文章來(lái)源：《環(huán)球時(shí)報(bào)》
原文標(biāo)題：Why the Chinese seldom admit their mistakes
譯：五月花開(kāi)
There is one thing you will seldom hear in China: "It's my fault."
在中國(guó)冕碟，你很少會(huì)聽(tīng)到這么一句話：“這是我的錯(cuò)”。
In the West, saying "My bad" is heard as frequently as anyone makes a mistake. We pride ourselves on admitting our faults so as to quickly remedy the situation. But here in China, it seems that admitting a mistake is a major concession that most people are utterly unwilling to do.
而在西方冀惭，聽(tīng)到別人說(shuō)出一句“是我的錯(cuò)”是和“人非圣賢孰能無(wú)過(guò)”一樣頻繁的事虫碉。我們?yōu)樽约耗軌蛱拐\(chéng)錯(cuò)誤感到驕傲营搅，只有這樣才能快速挽救局面涵防。但在中國(guó)铜幽，承認(rèn)錯(cuò)誤似乎是一個(gè)重大的讓步驴剔，大多數(shù)人都不愿意這么做抄沮。
You will witness this at every level of Chinese society, from the car that honks at YOU while you cross the street even though it's your green, to the vegetable lady at the market who gets angry at YOU when you catch her selling rotten produce, to the taxi driver who blames YOU for getting him lost just because he was unfamiliar with your destination.
你會(huì)在中國(guó)社會(huì)的各層面看到這個(gè)現(xiàn)象跋核，從你過(guò)綠燈穿馬路的時(shí)候，汽車對(duì)你鳴喇叭叛买，到你發(fā)現(xiàn)菜場(chǎng)賣菜的阿姨賣爛蔬菜的時(shí)候砂代，她卻對(duì)你發(fā)脾氣，再到出租車司機(jī)因?yàn)閷?duì)你想去的目的地不熟而繞圈子迷路的時(shí)候率挣，他反過(guò)來(lái)指責(zé)你刻伊。
It should be first understood that, in the eyes of the Chinese, taking responsibility and coming clean on a dispute puts that person in a position of "losing face," which is the worst thing that can happen to a Chinese. Think of it as the Western equivalent of getting bitch-slapped by someone in public.
首先我們要了解，在中國(guó)人眼中椒功，承擔(dān)責(zé)任和澄清爭(zhēng)議會(huì)將一個(gè)人置于“丟臉”的境地捶箱，對(duì)他們而言這無(wú)疑是一件最糟糕的事。在西方這就等同于當(dāng)眾扇了賤人一巴掌动漾。
Now, when foreigners in China are placed in a situation where your Chinese interlocutor is doing everything to avoid losing face - and trust me, they will try anything - you either just accept their insincere excuse knowing that you spared them from embarrassment, or you drag that person deeper into their contradiction until they are dying of shame.
現(xiàn)在丁屎，當(dāng)在中國(guó)的老外碰到你的中國(guó)對(duì)話者千方百計(jì)地避免丟臉這種情況時(shí)- 相信我，他們真的會(huì)無(wú)所不用其極 - 要么你接受他們虛偽的借口讓他們免糟尷尬旱眯，要么你不依不饒地點(diǎn)破他們自相矛盾的地方晨川，直到他們羞憤難當(dāng)。
But before you proceed down one of those two paths, be aware that there are essentially two kinds of losing face. The first is "one-on-one losing face," where they'll never be able to look you in the eyes again without turning red, but at least nobody else knows. The second, and most dreaded, is "losing face in public," which is so unbearable to most Chinese that they would rather be exiled from society than face onlookers.
但在你對(duì)上述兩種方式進(jìn)行選擇前键思，請(qǐng)注意础爬，丟臉還分兩種情況。第一種是“一對(duì)一的丟臉”吼鳞，這種情況下他們無(wú)法臉不紅心不跳的再次直視你的眼睛，不過(guò)至少?zèng)]有第三個(gè)人知道了叫搁。第二種赔桌，也就是最可怕的“當(dāng)眾丟臉”，對(duì)大多數(shù)中國(guó)人來(lái)說(shuō)簡(jiǎn)直難以忍受渴逻，他們情愿被社會(huì)排擠也好過(guò)被眾人圍觀疾党。
"Losing face in public" can further be divided into two circumstances: social and professional. An example of social would be like accusing your wife in front of neighbors of having a secret lover. She would sooner move apartments or cities after that than return to her own community to face whispers and gossip.
“當(dāng)眾丟臉”又可以進(jìn)一步被劃分成兩種情況：社交層面和專業(yè)層面。社交層面舉個(gè)例子惨奕，比如在鄰居面前指責(zé)你妻子找小三雪位。這種情況發(fā)生后，她寧愿搬家或離開(kāi)這座城市梨撞，也不愿回到原來(lái)的住宅社區(qū)去面對(duì)流言蜚語(yǔ)雹洗。
For professional losing face, I actually have quite a bit of experience with this. In my line of work here in Shanghai, I have to manage numerous industrial productions, which requires me to constantly deal with Chinese factory employees of all levels, from assembly line girls to factory bosses to CEOs.
專業(yè)層面的丟臉香罐，我倒的確有很多類似經(jīng)驗(yàn)。我在上海工作的這一行中时肿，我需要管理大量的行業(yè)生產(chǎn)事宜庇茫，這就需要我頻繁地和各階層的中國(guó)工廠員工打交道，從流水線女工螃成，到廠長(zhǎng)旦签，再到CEO。
Production problems are quite frequent, which is normal, but as opposed to disclosing the issue and attempting to resolve it expediently, which is how Western bosses would, here in China local bosses prefer to try to conceal the problem in the hopes that nobody finds out. The thing is, I always find out! But it wastes an enormous amount of my time to have to dig through all the layers of lies and deceit purposely thrown in my path by these bosses. All because he didn't want to lose damn face.
出現(xiàn)生產(chǎn)問(wèn)題是司空見(jiàn)慣的事寸宏，西方老板們會(huì)公開(kāi)問(wèn)題并試著以便捷的方式解決問(wèn)題宁炫，與之相反的是中國(guó)當(dāng)?shù)氐睦习鍌儎t傾向于盡力掩蓋問(wèn)題，最好瞞天過(guò)海氮凝。事實(shí)是淋淀，我總能發(fā)現(xiàn)問(wèn)題！但從層層謊言中挖掘事實(shí)浪費(fèi)了我大量的時(shí)間覆醇，這些老板們會(huì)故意扔出謊言阻礙我發(fā)現(xiàn)問(wèn)題朵纷。這一切都是因?yàn)樗麄儾幌雭G了該死的面子。
And this is where it gets even more absurd, because even if you call a Chinese out on their mistake, the only thing you'll hear back from them is "It's not my fault!" (bu guan wo shi) or "It couldn't be helped" (mei banfa) or "It was because of this-and-that!" The very last thing they'll ever be willing to tell you is "Yes sir, it was my mistake. I'm very sorry, how can I fix it?"
更令人可笑的是永脓，即便你已經(jīng)對(duì)一個(gè)中國(guó)人指出了錯(cuò)誤袍辞，你所能聽(tīng)到的回答也就是“這不是我的問(wèn)題！”（不關(guān)我事）或者“愛(ài)莫能助”（沒(méi)辦法）或者“這是因?yàn)閎labla常摧！”最令他們難以啟齒的莫過(guò)于“是的搅吁，這是我的問(wèn)題。我非常抱歉落午，我該如何進(jìn)行彌補(bǔ)呢谎懦？”
All told, I wonder how many years, decades or even centuries "face" has cost China in terms of lost production hours. How much more time have Chinese bosses spent covering up their mistakes instead of simply disclosing and resolving them? China might very well already be the world's superpower by now if it hadn't wasted so much time spinning lies and childish excuses every time someone mistepped.
綜上，我好奇的是溃斋，從生產(chǎn)工時(shí)損失的角度來(lái)看界拦，中國(guó)因?yàn)椤懊孀印惫こ痰降桌速M(fèi)了多少年，幾十年甚至幾個(gè)世紀(jì)呢梗劫。中國(guó)的老板們又花了多少時(shí)間掩蓋了他們的錯(cuò)誤而不是簡(jiǎn)單的公開(kāi)并解決呢享甸？如果每一次有人犯錯(cuò)的時(shí)候都不用花大量的時(shí)間周旋在謊言和幼稚的借口中，很可能中國(guó)早就成世界超級(jí)大國(guó)了梳侨。
I'm writing this not to criticize but to compel the next generation of Chinese to abandon the ridiculously prehistoric custom of "face" and start facing up to your mistakes and taking responsibility for your actions. You'll be surprised how much more people will respect you, and how much more efficiently your society will operate.
我寫下這篇文章不是為了批判蛉威，而是寄希望于中國(guó)的下一代能夠拋棄可笑老舊的“面子”習(xí)俗，開(kāi)始直面錯(cuò)誤并為你們的行為負(fù)責(zé)走哺。你會(huì)驚訝于自己竟能得到那么多尊重蚯嫌，而社會(huì)運(yùn)行得如此之高效。
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Global Times.
文章觀點(diǎn)僅代表作者個(gè)人意見(jiàn)，不反映環(huán)球時(shí)報(bào)的見(jiàn)解择示。
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