正文翻譯

網(wǎng)友討論：住在韓國(guó)是怎樣的體驗(yàn)？

評(píng)論翻譯

The negatives: Confucianism is alive and well. While this system of social organization has some positives in that it creates an ostensibly polite society that values decorum, order, and respect, it also fosters age discrimination and an overtly male-dominated social hierarchy. Age, title, and to some degree even place of birth still matter. Changes are afoot, however, as people are now more than ever openly talking about this very element of their society whereas it would not have been a topic of much open discussion only just a few years ago.

不好的一面：儒家思想仍然存在。雖然這種社會(huì)組織體系有積極的一面，有利于創(chuàng)建一個(gè)表面上重視禮儀，秩序，尊卑的上流社會(huì)，但它同時(shí)也促進(jìn)了年齡歧視，和過(guò)度以男性為主導(dǎo)的社會(huì)等級(jí)制度。年齡，頭銜，某種程度上甚至連出生地點(diǎn)都很重要。但是，社會(huì)正在發(fā)生變化，因?yàn)槿藗儸F(xiàn)在能更公開(kāi)地談?wù)撨@些社會(huì)話(huà)題，而幾年前情況還不是這樣的

These days, it's not uncommon in my university classes that in a group of 28–30 students, at least 5 or 6 will not have siblings. It's so expensive to raise children here. Also, the prevailing mindset is "everyone is my rival". Translated, it means that every couple is in competition with every other couple for their kid to get into the best schools, which invariably means the top three schools in Seoul: Seoul National University, Korea University, and Yonsei University, collectively known as SKY.

我的大學(xué)課堂上有28到30名學(xué)生，其中沒(méi)有兄弟姐妹的學(xué)生至少有五六個(gè)，這種現(xiàn)象非常普遍。在韓國(guó)養(yǎng)孩子的成本太高。而且韓國(guó)社會(huì)中普遍流行一種觀點(diǎn)就是“所有人都是我的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手”。這意味著每隊(duì)夫妻為了讓自己的孩子進(jìn)入最好的大學(xué)，必須要和其他家長(zhǎng)進(jìn)行競(jìng)爭(zhēng)；韓國(guó)首爾最好的三所大學(xué)是首爾大學(xué)，高麗大學(xué)，延世大學(xué)，這幾所大學(xué)統(tǒng)稱(chēng)為SKY.

This is really the key to success here, or so people believe. School names matter. That determines whether or not someone will get a job, even one unrelated to what the student studied in university. However, now the economy isn't so hot, and for the last few years, a significant number of college graduates have not had an easy time finding jobs - around 11% were unemployed in 2017. Ironically, many good trade jobs are available, but there's a stigma attached to anything that looks like manual labor, so most parents still think their child needs a uni degree despite growing evidence that this doesn't guarantee anything.

這是在韓國(guó)通往成功的關(guān)鍵，至少韓國(guó)人是這樣認(rèn)為的。大學(xué)的名字非常重要，決定了你能否得到一份工作，甚至是一份與大學(xué)所學(xué)專(zhuān)業(yè)無(wú)關(guān)的工作。但韓國(guó)現(xiàn)在的經(jīng)濟(jì)并不好，過(guò)去幾年，大量的大學(xué)生在找工作時(shí)遇到了很多問(wèn)題，2017年失業(yè)率大約為11%。諷刺的是，許多不錯(cuò)的銷(xiāo)售工作時(shí)可以找到的，但任何看上去與體力勞動(dòng)有關(guān)的工作在韓國(guó)人眼中都是恥辱。所以大部分家長(zhǎng)依然認(rèn)為孩子需要一個(gè)大學(xué)學(xué)位，盡管越來(lái)越多的證據(jù)表明這并不能保證什么。

Also consider that in their final year of high school, kids here get one chance to take the equivalent of the SAT, and if they don't pass it, they have to wait a full year to retake it. This makes for a society that has high levels of stress built into it.
Koreans tend to be very stressed out and unhappy. As a result, this country also has the highest suicide rate in the OECD (and one of the highest in the world). Most of these are elderly people who, somewhat ironically, are living a lot longer now due to vastly improved living conditions but who are also doing so without the traditional support system of extended family that used to be in place before the nuclear family became the norm. Now many of them are poor and don't want to be a burden to their families, so they take their own lives. The second highest group in that demographic ranges from teens stressed about school to people in their 30's who can't find work. The majority of these are men.

韓國(guó)人往往壓力很大，不開(kāi)心。因此，韓國(guó)也是經(jīng)濟(jì)合作與發(fā)展組織中自殺率最高的國(guó)家(也是世界上自殺率最高的國(guó)家之一)。有些諷刺的是，這些人中大多數(shù)是老年人，由于生活條件的大幅改善，他們的壽命延長(zhǎng)了很多，過(guò)去韓國(guó)的那種大家庭已經(jīng)被核心家庭所替代，老人們無(wú)法再得到來(lái)自大家庭的幫助，因此選擇了自殺。現(xiàn)在許多老年人都很窮，他們不想成為家庭的負(fù)擔(dān)，所以他們選擇結(jié)束自己的生命。自殺人數(shù)第二高的群體從學(xué)業(yè)壓力大的青少年到找不到工作的30多歲人群。其中大多數(shù)是男性。

There's also insane pressure to look good, so cosmetic surgery is nearly as common as rice here. I'm reasonably sure that Korea is considered the plastic surgery capital of the world now. (If it isn’t, it’s certainly in the top 5.) Even teenagers have their eyes widened or their noses re-done, and these days young men have these procedures just as much as young women

韓國(guó)人還有容貌上的焦慮，這里的整容手術(shù)就和大米一樣常見(jiàn)。我有理由相信，韓國(guó)現(xiàn)在被認(rèn)為是世界整形之都了（就算不是，至少也能進(jìn)前5）。甚至連青少年都會(huì)去做整形手術(shù)，把自己的眼睛弄大一點(diǎn)或重新做一下鼻子，現(xiàn)在年輕男性做整形的數(shù)量和年輕女性的一樣多。

Environmentally-speaking, there are sometimes serious issues with air quality, especially in the spring of every year when fine dust from the Gobi Desert is picked up, passed through the filthy air of the eastern Chinese cities, carried across the Yellow Sea, and deposited here. Pretty nasty stuff; it covers cars and houses with what looks almost like a layer of pollen. Some of it actually makes its way to the U.S. west coast via the jet stream. Also, whenever there are fires on the mountains, the particulate matter counts (PM10 and PM2.5) go off the charts, and my phone app reads "very unhealthy." Normally, it's in the 50-60 range ("good"), but this past spring it went up to well over 250 on a few occasions.

就環(huán)境而言，韓國(guó)的空氣質(zhì)量問(wèn)題很?chē)?yán)重，尤其是每年春天戈壁沙漠粉塵揚(yáng)起，穿過(guò)中國(guó)東部城市骯臟的空氣，跨過(guò)黃海，最后落到韓國(guó)上空。這些東西覆蓋在車(chē)子和房子上，就像花粉一樣，很是惡心。其中一些通過(guò)氣流到了美國(guó)西海岸。此外，每當(dāng)山上發(fā)生火災(zāi)，可吸入顆粒物(PM10和PM2.5)的數(shù)值就會(huì)爆表，我的手機(jī)應(yīng)用此時(shí)就會(huì)顯示“非常不健康”的標(biāo)志。正常情況下，數(shù)值在50到60代表良好，但去年春天有時(shí)候超過(guò)了250.

There are many positives, though, and I could go on and on about them and just about being here:
Tap water quality is actually proven to be quite good though most people don't trust this as a fact and still use water purifiers.
People love it when you can speak even a little Korean. It actually helps encourage anyone wanting to learn this somewhat difficult language. Also, the written form of the Korean language, called hangeul, is surprisingly easy to learn.

但韓國(guó)也有好的一面。
韓國(guó)自來(lái)水的質(zhì)量相當(dāng)好，但大多數(shù)人不相信這個(gè)事實(shí)，仍然要使用凈水器。
韓國(guó)人會(huì)很高興你會(huì)說(shuō)一點(diǎn)韓語(yǔ)。這實(shí)際上有助于鼓勵(lì)任何想要學(xué)習(xí)這門(mén)有點(diǎn)難的語(yǔ)言的人。讓人意外的是，韓國(guó)的書(shū)面語(yǔ)，也就是韓語(yǔ)字母發(fā)音表，很容易就能學(xué)會(huì)。

The service industry is very well developed, which happened rapidly as it was virtually non-existent when I first arrived.
When you order something online and have it delivered, it often arrives on the same day or a day later, and the delivery is free.
Internet connectivity is robust pretty much everywhere.
Anything tech-related is highly advanced here.

韓國(guó)服務(wù)業(yè)很發(fā)達(dá)，發(fā)展速度很快，當(dāng)我第一次來(lái)的時(shí)候，韓國(guó)還沒(méi)有服務(wù)業(yè)。
當(dāng)在網(wǎng)上購(gòu)物時(shí)，通常會(huì)在當(dāng)天或一天之后到達(dá)，而且快遞是免費(fèi)的。
韓國(guó)任何地方都能連上互聯(lián)網(wǎng)
任何與科技有關(guān)的事物都很先進(jìn)

Korea has a very old and very rich culture that is endlessly fascinating if you take the time to look into it - and you SHOULD! Furthermore, there are quite a few wonderful historical places to visit as well. See all of the relevant places in Seoul, and then hop on a bus or train for Kyeongju, where you can experience some of the country’s most spectacular ancient sites.

如果你花時(shí)間仔細(xì)研究就會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)韓國(guó)擁有古老，豐富又迷人的文化。而且韓國(guó)有好幾處極佳的歷史遺跡可以參觀。游覽首爾的所有相關(guān)景點(diǎn)，然后乘坐公共汽車(chē)或火車(chē)前往慶州，在那里你可以體驗(yàn)到這個(gè)國(guó)家最壯觀的一些古代遺址。

Public transportation is modern, fast, efficient, well-maintained, cheap, and super simple to use.
As far as crime goes, I’ve personally never experienced any myself. That’s not to say that it doesn’t exist, but I feel one hell of a lot safer here that I would in many places in the U.S. Overall, Korea is a pretty safe place.

韓國(guó)擁有現(xiàn)代化的公共交通，快速，高效，維護(hù)良好，廉價(jià)，而且使用簡(jiǎn)單
我個(gè)人從未經(jīng)歷過(guò)韓國(guó)的犯罪現(xiàn)象。這不是說(shuō)韓國(guó)就沒(méi)有犯罪存在，但但我覺(jué)得韓國(guó)要比美國(guó)很多地方安全得多。總的來(lái)說(shuō)，韓國(guó)是一個(gè)相當(dāng)安全的地方。

Though fast food is ubiquitous these days - most of my students seem to love pizza, and hamburgers - the standard Korean cuisine is excellent. If you ever get the chance to visit a Korean's home, drop what you're doing and go so you don't miss out on what will surely be a great home-cooked meal!

雖然現(xiàn)在快餐無(wú)處不在——我的大部分學(xué)生似乎都喜歡吃披薩，和漢堡，但我認(rèn)為標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的韓國(guó)菜卻很不錯(cuò)。如果你有機(jī)會(huì)到韓國(guó)人家里的話(huà)，那你應(yīng)該把手頭的事情立馬放下，這樣你就不會(huì)錯(cuò)過(guò)一場(chǎng)盛宴了

The healthcare system is very good, and Koreans themselves are quite satisfied with it. It covers about 55% of costs, so you need to buy insurance, but all things considered, it's still quite reasonable. If you have to go to the hospital and don’t speak Korean, it’s a good idea to bring a Korean friend with you as most of the staff won’t know much English. Many doctors do speak English reasonably well, however.
Medicine is dirt cheap.
There’s more to say, but that should give you a sense of what it’s like to live here.

韓國(guó)醫(yī)療系統(tǒng)非常不錯(cuò)，韓國(guó)人自己也相當(dāng)滿(mǎn)意。韓國(guó)醫(yī)保覆蓋了55%的費(fèi)用，所以你需要購(gòu)買(mǎi)保險(xiǎn)，但從各方面考慮，這仍然是相當(dāng)劃算的。如果你要去醫(yī)院，又不會(huì)說(shuō)韓語(yǔ)，最好帶上一個(gè)韓國(guó)朋友，因?yàn)榇蠖鄶?shù)工作人員不太懂英語(yǔ)。然而，許多醫(yī)生的英語(yǔ)說(shuō)得相當(dāng)好。
韓國(guó)藥非常便宜。
還有更多可以說(shuō)的地方，但這應(yīng)該足夠讓你了解住在韓國(guó)是怎么樣的了。