VOA慢速英语2013 Health Report - The risks of Language for Health Translators

Health Report - The risks of Language for Health Translators

健康报道 - 卫生信息的翻译忌讳

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health Report in Special English.

这里是美国之音慢速英语健康报道。

Translators Without Borders is an American nonprofit group. It provides language services to nongovernmental organizations such as, yes, Doctors Without Borders. The group recently trained some new translators in Nairobi in how to put health information into local languages for Kenyans.

“无国界翻译人员”是一家美国非盈利性组织。它为其它非政府组织提供语言服务，例如“无国界医生”组织。该组织最近在内罗毕培训了一些新的翻译人员，将卫生信息翻译为肯尼亚当地语言。

For health translators, finding the rights words is not just about language but also culture.

对卫生翻译人员来说，找到合适的词语不仅仅和语言有关，还和文化有关。

Muthoni Gichohi is a manager for Family Health Options Kenya, the group that organized the training. She says she has no problem expressing the names of body parts in English. But as a Kikuyu she says there are some words in her first language that may be "provocative 1" if she said them in public.

Muthoni Gichohi是“肯尼亚家庭卫生方案”组织的一名经理。该组织发起了这次培训。她表示，她用英文表述身体各个部位的名称没有问题。但作为基库尤人，如果在公共场合用她的母语说其中一些名称可能是挑衅。

MUTHONI GICHOHI: "So I have got to really put it in another way that it is still delivering the same message, but the words will be different."

MUTHONI GICHOHI说：“因此我必须用另一种方式表述，意思没变，但用词不同。”

Trainer Paul Warambo says the same issue arises with Kenya's national language.

教员Paul Warambo表示，肯尼亚官方语言中也有同样的问题出现。

PAUL WARAMBO: "Sometimes you are also forced to use euphemisms 2 -- use a language that is more acceptable to the people. For example, in Swahili, we will not call a body part -- the vagina, for example -- we will not call it by its name. We use kitu chake --- her thing. You do not just mention it by the name, you say 'her thing.'"

PAUL WARAMBO说：“有时候你也被迫用词委婉。例如在斯瓦希里语中，有些身体部位我们不能直呼其名，例如阴道。我们用kitu chake（斯瓦希里语），意思是她的东西。你不能直接提到它的名字，你用‘她的东西’代替。”

The culture of a community will largely decide how words and expressions are translated into socially acceptable language.

社会文化很大程度上决定了词语和句子如何翻译成能够被社会接受的语言。

In some cases, the way people in a culture think about an activity or object becomes the translated name for that activity or object.

在某些情况中，该文化背景下的人们思考一个活动或物品的方式会成为它们的翻译名称。

Paul Warambo explains how the term "sexual intercourse 3" is commonly translated from English into Ki'Swahili.

Paul Warambo解释了英文的性交一词通常如何被翻译成斯瓦希里语。

PAUL WARAMBO: "We always say, in Ki'Swahili, 'kutenda kitendo kibaya' -- to do something bad. So, imagine sex was associated with something bad, emanating 4 from the African cultural context."

PAUL WARAMBO说：“用斯瓦希里语我们通常称其为’kutenda kitendo kibaya’，意思是干坏事。非洲的文化背景下认为性是一件坏事。”

Whether or not a community will accept or even listen to a message is especially important in health care.

公众是否接受，甚至是否愿意听，对卫生保健来说非常重要。

Lori Thicke co-founded Translators Without Borders in nineteen ninety-three. She says, in general, a lot of development organizations have often overlooked the importance of language in changing health behavior.

Lori Thicke于1993年联合创办了无国界翻译人员组织。她表示，在一般情况下，很多发展组织往往忽视了语言在改变卫生行为中的重要性。

LORI THICKE: "It is true that people do not think of translation. It is absolutely not on the radar 5, but it is so critical if you think about it, for people to get information, whether it is how to take their medication, whether it is where to find supplies in a crisis situation."

LORI THICKE说：“事实是人们不会考虑翻译问题。翻译通常不被关注，但如果你想想看，它对人们获取信息非常关键，无论是如何服药，还是危机中在何处找到供给。”

Muthoni Gichohi and her team recently opened a health information center in a Maasai community. She learned that young Maasai cannot say certain things in the presence of elders. Also, men are usually the ones who speak at public gatherings 6, so people might not accept a message given by a woman.

Muthoni Gichohi及其团队最近在一个马赛族社区开办了一家卫生信息中心。她了解到，马塞族的年轻人在长辈面前不能说一些事情。此外，男性通常是在公共场合发言的那个人，因此人们可能不会接受女性提供的信息。

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report. I'm Faith Lapidus.

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Contributing: Cathy Majtenyi