正文翻譯

What should I absolutely not do when visiting the USA?

有什么事情是去美國的時候絕對不能做的？

評論翻譯

7. Ditto on politics, especially policies about immigration, military spending, healthcare, gun control and race/gender.
Unless you know that your host/companions are open-minded, peaceful orators, do not discuss politics, especially the aforementioned issues. At all. With the exception of the beautiful people on Parks and Recreation, people with differing political opinions in America hate each others guts - and they might hate you too if you don't agree with them on some opinions. On the flip side, if you do, they might take it that their opponents are even more wrong "because the world agrees with them", and worst case scenario parade you around as an unwilling supporter. I've been through this. You don't want this.
8. Don't look at or show opinion about obese Americans
In your country, fat people might be shunned, and obesity is widely accepted as a health problem. In America, there's an odd duality of "love your image" and "skinny is good". Being vocal about folks in Wal-Mart will almost certainly earn you looks - you're either a bigot or a superficial hater. Don't say that "I'm not hating the person, I just think being fat is a serious health issue". Just be mum about it.

7. 政治問題也是如此，特別是關于移民、軍費開支、醫(yī)療保健、槍支管制和種族/性別的政策。
除非你知道你的東道主/同伴是思想開放、和平的演說家，否則不要討論政治，特別是上述問題。完全不要。除了《公園與娛樂》里的美女們，在美國，政治觀點不同的人都互相恨得牙癢癢--如果你不同意他們的某些觀點，他們可能也會恨你。反過來說，如果你同意，他們可能會認為他們的對手更錯了，因為"全世界都同意我們的觀點"，最壞的情況是把你當做一個當面一套背地一套的口頭支持者。我經歷過這種情況。你也不想這樣吧
8. 別看或表現(xiàn)出對美國肥胖者的看法。
在你的國家，胖子可能會被避之不及，肥胖被廣泛接受為健康問題。在美國，"愛自己的樣子"和"瘦是好的"之間有一種奇怪的二元對立的情況。在沃爾瑪對逛超市的人隨意評價，幾乎肯定會給你掙得以下看法--你要么是個心胸狹窄的偏執(zhí)狂，要么是個膚淺的討厭鬼。不要試圖爭辯"我不是討厭這個人，我只是覺得胖是個嚴重的健康問題"。只要假裝木訥一點就好了。

9. Don't assume the "stupid American" stereotype
Last but not least, don't assume Americans are stupid. They might know more about your country than you think, and with all the troubles in number 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, you might be discouraged from even talking to them. Just talk to Americans, don't assume anything about their intelligence, and avoid those touchy waters. The majority of Americans love to talk, and once they've decided that you act with respect and friendliness, you'll oft be surprised. Once you're comfortable enough, you may allow yourself to touch 5, 6, 7 and 8.
Still avoid sports though. Even the most open-minded professor I know turns into a hardcore Patriots fan when cornered.

9. 不要預設一個"愚蠢的美國人"的刻板印象。
最后但并非最不重要的是，不要以為美國人是愚蠢的。他們可能比你想象的更了解你的國家，并且也在煩惱著4、5、6、7和8的所有麻煩，和他們討論這些你可能還真說不過他們。和美國人聊天，不要對他們的智商有什么假設，避開那些敏感的話題就好。大多數(shù)美國人都喜歡交談，一旦他們認定你的行為是尊重和友好的，你會經常感到驚訝。一旦你足夠自在，你就可以允許自己接觸5、6、7和8中的避諱了。
不過還是要避開討論體育。即使是我認識的最開明的教授，被逼急了也會變成鐵桿的愛國者球迷。

Hunter Johnson
The only inaccuracy in your post is that baseball is not the “favorite pastime” of America. Historically that is true, but college & professional football (gridiron) has long since overtaken baseball in terms of revenues, viewership, and attendance at games.

你文章中唯一不準確的地方是，棒球已經不是美國人"最喜歡的消遣"。從歷史上看，這是事實，但大學與職業(yè)橄欖球在收入、收視率和比賽上座率上早已超過了棒球。

Rich Stolte
It's a pretty good list, but two or three of the items could be summed up by just not criticizing the country you are visiting. I think that is a really good idea no matter what country you are going to isn't it? Would you go to France and gripe to French citizens about all the the things you don't like there? Don't do it in the U.S., don't do it in France, don't do it anywhere. It's rude.

這是一個相當不錯的清單，但其中有兩三條可以用“不要批評你要去的國家”來概括。我覺得無論你去哪個國家，這都是一個非常好的想法，不是嗎？你會去法國向法國公民抱怨你不喜歡那里的一切嗎？在美國不要這么做，在法國不要這么做，在任何地方都不要這么做。這是不禮貌的。

Nguyen Dinh Giang
Aye, but since the US enjoys a prestigious position few countries have, many people gladly ignore the etiquette to boast about their country and/or throw the US under the bus to feel good. I see this more with tourists here, at least.

是的，但由于美國享有很少國家有的威望地位，許多人樂于無視禮節(jié)來夸耀自己的國家，和/或把美國貶低一番來讓自己感覺爽一點。至少這一點我在來這里的游客身上看到過不少。

Michelle Pitzer
Last year, I visited Macedonia, stayed for 2 weeks, and married my husband who is from there. As an American tourist, I can say only this. Act with others as you want to be treated. I didn't make a big deal about where I'm from. To me, people are just people. On the other hand, it amazed me how much people bent over backwards to help me once they realized where I was from. It's not right that one country's people should be treated differently than another, but that's how it apparently is. My husband waited for me to judge his country as backward compared to mine. I loved the people and the countryside and expressed this. It blows my mind how judgmental people can be about one another. As I said, act as towards others as you want to be treated. That's my rule in and out if the USA.

去年，我訪問了馬其頓，住了兩個星期，并與來自那里的丈夫結婚。作為一個美國游客，我只能這樣說：以你希望被對待的方式與他人相處。我并沒有大肆宣揚我來自哪里。對我來說，人就是人。另一方面，讓我驚訝的是，一旦人們知道我來自哪里，他們就會過于幫助我。一個國家的人和另一個國家的人受到不同的待遇，這是不對的，但事情顯然就是這樣。我的丈夫等著我去評價他的國家與我的國家相比是落后的。我愛這里的人民和國家，也這么表達。人與人之間的相互評判，讓我很震驚。就像我說的，對別人的行為要像你希望被對待的那樣。這是我無論在美國還是不在美國都奉行的準則。

Thomas Murphy
Would I criticise a country? Yes.
And the Frenchman I was speaking with not only agreed with me but gave me his own examples.
Americans are more than usually touchy about how great their country is - as is seen by the plethora of insecure questioners about the place that you see on here.
Incidentally, absolutely nobody seems to have a problem criticising Britain for just about everything so I don’t feel at all constrained not to speak as I find.

我會批評一個國家嗎？會。
而且和我說話的那個法國人不僅同意我的觀點，還給我舉了他自己的例子。
美國人對于他們的國家有多偉大，通常都是很敏感的--從你在這里看到的大量對這個地方缺乏安全感的質疑者就可以看出。
順便說一下，似乎完全沒有人對英國的幾乎所有事情進行批評有任何問題，所以我一點也不覺得按我的發(fā)現(xiàn)說話有什么約束。

Bill Paul
Absolutely Rich. I really don't know why people need to be told these things. It's only common courtesy - and common sense. To be fair, as a Canadian I am far more exposed to U.S. culture and affairs than those from other countries, and I may know better what issues should really be avoided. Even so, no matter what Country you live in, surely you wouldn't go and visit your neighbours in their home and criticize their furniture, or pictures on the wall, etcetera. Why would anyone think it is okay in another Country?
In 1967, I was in the Canadian Navy and my ship was visiting Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Tensions (Catholic vs. Protestant) were running very high and we were warned not to discuss religion AT ALL with the locals. What's more, at that time, Canadian Navy uniforms were very similar to Royal Navy uniforms (no longer true) so we went ashore in civvies only. In spite of the warnings, one of our geniuses (with a few drinks into him) got into a religious argument with the locals. The M.P.s dragged him back to the ship beaten up and wearing only his pants - no shoes, no socks, no shirt, no jacket, and possibly lucky he was still alive.

完全沒錯。我真的不知道為什么人們需要別人告知這些事情。這只是普通的禮貌和常識。公平地說，作為一個加拿大人，我比其他國家的人更多地接觸到美國的文化和事務，我可能更知道什么問題應該真正避免。即便如此，不管你住在哪個國家，你肯定不會在去鄰居家拜訪的時候批評他們的家具，或者墻上的圖片等等。為什么會有人認為在別的國家可以這么做呢？
1967年，我在加拿大海軍服役，我的艦艇正在訪問北愛爾蘭的倫敦德里（英國港口城市）。當時的局勢非常緊張（天主教與新教），我們被警告不要與當?shù)厝擞懻撟诮虇栴}。更重要的是，當時加拿大海軍的制服與英國皇家海軍的制服非常相似（現(xiàn)在已經不一樣了），所以我們上岸時只穿便服。盡管有警告，我們中的一個天才（喝了幾杯酒）還是和當?shù)厝税l(fā)生了宗教爭執(zhí)。長官把他拖回了船上，他被打得遍體鱗傷，只穿著褲子--沒有鞋子，沒有襪子，沒有襯衫，沒有外套，可能還算幸運的是他還活著。

Robert Haynes-Peterson
Americans travel elsewhere and gripe about the places they’re in all the time (I’m American and have traveled a lot - you see it *all* the time). They definitely dish it out, but can’t take it.

美國人到其他地方旅游，對他們所在的地方總是怨聲載道（我是美國人，經常旅行--這種事見的太多了）。他們肯定會各種詆毀別的國家，但不能接受別人也對他們這么做。

Linda Pascoe Hyndman
Well written, Nguyen, thanks! This rings true with my experience in Californian cities too.
I do think America is a bit more 'sensitive' than any other country I have lived in. I believe it is simply a normal part of the American cultural persona in which face-to-face graciousness and politeness is a strongly felt value. There is nothing wrong with that.
It is very helpful, however, to those of us from elsewhere (as asked in the question) to understand how that value presents itself in everyday life so that we do not misunderstand one another. I think Nguyen has explained this really well.
Here is my perspective. In my homeland, Australia, we value face-to-face honesty and trustworthiness, much more than graciousness, so needless to say, I got myself in trouble easily, and was quite frustrated, when I first moved to the US. I spoke my mind expecting to have an honest and detailed discussion, and immediately offended people who clammed up and walked away. I looked for people to be honest with me, and instead was told what people thought I wanted to hear, making me feel I would never find a true friend.
I have now learned something of the subtle differences between all countries, and I hope this helps me to communicate much more effectively wherever I go in the world. In addition, I am sure, I have become a blend of those places too. I have definitely absorbed much of the American and Canadian persona since I have lived in north America now for almost half of my life. Yet I am not completely either American or Canadian. Nor am I any longer completely Australian. Not even European, though I have spent some time there too. Truth is I cannot claim a specific cultural identity anymore, so perhaps that's a good thing?
(Sorry this is so long! I guess I still can ramble ...)

寫的好，阮，謝謝! 這與我在加州城市的經歷也是一致的。
我確實認為美國比我生活過的其他國家更"敏感"一些。我相信這只是美國文化人格的一個正常部分，其中“面對面的親切和禮貌”是一種強烈的價值觀。這并沒有錯。
不過，對于我們這些來自其他地方的人（如問題中所問）來說，了解這種價值觀在日常生活中是如何呈現(xiàn)的是非常有幫助的，這樣我們就不會互相誤解。我覺得阮先生對此解釋得非常好。
下面是我的觀點。在我的祖國澳大利亞，我們重視“面對面的誠實和信任”，而不光是親切，所以不用說，我剛搬到美國時，很容易給自己帶來麻煩，而且相當沮喪。我說出了自己的想法，期望能進行坦誠而詳細的討論，馬上就得罪了一些人，他們嘩啦啦地走了。我找人跟我坦誠相待，卻被告知一些人們以為我想聽的話，讓我覺得自己永遠找不到真正的朋友。
現(xiàn)在，我已經了解了各國之間的一些細微差異，我希望這能幫助我在世界任何地方更有效地進行溝通。此外，我相信，我也已經成為那些地方的融合體。我肯定吸收了很多美國和加拿大的人設，因為我現(xiàn)在已經在北美生活了人生將近一半的時間。然而，我并不是完全的美國人或加拿大人。我也不再完全是澳大利亞人。甚至不是歐洲人，雖然我也在那里呆過一段時間。事實是我不能再宣稱自己有特定的文化身份了，也許這是件好事？
(不好意思，寫了這么長！雖然我想我還是可以說下去......)

Janice Seabolt
I think you can get away with the direct approach better on the East Coast than anywhere else in the U.S. I was born in the South, grew up in California, and now live in the South again. My daughter lives in Boston. I am always amazed at the differences in the different regions. I feel like you do. There isn’t one of the regional cultures I feel I belong to. I never quite fit in anywhere, and I was born in the U.S. It must be much worse for you

我認為你在東海岸可以比在美國任何地方都能更好地適應你的直來直去。我出生在南方，在加州長大，現(xiàn)在又住在南方。我的女兒住在波士頓。我總是對美國不同地區(qū)的差異感到驚訝。我覺得你也一樣。沒有一個地區(qū)的文化讓我覺得屬于自己。我從來沒有在任何地方適應過，而且我出生在美國，對你來說一定更糟。

Janice Woodward
I spent some time in Australia last year, and I loved the Australian plain-spoken attitude. I said something in a training class in response to some teasing that was taken well there, but would've gotten me disciplinedin the US. I found that being open and interested in the people and places I was served me well.

去年我在澳大利亞呆了一段時間，我很喜歡澳大利亞人直言不諱的態(tài)度。我在一次培訓課上針對一些嘲笑說了一些話，在那里被認為是很好的，但在美國會讓我受到懲罰。我發(fā)現(xiàn)一個對人有趣又開放的地方真的讓我很自在。

Robert Haynes-Peterson
Very well written and observed! I love these “outside” observations from people who have come to the U.S. and lived. Spot on!
This in particular: “You should never take the locals' word on how boring or tourist-trap-y a place is. It might not be a daily excitement for the people who have been here for a long time, but it is iconic and you'd probably kick yourself later if you don't go.”
I agree 100%, especially in places like NYC, LA, San Francisco. The icons are new to you, so go enjoy them. I’ve lived in NYC 18 years and some icons I still love and marvel at (Empire State), others I don’t think are worth the time (Statue of Liberty). But I made the mistake big time in July, 2001.
Friend was in town for the first time, I took him all over. Tried to take him to the Empire State, but the lines were prohibitively long. He said, “what about the World Trade Center?” I said, “nah, view’s not as good, the building’s not as cool.” He was clearly disappointed, but followed my lead. You know what happened two months later…
If you want to see the Naked Singing Cowboy or eat at John’s Pizza or watch whatever is the most crowd-pleasing musical of the moment (“Hamilton” is an exception as it’s amazing), by all means do it! If your hosts don’t want to do it, go without them! Enjoy!

寫的很好，觀察得很到位! 我喜歡這些來美國生活過的人的"外圍"觀察。一針見血!
尤其是這句話。“你千萬不要聽信當?shù)厝说脑?，說一個地方有多無聊或旅游陷阱。對于在這里呆了很久的人來說，可能已經對它失去了興奮感，但它還是是標志性的，如果你不去一趟，以后可能會后悔?！?br>我100%同意，尤其是在紐約、洛杉磯、舊金山這樣的地方。標志性的東西對你來說是新的，所以要去享受它們。我在紐約住了18年，有些標志性的東西我還是很喜歡，很贊嘆（帝國大廈），有些我覺得不值得去（自由女神像）。但我在2001年7月犯了大錯。
朋友第一次來城里，我?guī)教幦ネ?。想帶他去帝國大廈，但排隊的時間太長了。他說，"世貿中心怎么樣？" 我說："不行，景色沒那么好，建筑沒那么酷。" 他顯然很失望 但還是聽從了我的建議。你知道兩個月后發(fā)生了什么...
如果你想看裸體唱歌的牛仔或者在約翰比薩店吃飯，或者看任何當下最吸引人的音樂劇("漢密爾頓"是個例外，因為它非常棒)，無論如何都要去做! 如果你的東道主不想去，就離開他! 自己好好享受吧!

Ludovic Turlier
The issue is that Americans can also be curious, some of them keep asking many of these questions to us strangers... Often it's the same ones who believe there is a right and a wrong answer for every subject.
Examples:
Redneck America, 5 minutes after meeting the guy, he asks: "we don't like black culture here, do you ?". Hem. Run.
NYC America: "Why you French people smoke all the time" followed by a street monologue on the 2 countries. A long one.
Anywhere America: "we saved your ass in WW2" as a point if you disagree about anything whatsoever.
etc...
My point for the turist is: don't talk about these subjects, *especially* if an American asks you about it.
(Of course it works both ways, I met American turists in Paris who met someone willing to rant about G W Bush in front of them... every day ! Pity.)

問題是美國人也會有好奇心，有的人會不斷向我們這些陌生人提出很多這樣的問題...而且這些人往往心里已經為每個題目都設定了一個正確和錯誤的答案。
舉例來說。
美國紅脖子，在見到一個人5分鐘后，他問道："我們不喜歡這里的黑人文化，你呢？"。嗯......跑吧。
住在紐約的美國人："為什么你們法國人總是抽煙"，然后就是一段對兩個國家的自我獨白。很長的一段。
任何地方的美國人："我們在二戰(zhàn)中救了你們的命"，如果你對任何事情有異議，他們就會用這句話回你。
等等。
我給游客的觀點是：不要談論這些話題，*尤其是*在美國人問你的時候。
(當然這也是雙向的，我在巴黎就遇到過美國的游客，他們遇到有人愿意在他們面前大談特談喬治布什如何如何......天天如此! 真同情他們。)