| In China,
age is often asked of, and being old is not always bad. Indeed a
respectful form of address is to call someone who is your senior
as "old+family name", such as "Old Zhang", Zhang
being the family name. "Zhang Old" ("family name+old",
or "Zhang Lao" in Chinese) is even more respectful, and
is for someone who is not only your senior, but enjoys some social
status. So, if one day you hear someone saying: "Old lady,
welcome to our home!" Do not take offense. The literary translation
of "old lady" in Chinese, "Lao taitai", or 老太太,
is actually reserved for lady of distinction. |
看央视的一个有英文字幕的连续剧，一个丫鬟对一个刚进门的老夫人叫道：“
老太太，您来了！”下面的字幕打出“Old lady. . ."显然，剧本的译者不知道，在说英语的地方，当面把一个老太太叫“old
lady"，是很不礼貌的。中国文化里，“老”是一个敬词，如“郑老”，“您老慢走”等等。在西方，年龄是不应该随便问的，old
更是一个避讳的字眼。因此，“老太太”的对应译文应该是： Ma'am，即 Madam。但如果不是面对面，说 old lady 也是可以的，如“There
is an old lady wanting to see you.” |
