rush hour” instead of “rush hour.”

bald eagle & vulture Jerome Su

I'm reviewing a dictionary translation project for a Chinese publisher in Beijing. I spotted some typical errors in translating animals and plants.

Here's one of them:

The bald eagle is a symbol of the U.S. 秃鹰是美国的一个象征。

Note: Bald eagle is 白頭海鵰/白头海鵰 but the Chinese translation here mistakenly rendered it as 秃鹰 (vulture.)

Rather than hairless, Bald Eagles have white feathers on their heads. The name comes from an old English word "piebald," which means “white headed."

談一詞多義與新聞英語

談一詞多義與新聞英語

中文和英文一樣，一詞多義（polysemous）的詞語很多，因為是我們的母語，大家往往習焉不察，但譯成英文就常會出現問題。

最近參加一些大學的課程會議，發現有很多科目名稱的英譯值得商榷。首先來看「新聞英文/語」的英譯。

「新聞英文/語」以往大多譯為 “Journalistic English”, “English for Journalism” 也有譯為 “Journalism English”。

除了Journalism English顯然不符英文習慣外，“Journalistic English” 及 “English for Journalism” 都是正確的英文，但指涉不同。

l   “English for Journalism” 學習用英文寫報導，通常是新聞系的課，為擔任英文記者做準備。

l   “Journalistic English” 是一種文體──「新聞體」，是語言學或修辭學的研究對象。

至於從新聞報導來學習英文（studying news in English）通常是英語系、外文系的課程。多年前師大英語系系主任問我意見，我建議譯為 “News English” 比較恰當，後來他們就把英文名稱改為 “News English”。

英國BBC出了一套新聞英語學習叢書，就叫BBC News English。