台灣俗語的智慧(29)

台灣俗語的智慧(29)

1)     狗愈弄愈惡「gau ruh lang ruh `ohk」

直譯：The more a dog is tricked, the more vehement(fierce) he becomes.

      The more a person is annoyed or ridiculed, the more angered or vicious he shall become.

【註】：「弄」唸 ‘lang’ ，挑逗之義，如弄獅=舞獅；弄布袋戲，但「弄( ‘long’)狗相咬」=唆使兩方不睦或互鬥」=coaxing two parties into fighting each other；又「戲弄」=取笑=揶揄= tease

意譯：Avoid humiliating or ridiculing a person far beyond he can stand. (避免過分羞辱某人。(比較：見笑轉壽氣=老羞取怒。Constant humiliation leads to irritation.)

2)     欠錢走主顧「kiam jeen `tsao zu koh」

直譯：When one owes another a credit, one is always tries avoiding him.

【註】：「欠錢」= owe someone a debt or a credit；「主顧」= regular customer

意譯：When you owe someone too many favors or too much unpaid debt, you will try to avoid him (or a debtor-債主), not visiting his shop again 。avoid=迴避

3)    氣死驗沒傷「`keeh seeh gaim boh shong」

直譯： A coroner (驗屍官) can examine no sign of any hurt on the body even though someone is irritated to death.

【註】：驗=驗屍；inspect or examine；irritated to death不一定氣死，而是「盛怒」之義

意譯：A person is extraordinarily outraged or irritated. (比喻說法 a figure of speech-十分生氣)

4)     暝拖呣通早磨「meih tuah m tang `zah buah」

直譯：It is better to toil through midnight than to exert oneself early in the morning.

【註】：暝= 暗暝，即黑夜；暝拖=漏夜工作= working hard through the night；呣通=do not= shall not =definitely not..不可做…；早=透早，即清晨。「早磨」原意為「早上拼命工作」。上譯前半用toil= work strenuously，後半用exert，均符台語「拖磨」之義。又「拖」原義為drag，但「拖延」= postpone 或procrastinate。現在流行用語「牽拖」=wrongly accuse one of something，比「誣賴」輕微的指控。

【另註】：台語勸人盡量晚上拼命工作後再休息，而非把剩餘工作拖延到翌日才完工。含有「今日事今日畢」，即西方諺語： “Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today” 之意。但有人誤解此點不符西方人的工作原則與精神，西方人認為工作應定時定量，因為工作逾時(overwork) 常會造成品質不佳(cheap quality) 。例如，從前用人工組合汽車時，顧客選購汽車時都避免挑選在星期五及星期一出廠的車輛，因為星期五工人趕工急著下班；而星期一剛休完假上班，無精打釆，品質均難保證。而一般工人工廠下午五點一到，立即收工(Let’s call it a day.)- 毫不含糊，因此東西方哲學宜分辨清楚。

5)     先生緣主人福 「hsin se-hn yen zuh ran`hok」

【註】：台語「先生」可指師長，teachers或medical doctors 醫生，此處指醫師。

「緣」=緣分，a happy encounter；「福」，即福分、福氣也；主人乃指當事人，client，someone involved 或customer，但此處則指病人或患者，patient也。

直譯: It is regarded as a happy encounter for a patient to be accepted by a good doctor. It is a patient’s blessing or fortune for his illness to be recovered under a good doctor’s treatment. (醫師與病人的相識靠好緣分，能遇到好郎中則屬患者之福氣)

【另註】：「緣」字，在英譯上不易表達，如『朋友看緣分，相挺看時辰』-Friendship depends on predetermined destiny while to be on someone else’s side is decided by timing. 『姻緣天註定』-One is meant for another.

全聯會

Justin Lai 編譯

07/12/2014