全通翻譯/翻譯社

◎陳成良

A disgruntled viewer is suing Japan’s national broadcaster for mental distress caused by an excessive use of words borrowed from English.

一位心有不滿的觀眾控告日本的國家電視台過度使用英語外來詞，令他精神飽受折磨。

Hoji Takahashi, 71, is seeking 1.4 million yen in damages from NHK.

現年71歲的高橋鵬二（譯音）尋求向NHK電視台索取140萬日圓損害賠償金。

"The basis of his concern is that Japan is being too Americanised," his lawyer Mutsuo Miyata told the news agency AFP.

「他主要擔心日本過度美國化，」他的代理律師宮田康弘（譯音）對法新社說。

English became more prevalent in Japan after World War II during the US-led occupation. This was followed by a growing interest in American pop culture.

二戰後，美國占領日本期間，英語在日本變得更普及。隨之而來的是日本民眾對美國流行文化日益高漲的興趣。

The country’s modern vocabulary is littered with borrowed words, many of which are changed to fit the Japanese phonic structure.

日本的現代詞彙中充斥著外來詞，其中大部分外語詞經過修改，以適應日語的語音結構。

Mr Takahashi, who is a member of a campaign group supporting the Japanese language, highlighted words such as "toraburu"（trouble）, "risuku"（risk）and "shisutemu"（system）in NHK’s news and entertainment programmes.

高橋鵬二是支持日語活動團體的成員，特別指出NHK電視台的新聞節目和娛樂節目大量使用toraburu（trouble）、 "risuku" （risk）和"shisutemu"（system）等外語單詞。

He accused NHK of irresponsibility by refusing to use native Japanese equivalents.

他指責NHK拒絕使用本土的日語同義語，很不負責任。

新聞辭典

prevalent：形容詞，普遍的、盛行的。例句：The unknown disease is prevalent in some countries.（這種不明疾病在一些國家流行。）

be littered with：片語，使充滿。例句：The fire-place was littered with cigarette butts. （壁爐裡丟滿了菸蒂。）

equivalent：名詞，同義語。例句：Some English words have no Chinese equivalents.（有些英文字在中文裡沒有對應的詞。）

本文引用自 自由時報電子報 http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/