兩年多前在國教院審訂翻譯時，我發現母語人士也會對 historic (歷史的) 與 historical (歷史上的) 的區別感到困擾，因此寫過一篇文章。
今年我在台師大翻譯研究所「筆譯專業實務」期末考，出了一題 "Historic sites and monuments in the UK" or "Historical sites and monuments in the UK" ? 有英文為母語的外籍生也搞不清楚 historic 與 historical 的區別，答成 *"historical sites and monuments in the UK"。
Historic 是指「以前的東西，現在還存在」；historical 則是指是「歷史上的、已經過去的事」。因此地道的英文講法「歷史建築、史蹟」(現在還存在) 是 historic building, historic site；「歷史事件」(已經過去的事) 才是 historical event。
見以下Google搜索結果：(Jan 13, 2020)
*No results found for "historical sites and monuments in the UK".
"What are historic buildings?" About 9,190 results
*"What are historical buildings?" About 6 results
*"all existing historical buildings" About 5 results
"all existing historic buildings" About 11,200 results
*"guide to the historical sites of Canada" 1 result (出自2017/12/18 我的文章)
"guide to the historic sites of Canada" About 17,200 results
"important historical events in the 20th century" About 25,200 results
*"important historic events in the 20th century" 1 result
Did you mean: "important historical events in the 20th century"
台灣有不少歷史古蹟、歷史建築的英文標示都寫成 *historical building，譬如：新北市觀光旅遊網介紹新莊老街、林泉成古厝：
Tourist Attractions Linquancheng Historical House -Historic ...
https://tour.ntpc.gov.tw › en-us › Attraction › Detail
Most of the old homes on Xinzhuang's historical street have withered away, but somehow the Linquancheng historical building remains intact.
英文應以 “Xinzhuang's historic street”, “the Linquancheng historic building” 為宜。
不過 historic 與 historical 的用法，現在連母語人士也會混淆，所以若聽到英美人士說 *historical buildings，也不用大驚小怪，就像連作家也有搞不清楚「反映」與「反應」、「須」與「需」的區別，把「反映意見」寫成 *「反應意見」，「仍須努力」寫成 *「仍需努力」一樣。 (Jerome Su, Jan 13, 2020)