蘇老師專欄

[ 2019-08-20 ]

<談文論譯>「國家」可指 country, nation, state   蘇正隆

中文「國家」可指 country, nation, state,沒嚴格區分。英文 country 是地理概念,nation 是族群概念,state 是主權概念,翻譯時可依中文習慣譯為「國家」或「國」即可。

地理概念: a divided country
In the aftermath of World War II Germany became a divided country. 二戰後德國成為分裂國家。
After Japan had lost the war Korea became a divided country.日本戰敗後韓國成為分裂國家。
countries on the other side of the Pacific 太平洋彼岸的國家

族群概念: a divided nation
How America Became a Divided Nation of the Protected and the Unprotected
美國何以變成一個族群分裂—受保護與不受保護者—的國家

主權概念: a sovereign state 
Latvia regained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, is a sovereign state. 
拉脫維亞是一個主權國家,1991脫離蘇聯,重獲獨立。

Mongolia is a sovereign state in Asia and boasts its own language, currency, prime minister, parliament, president, and armed forces.
蒙古是一個主權國家,擁有自己的語言、貨幣、總理、國會、總統及軍隊。

A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a business enterprise where the government or state has significant control through full, majority, or significant minority ownership.
國營企業/國有企業是指由政府投資或參與控制的企業。
國營企業也可說 a state-owned corporation。

Google 統計亦可印證:
"How America Became a Divided Nation" 約有 464 項結果
找不到 "How America Became a Divided Country" 的結果。
(是美國的族群分裂,非地理割裂。)

"a state-owned enterprise" site:uk約有 10,800 項結果
找不到 "a nation-owned enterprise" site:uk 的結果。
找不到 "a nation-owned corporation" site:uk 的結果。
找不到 "a country-owned corporation" site:uk 的結果。
找不到 "a country-owned enterprise" site:uk 的結果。
(強調的是主權,非族群或地理概念)

最後談一下national一詞,在台灣 national 往往與國立畫上等號,然而「全國的」才是它的核心意義。台灣一般人會以為美國的 National Ballet Institute for the Arts是國立芭蕾舞學院,其實它是私立學校。(Jerome Su, July 12, 2019)