【精英翻譯】的部落格

Think You Always Say Thank You? Oh, Please 你可以再多說些謝謝

精英翻譯社轉自:https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/328741/web/

文／Jennifer Schuessler

譯／陳韋廷

It is a staple of language classes and parental lectures: Say thank you.

語言課程和家長講座總免不了要告訴你：說謝謝。

But as it turns out, human beings say thank you far less often than we might think.

但事實證明，人們說謝謝的次數遠比我們以為的要少。

A new study of everyday language use around the world has found that, in informal settings, people almost always complied with requests for an object, service or help. For their efforts, they received expressions of gratitude only rarely — in about 1 of 20 occasions.

一項關於世界各地日常語言使用的最新研究發現，在非正式場合裡，他人提出有關物品、服務或協助的要求時，人們幾乎總會應允，卻很少得到對方的感謝，大概在20個場合中僅有一次。

This might seem like a damning verdict on human nature, or evidence of a global pandemic of rudeness. But to the researchers, it is good news.

這似乎是對人性的一種譴責性的裁判，或是全球普遍存在粗魯無禮現象的證據，但對研究人員來說這倒是個好消息。

“Our basic stance is one of reciprocity,” said Nick Enfield, a linguist at the University of Sydney, who led the study. “When we ask people to help us, the default is that they will.”

負責這項研究的雪梨大學語言學家尼克．恩菲爾德說：「我們的基本立場是互惠。當我們要求人們幫助我們時，預設情況是他們會這麼做。」

The study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, is part of a broader effort to look at language as a tool grounded primarily in social interaction, rather than as a vehicle for the expression of ideas.

發表於「皇家學會開放科學」期刊的這項研究報告，是個更大研究計畫的一環，整個研究計畫主旨是把語言視為一種主要植基於社會互動的工具，而非思想表達的載具。

In the new paper, called “Universals and Cultural Diversity in the Expression of Gratitude,” a team looked at interactions in eight languages on five continents: English, Italian, Polish, Russian, Lao, Cha’palaa (spoken in Ecuador), Murrinhpatha (an aboriginal language in Australia) and Siwu (spoken in Ghana).

在這篇題為「表達謝意的普遍性和文化多樣性」的新論文中，一個團隊研究了五大洲八種語言的互動情形：英語、義大利語、波蘭語、俄語、寮語、查帕拉語（在厄瓜多使用），Murrinhpatha（澳洲土著語言）及斯武語（在迦納使用）。

The researchers did not examine institutional or business settings, where expressions of thanks might be more common, but focused on casual daily interactions among people who knew one another, as captured by unattended cameras set up in homes or community areas. Any verbal expressions of gratitude (including, in English, phrases like “good job” or “sweet”) were counted as expressions of thanks.

研究人員並未對表達謝意可能更為常見的機構或商業環境進行研究，而是聚焦於彼此認識的人之間的非正式日常互動，就像在家中或社區內設置無人照相機所捕捉的那樣。帶有感謝之意的任何話語（包括英語中的「幹得好」或「真貼心」）都算是表達感謝。

People signal the need for assistance frequently: about every minute and a half, according to the researchers’ samples. And they usually get it: Requests were complied with about seven times more often than not.

研究樣本顯示，人們經常表示需要幫助：大約每一分半鐘一次，而他們通常會得到幫助：對方答應的次數大約是不答應的七倍。

But those who cooperated were very rarely thanked, nor did they seem to expect it. When no thanks were given, the omission was very rarely commented on.

可是那些配合的人很少被感謝，他們似乎也無此期待。當未獲感謝時，很少人會對此發表評論。