Tears of laughter trickled down my face and I clapped so hard my hands turned red. But I was surprised at my reaction, for I was being hilariously entertained by a German comedian at Quatsch Comedy Club in Berlin, in a situation that could be considered oxymoronic by many.
我笑得眼淚都流了下來(lái)骄瓣，雙手也用力拍得通紅停巷。不過(guò)我對(duì)自己的這種反應(yīng)大為驚訝，因?yàn)槲揖尤辉诎亓諵uatsch喜劇俱樂(lè)部里被一個(gè)德國(guó)的喜劇演員逗得捧腹大笑榕栏，這在許多人看來(lái)應(yīng)該是很矛盾的畔勤。
The Germans obviously appreciate a show of good humour, a fact made evident with the soaring popularity of these comedy venues in Berlin. In fact, comedy has deep roots in German culture, with a strong appreciation of political satire as well as physical slapstick. Yet the Germans were voted in a 2011 survey by Badoo. com to be the least funny nationality, reinforcing a well-known stereotype of Germans having no humour.
德國(guó)人顯然很喜歡喜劇，從柏林的喜劇演出場(chǎng)館飆升的人氣中就可以明顯看出這點(diǎn)扒磁。事實(shí)上庆揪，喜劇在德國(guó)文化中有著很深的淵源，其熱衷于政治諷刺劇和肢體滑稽劇妨托。然而在2011年 Badoo.com 網(wǎng)舉辦的活動(dòng)中缸榛，德國(guó)人被票選為最沒(méi)有幽默感的國(guó)家，由此德國(guó)人本就出了名的“沒(méi)有幽默細(xì)胞”的固有形象更加深入人心兰伤。
“I’d never known about that stereotype. I only found out by speaking to English-speaking people,” Nicole Riplinger, an English and French teacher from Saarbrücken, told me. “I don’t think we consider ourselves to be humourless.”
“我從來(lái)沒(méi)聽(tīng)說(shuō)過(guò)人們對(duì)德國(guó)人有這種印象内颗。我只有在和講英語(yǔ)的人說(shuō)話時(shí)才發(fā)現(xiàn)這點(diǎn)籍嘹〉晾洌”來(lái)自Saarbrücken的教授英語(yǔ)和法語(yǔ)的老師Nicole Riplinger這樣告訴我，“我并不覺(jué)得我們?nèi)鄙儆哪欣取符衔！?/p>
“I definitely love humour,” she added, “especially involving irony and socio-critical issues.”
“我非常喜歡幽默找前，”她接著說(shuō)道，“尤其是那些帶諷刺和社會(huì)批判性的幽默判族√墒ⅲ”
What she’s describing has a long tradition in Germany, where the use of political and social taboos as basis for comedy are typical of the satirical talk shows and kabarett TVprogrammes, which are similar to today’s variety shows but heavy with political satire.
她所提到的這種幽默在德國(guó)由來(lái)已久，德國(guó)的諷刺類(lèi)脫口秀和kabarett電視節(jié)目的典型特征就是將政治和社會(huì)禁忌作為喜劇素材形帮，這類(lèi)似于現(xiàn)在的綜藝節(jié)目槽惫，只不過(guò)更側(cè)重于政治諷刺。
So, if the Germans have always had a funny bone in them, just how did this unfortunate stereotype come about?
那么問(wèn)題就來(lái)了沃缘，既然德國(guó)人有著與生俱來(lái)的幽默感躯枢，那么他們給人的“沒(méi)有幽默感”的固有印象又是從何而來(lái)的呢？
Nicola McLelland, German linguistics professor at the UK’s University of Nottingham, believes that the way different languages are constructed can affect the way various cultures deliver and perceive jokes.
英國(guó)諾丁漢大學(xué)德語(yǔ)教授Nicola McLelland認(rèn)為槐臀，不同語(yǔ)言的組織方式會(huì)影響到不同文化對(duì)于幽默的接受和理解锄蹂。
She explained that humour commonly uses ambiguity in word interpretation and sentence construction to create alternative meanings, which can add comical elements to a situation. For example, the phrase ‘we saw her duck’ has a dual meaning: either that we saw a duck that belonged to her, or we saw her in the act of ducking away from harm.
她解釋到，幽默通常利用一語(yǔ)多義和句子結(jié)構(gòu)來(lái)表達(dá)另一種意思水慨，這樣可以增強(qiáng)某種場(chǎng)景的幽默感得糜。比如這句“we saw her duck”就有兩種意思敬扛，一種是“我們看到了她養(yǎng)的一只鴨子”，還有一種意思是“我們看到她低下頭躲避危險(xiǎn)朝抖∩都”
However, German’s language construct can be very different. Nouns can have three different genders and four different cases. Verbs also have a lot of different forms. The exact meaning of a sentence relies on the correct use of gender and case pertained to the eventual meaning, affecting how humour can be delivered. Basically, it’s harder to pun in German when the grammar makes things so much less ambiguous.
不過(guò)，德語(yǔ)的結(jié)構(gòu)有著很大不同治宣。德語(yǔ)中的名詞分三種詞性和四種不同用法急侥，動(dòng)詞也有很多種不同的形式。要正確理解德語(yǔ)句子的意思侮邀，有賴于能夠表達(dá)最終意思的使用正確的詞性和用法坏怪，這些都影響到幽默感的傳達(dá)“砑耄總的來(lái)說(shuō)铝宵，語(yǔ)法決定了德語(yǔ)沒(méi)有那么多的歧義，因此要用德語(yǔ)表達(dá)一語(yǔ)雙關(guān)的意思是比較困難的华畏。
But what the German language does have, however, is the ability to create compounds.
不過(guò)德語(yǔ)倒是具有一種功能鹏秋，那就是構(gòu)成復(fù)合詞。
German is one of the few languages where the use of compound words – words made up of multiple individual words, such as schadenfreude, which puts together schaden (harm) and freude (pleasure) – is common. Compound words often can’t be directly translated into other languages, so jokes made with compound words simply won’t be funny to non-German speakers.
德語(yǔ)是為數(shù)不多的含有不少?gòu)?fù)合詞的語(yǔ)言之一亡笑。之所謂“復(fù)合詞”侣夷，是指由數(shù)個(gè)單一單詞組成的詞語(yǔ)，例如“schadenfreude”就是將“schaden”和“freude”連在一起况芒。通常很難將復(fù)合詞直譯成其他語(yǔ)言惜纸，所以通常情況下，對(duì)于不講德語(yǔ)的人來(lái)說(shuō)绝骚，含有復(fù)合詞的笑話并沒(méi)那么好笑。
Professor McLelland explained this to me with an example:
McLelland博士舉了一個(gè)例子解釋道：
“Why can’t you pick up your watch if you’ve dropped it? Because noUrheberrecht.”
“為什么手表掉了以后不能撿起來(lái)?因?yàn)槟銢](méi)有Urheberrecht祠够⊙雇簦”
She explained that Urheberrecht means ‘copyright’, but is also a compound word with a literal meaning of ‘watch-pickup-right’.
她解釋說(shuō)Urheberrecht的意思是“版權(quán)”，但是這個(gè)復(fù)合詞還有一個(gè)字面意思：撿手表的權(quán)利古瓤。
See how this joke just doesn’t work in English? In fact, this ability of the German language to be extremely concise perhaps explains why even a good German speaker of English might sound a bit overly precise in English – which can add to the impression that Germans are more earnest than funny.
現(xiàn)在明白為什么這個(gè)笑話在英語(yǔ)的世界里一點(diǎn)都不好笑了嗎止剖？事實(shí)上，德語(yǔ)太過(guò)簡(jiǎn)練的這個(gè)特點(diǎn)大概就能解釋為什么一個(gè)英語(yǔ)講得不錯(cuò)的法國(guó)人在說(shuō)英語(yǔ)時(shí)也許會(huì)用詞過(guò)于精確落君，而這又加深了德國(guó)人給人們的印象是太實(shí)誠(chéng)穿香，而非有趣。
Christian Baumann, a lawyer from Nuremberg whose travels have exposed him to different cultures around the world, agrees that language differences play a huge part in Germany’s unfunny stereotype.
來(lái)自Nuremberg的律師绎速、基督徒Baumann的旅游經(jīng)歷讓他接觸到了世界上的不同文化皮获。他認(rèn)為語(yǔ)言的差異性是德國(guó)人給人們留下這種固有印象的主要原因。
On one of his first foreign trips to the United States, he constantly had to translate his thoughts from German into English, even when telling a joke. The result was that people just didn’t get him. Some went as far as accusing his directness of speech to be rude.
在他首次前往美國(guó)的出國(guó)游中纹冤，他一直重復(fù)在做的一件事就是將想說(shuō)的話從德語(yǔ)直接翻譯成英語(yǔ)洒宝，即便在講笑話的時(shí)候也是如此购公。結(jié)果人們都聽(tīng)不懂他在說(shuō)什么，有些人甚至譴責(zé)他說(shuō)話太直太粗魯雁歌。
“I think when you try to speak with a literal translation from German to English, you lose a lot of meaning that makes a joke funny. And when you have to explain a joke, it just isn’t funny anymore,” Baumann said. “So naturally, they didn’t think I was funny.”
“我認(rèn)為當(dāng)你說(shuō)話時(shí)宏浩，如果將法語(yǔ)直譯成英語(yǔ)，就會(huì)喪失法語(yǔ)原有的幽默感靠瞎。如果你不得不把這個(gè)笑話解釋一通比庄，那么也就沒(méi)那么好笑了》ρ危”Baumann說(shuō)道佳窑，“所以理所當(dāng)然的，他們一點(diǎn)都不認(rèn)為我很風(fēng)趣丑勤』冢”
But he also thinks that cultural variances play a big part, too.
他同時(shí)也表示文化的差異性也是一個(gè)重要的原因。
“In English, you are always very polite, even if you are criticising something. But German is different. We will say what we have in mind, so, naturally I think, the English speakers have the impression that Germans are only logical, rude (but very good engineers) and can’t have fun,” Baumann said.
“說(shuō)英語(yǔ)的時(shí)候人們都非常有禮貌法竞，即便是在批評(píng)某個(gè)東西的時(shí)候耙厚。但是德語(yǔ)不一樣。我們想到什么就說(shuō)什么岔霸，所以我覺(jué)得說(shuō)英語(yǔ)的人理所當(dāng)然會(huì)認(rèn)為德國(guó)人只是有邏輯并且粗魯（不過(guò)是非常好的工程師）薛躬，但一點(diǎn)也不風(fēng)趣〈粝福”Baumann這樣講道型宝。
This is a sentiment German comedian Christian Schulte-Loh shares. Fully aware of the stereotype the Germans are labelled with, he writes in his new book, Zum Lachen auf die Insel (To England with Laughs), that Germans are too honest to be polite and the English are too polite to be honest.
這是德國(guó)喜劇演員、基督徒 Schulte-Loh分享的一個(gè)觀點(diǎn)絮爷。鑒于對(duì)德國(guó)人被貼上“無(wú)幽默感”標(biāo)簽的認(rèn)識(shí)趴酣，他在新書(shū)Zum Lachen auf die Insel（《笑著去英國(guó)》）中寫(xiě)到：德國(guó)人太誠(chéng)實(shí)所以顯得沒(méi)那么禮貌，而英國(guó)人則太禮貌坑夯，從而顯得不那么真誠(chéng)岖寞。
But Schulte-Loh, who regularly performs at Quatsch Comedy Club in Berlin and tours internationally, says this particular stereotype actually serves him well during his routines. For example, when headlining a show at Top Secret Comedy Club in London in front of a sold-out crowd, he opened with a stab at his nationality.
不過(guò)，經(jīng)常在柏林Quatsch喜劇俱樂(lè)部表演也經(jīng)常出國(guó)旅游的Schulte-Loh還表示柜蜈，事實(shí)上德國(guó)人給人的這種獨(dú)特的固有印象對(duì)自己的游歷也有所幫助仗谆。例如，曾經(jīng)在一場(chǎng)座無(wú)虛席的位于倫敦“頂級(jí)秘密喜劇俱樂(lè)部”的演出中淑履，擔(dān)任主角的他就嘗試過(guò)在表演一開(kāi)始就告訴大家自己的國(guó)籍隶垮。
“Hello, I am Christian and I am a German comedian!” He paused as the crowd jeered. “Oh I see the expectation is already dropping. That’s ok, I can only try my best!”
“大家好，我是一個(gè)基督徒秘噪，同時(shí)我也是一名德國(guó)喜劇演員狸吞！”觀眾們發(fā)出噓聲，他停了停，接著說(shuō)道“看來(lái)大家對(duì)我的期待值有所降低啊捷绒。不過(guò)沒(méi)關(guān)系瑰排，我會(huì)盡力的！”
*原文來(lái)自BBC Travel頻道暖侨。僅做翻譯練習(xí)之用椭住。*
