中国梦应该译为 Zhongguo Meng

　　编者按：裴德思的观点很有道理：外国人一看见 Chinese Dream 首先想到的是 America Dream，以为中国梦只是美国梦的简单翻版，这显然传递了错误的信息。当然，Zhongguo Meng 这样彻底的音译会让人很不习惯，包括编者我自己，虽然我长期呼吁译龙为 Loong。不明白日本人是怎么转过弯来的，所有本民族的东西一律音译。看来中国文化在世界上形成独特的面貌还有很多很长的路需要走，还有很多观念和习惯需要彻底改变。（黄佶，2016年8月28日）

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裴德思看 Zhongguo Meng

　　为什么中国梦的翻译是“Zhongguo Meng”，而不是“Chinese Dream”？

　　历史是这样告诉我们的：（大多数）强大的国家对其他国家的影响也包括语言在内。所以，不要去翻译汉语的关键术语！功夫、武术、圣人、君子以及中国梦都是如此。为什么？因为一旦将汉语概念翻译成英语，就失掉了汉语的思维方式。

　　除非欧洲的课堂里也在教授中国梦，中国文化才真的得到解放。否则，西方读者看到“Chinese Dream”这两个词的时候，脑海里总是有美国梦做参考。斯洛文尼亚哲学家斯拉沃热·齐泽克曾经说过：“千万不要做不属于自己的梦。”

　　中国梦是国家的梦还是许许多多个人的梦？我觉得中国梦只能是国家的梦。毕竟你不能去英国实现你的中国梦，对么？中国经历过许多朝代变更和帝王更替，奉行过儒家、佛家、道家、共产主义思想，中国带领四亿人甩掉了贫困，这是欧洲不曾发生过的壮举，所以，是的，中国是在追逐一个梦——一个强大而崭新的梦。中国人希望中国文明在世界重新崛起。虽然现在中国还没有什么值得一提的独特气质，但这只是我的看法。

　　中国梦在未来能够代替美国梦么？中国用各种方法模仿美国，这是显而易见的。不过世界历史完全是西方国家书写的历史，这是无法逆转的，因为，这又和语言有关。

　　盲目学英语的中国学生往往容易忘记英语是欧洲社会文化的产物，不是中国社会文化下的产物。如果中国真的希望施展软实力，那么只有把中国独有的汉语词推上台面，否则不论什么样的中西方对话，最终只能成为西方世界的独白。

　　在这方面，日本倒是把中国甩得远远的，因为日本已经输出了无数外来词，比如 samurai（武士）、pushido（武士道）、shogun（幕府将军）、kamikaze（神风敢死队）、karate（空手道）、sumo（相扑）和 Zen（禅）。例子还能再举下去，把这些当作文化财产权看吧。总有一天，中国必须在文化上扩张。

　　中国梦和美国梦的最大区别在哪里？中国的收入水平依然太低，所以大多数中国打工者还是愿意像小娃娃一样亲近母亲（中国共产党）。很多人觉得很无奈，这种情况限制了中国人的创造力，限制了他们实现自我的干劲。李克强总理希望能将中国人的平均收入翻倍，让每个中国人能消费得起更多商品和服务，追求自己的爱好，树立自己的人生目标，这将大大改善中国社会。

　　我们怎么知道中国梦何时能够实现？中国梦怎么解释不重要，更重要的是中国梦的普遍性。你和我，我们所有人都怀揣梦想，不是么？问题在于：你能不能在中国实现你的梦想，而在别的地方就不行？以及，有多少人也是这么想的？

（本文作者裴德思是德国哲学家和文化评论人，北京大学哲学博士。）

http://www.t2th.cn/news/show-111754.html

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Chinese dream may get lost in translation

By Thorsten Pattberg, Global Times, Published: 2013-7

Western commentators love to translate zhongguo meng as "Chinese dream," thereby patronizing China's socio-cultural originality and marketing it as a franchise of the "American Dream." But are the two civilizations really sleeping on the same pillow?

What is that - a "China Dream" - if not first a Western translation?

Few people in China, not even President Xi Jinping, actually said "dream." That's because they speak Chinese in China.

The distinction between what Western media thinks China dreams and what China is actually saying is of great significance to the future of global language. In fact, China should compete for its terminologies like it competes for everything else.

Everyone has heard about the brand "American Dream" which - if US policymakers had their way - is now being replicated by the CPC to better the lives of the people.

As if China could not draw up designs on its own; as if a "Chinese dream" had to have its epistemological roots in the West, only to be shipped under trademark to Asia, a ship full of freedom, equality, Hollywood, McDonalds, and other Western technicalities.

The zhongguo meng is about achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, an element that is totally missing in the "American Dream."

Chinese people are expected to pay lip service to oneness (tianren heyi) and great harmony (datong): They work hard, study vigorously, and try to climb out of poverty.

The meng is what the Chinese dream, and let us not forget that China has memories of dynasties and emperors, of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, and that it is a spiritual wenming, a category beyond the narrow European definitions of nation, state, culture and civilization.

Little wonder then that meng is attached to centuries of a very different quality and color than that of the US.

Confucian values and priorities differ from Puritan ones. East Asia has a unique tradition of shengren and junzi (archetypes of wisdom as unique as, say, philosophers and saints), and Chinese value xiao (filial piety), xue (the love for learning), li (ritual) and thousands of other non-European concepts.

We would all see Chinese creativeness crystal-clearly if translation were put on hold, if only for a few years.

Translation is a human strategy - older than the Stone Age - to annihilate one's opponent beyond the mere physical removal of his body from the world.

That's why, by the way, linguists speak about the "death" of cultures. It was never meant to be just a metaphor.

Some scholars have argued with me that English is entirely sufficient to describe China.

After all, it's just a silly "dream," right? That is not only showing disregard for new knowledge; it is also a cultural death threat against Asia.

The West only sees China through often biblical and philosophical European translations, and because all European vocabularies look familiar to Westerners, it has often been concluded, prematurely, that China was some place of zero originality. As if the Chinese people for the last 3,000 years didn't invent a thing.

It is often claimed that before the arrival of the Europeans, the Chinese had no sense of intellectual property rights. This "cultural weakness" is observable - every second in China as some Chinese compatriot gives away his name to some foreign company: "You can call me Mike, ok?"

Of course, that's all history and we cannot change the past. But China must tighten security to its genius and should accommodate the global future.

If meng were to become a key Chinese terminology of the 21st century, why translate it into American? Does this look Western to you: zhongguo meng? No? That's because it isn't.

The author is a research fellow at The Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies at Peking University. pattberg@pku.edu.cn

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/793303.shtml

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