见面打招呼时说“Where are you going?”有什么不妥？

    各国文化习惯不同，见面打招呼时说的话如果译成英语，我们会发现其间的差异很有趣。土耳其人见面时说Be under

 

God's great power；瑞典人说How can you, friend?波斯人说May thy shadow never grow thinner；埃及人说

 

How do you perspire? 阿拉伯人说Praise god, how are you ? 荷兰人说How do you fare? 而海地人说 How do

 

you stand? 波兰人却说How do you have yourself today? 印度人则简单地说How?如果译成汉语，有的招呼语真能

 

使人莫名其妙。譬如埃及人说How do you perspire? 意思是“你怎么出汗的”，海地人却在问“你是怎么站的？”同样

 

汉语里“你吃饭了吗？”“你到哪儿去？”“你在干什么？”“你来了”都是极普通的见面打招呼的话。而在英语里见面时

 

却不宜说 Have you eaten? 除非问的人想知道对方没吃就有意留他或请他吃饭。也不宜问 Where are you going?

 

What are you doing? 等等，因为“去哪儿”、“干什么”都是私事，旁人没必要知道。

 

 

    Native speakers 听了我们中国人问Where are you going? 时的反应怎么样呢？曾在北京语言学院任教的英国教

 

授、作家V.G.Myer在题为The Difference between the Estern and Western Cultures 《东西方文化的差异》一文

 

中写道： Another student asked me, "Have you had lunch?", which in English is a very strange

 

question. I realized, however, that he was thinking in Chinese and literally translating, "Ni chi fan le

 

ma? " Some questions which in Chinese belong to polite small talk are never asked in English indeed,

 

they might well be considered intrusive. British children are taught it is rude to say,"Where are you

 

going?"