美國(guó)需要自己的Emoji

America Needs Its Own Emojis

美國(guó)需要自己的Emoji

ALL I wanted to do was wish my fiancée happy birthday using emojis. But I couldn’t replicate the rebus of the classic Sandra Boynton greeting card: Hippo, Birdie, Two Ewes. My vocabulary was too limited.

我無(wú)非是想用繪文字祝未婚妻生日快樂(lè)而已。但我沒(méi)法再現(xiàn)桑德拉·博因頓(Sandra Boynton)經(jīng)典賀卡上的畫(huà)謎：河馬，小鳥(niǎo)，兩只母羊。我的詞匯量太有限了。

Or I should say that the vocabulary offered by the 722 symbols — faces, animals and various objects — that reside on my smartphone was too limited. The set of emojis that came with my iPhone have birds, seven of them, some very cute, but no hippos and no ewes. It has rams (those are male sheep for readers who know little about animal husbandry), a hog, a cow and even dragons, but no ewes.

應(yīng)該說(shuō)，是我的智能手機(jī)內(nèi)置的722個(gè)符號(hào)——面孔、動(dòng)物和各種物品——形成了一個(gè)非常有限的詞庫(kù)。這些iPhone上自帶的繪文字里有鳥(niǎo)，一共七只，有幾只非常萌，但沒(méi)有河馬，沒(méi)有母羊。里面有幾只ram(就是雄性綿羊，請(qǐng)對(duì)畜牧沒(méi)什么了解的讀者知悉)，一只豬，一頭母牛，甚至還有幾只龍，但沒(méi)有母羊。

There is a simple reason that joke doesn’t translate into emojis. It is not Japanese. And emojis are.

這個(gè)笑話不能翻譯為繪文字的原因很簡(jiǎn)單。它不是日本笑話。而繪文字是日本文字。

They are essentially a foreign language that we have tried to adapt for the English language and American customs. I know I risk sounding like a bureaucrat in the French Ministry of Culture lamenting the dilution of the French tongue by English words like computer and Internet. But that is chauvinism. My complaint is practicality.

從根本上說(shuō)，繪文字是一種外語(yǔ)，我們?cè)噲D讓它們適應(yīng)英語(yǔ)和美國(guó)習(xí)慣。我知道這種腔調(diào)聽(tīng)著像個(gè)法國(guó)文化部官僚在哀嘆，法語(yǔ)被computer、Internet之類的英文詞給侵蝕了。但那是沙文主義。我不滿的是實(shí)用性。

Emojis have become a popular way to quickly express yourself on the run. Versions of them are also used on Facebook, Twitter, Google chats and Slack. They should be embracing new vocabulary as the English language embraced words that can’t be translated, like the German schadenfreude or the French flâneur.

繪文字已經(jīng)成為一種常見(jiàn)的快捷表達(dá)方式。Facebook、Twitter、谷歌(Google)聊天工具和Slack都有自己的繪文字。它們應(yīng)該接納新的詞匯，就像英語(yǔ)接納無(wú)法翻譯的外來(lái)詞一樣，比如德語(yǔ)的schadenfreude(幸災(zāi)樂(lè)禍)，或法語(yǔ)的flâneur(閑逛的人)。

There is just too much I can’t express because the symbols don’t exist. Apple is expected to release a revised set of emojis for the iPhone and iPad in the spring. Mostly it will be offering more racially diverse versions of the existing white faces and hands: black, brown and yellow. (If that made you wince, then you won’t be surprised that the change is already getting some people hot under the collar. And no, you can’t express that American idiom with emojis.)

由于符號(hào)的缺失，我有太多的東西無(wú)法表達(dá)出來(lái)。蘋(píng)果(Apple)有望在今春發(fā)布一套修訂版iPhone和iPad繪文字。其中主要的改變是在現(xiàn)有的白面孔和手的基礎(chǔ)上大幅增加種族多樣性，加入黑、棕和黃。(如果這事讓你搖頭，你大概能想象，已經(jīng)有人對(duì)此hot under the collar[直譯“領(lǐng)子下發(fā)燙”，意即“怒火中燒”。——譯注]了。是的，這句美國(guó)成語(yǔ)也沒(méi)法用繪文字表達(dá)。)

The original all-white cast reflects how a homogeneous Japanese society sees itself. If you look at their comic books (manga) and cartoons (anime), you know what I’m talking about. Many tall, long-legged blondes with big round Emma Stone eyes populate those universes.

原版繪文字里的人物全是白皮膚，這反映了一個(gè)同質(zhì)性的日本社會(huì)對(duì)自身的看法。去看看他們的漫畫(huà)(manga)和動(dòng)畫(huà)(anime)你就明白了。那里面滿是長(zhǎng)腿高個(gè)子金發(fā)姑娘，長(zhǎng)著一對(duì)又大又圓的艾瑪·斯通(Emma Stone)式眼睛。

Expanding the universe of humans solves only part of the problem because the entire set is infused with Japanese sensibilities. There is the unchi-kun, or the smiling poop emoji. That character had appeared for decades in Japanese commercials, in bedrooms as children’s plush toys and even as candy before it ever showed up on a cellphone screen.

拓展人類譜系只解決了一部分問(wèn)題，因?yàn)檎桌L文字依然浸淫著和式感性。里面有“運(yùn)氣君”(unchi-kun)，就是一坨笑瞇瞇的屎。在進(jìn)入手機(jī)之前，這個(gè)角色在日本已經(jīng)存在了幾十年，它出演過(guò)廣告，被做成毛絨玩具擺在孩子的臥室里，甚至還做成糖果。

Or look at the smartphone screen full of buildings. One of them is a “love hotel,” a place for assignations where wildly decorated rooms can be rented for an hour or two. No seedy motels are offered. Japanese love their excellent public transportation, and I count 12 train symbols and three aerial tramways. But no pickup truck.

再來(lái)看看智能手機(jī)上滿屏的建筑物。其中有“情侶酒店”，這是一種約會(huì)的地方，有裝修十分夸張的房間可供情人們租用一兩個(gè)小時(shí)。里面沒(méi)有破破爛爛的汽車旅館。日本人對(duì)他們卓越的公共交通系統(tǒng)鐘愛(ài)有加，我一共找出了12個(gè)火車符號(hào)，三種空中纜車。沒(méi)有皮卡。

Indeed, the Japanese vocabulary is most notable for what it fails to offer Americans. For example, there is no middle-finger hand signal. Or the good-luck signal of fingers crossed. No Vulcan salute to live long and prosper, which would have been much appreciated following the recent death of Leonard Nimoy, who played a Vulcan on “Star Trek.”

這份日語(yǔ)詞匯表實(shí)在很少照顧到美國(guó)人的需求。比如里面沒(méi)有豎中指的手勢(shì)。也沒(méi)有兩指交叉的好運(yùn)手勢(shì)。沒(méi)有祝愿“生生不息，繁榮昌盛”的瓦肯禮，鑒于《星際迷航》(Star Trek)中飾演瓦肯人的倫納德·尼莫伊(Leonard Nimoy)近日剛剛?cè)ナ?，要是有的話?yīng)該會(huì)是件很貼心的事。

Want to tell your boss you’re too sick to go to work? The face mask emoji works in Japan, where regular people wear them in public. In America your boss might think you quit to go to med school or started robbing banks. (There is also no broken-down car, also useful for excuses.)

想對(duì)老板說(shuō)病重不能去上班?在日本可以用一個(gè)戴口罩的繪文字，那里普通人也會(huì)在公共場(chǎng)合戴口罩。在美國(guó)，你老板可能會(huì)以為你要辭職去讀醫(yī)學(xué)院，或者搶銀行。(另外也找不到趴窩的汽車，那應(yīng)該也是個(gè)好用的借口。)

Among the pets there are no labs or golden retrievers, just Akitas and a poodle. Nothing for that most American of holidays, Thanksgiving. No turkey. Not even a whole roasted chicken.

寵物里沒(méi)有拉布拉多或金毛，只有秋田犬和貴賓。感恩節(jié)這個(gè)最具美國(guó)特色的節(jié)日，里面毫無(wú)提及。沒(méi)有火雞。連整只的烤雞都沒(méi)有。

Food is a particular problem. There is no steak, no burritos, no bacon and no kale. (Though the dragon head kind of looks like kale and might be an adequate substitute.)

食物的問(wèn)題格外嚴(yán)重。沒(méi)有牛排，沒(méi)有墨西哥卷餅，沒(méi)有培根，沒(méi)有甘藍(lán)菜。(不過(guò)龍頭倒是挺像甘藍(lán)，也許可以冒充一下。)

An international body exists that is trying to add as many as 250 emojis. The list is long and the debate contentious.

有一個(gè)國(guó)際組織正在嘗試加入多達(dá)250個(gè)繪文字。候選列表很長(zhǎng)，各方爭(zhēng)執(zhí)不下。

To make room, they could eliminate the emojis that represent the strange Japanese fascination with antiquated technology like three kinds of CDs, a floppy disk and tape cassette, pager and TV with rabbit ears.

為了騰出空位，他們可能會(huì)去掉一些現(xiàn)有的繪文字——它們體現(xiàn)的是日本人對(duì)古董級(jí)技術(shù)的癡迷，比如里面有三種CD，有軟盤(pán)和磁帶、尋呼機(jī)和帶兔耳天線的電視機(jī)。