美國需要自己的Emoji

ALL I wanted to do was wish my fiancée happy birthday using emojis. But I couldn’t replicate the rebus of the classic Sandra Boynton greeting card: Hippo, Birdie, Two Ewes. My vocabulary was too limited.

我無非是想用繪文字祝未婚妻生日快樂而已。但我沒法再現桑德拉·博因頓(Sandra Boynton)經典賀卡上的畫謎：河馬，小鳥，兩隻母羊。我的詞彙量太有限了。

Or I should say that the vocabulary offered by the 722 symbols — faces, animals and various objects — that reside on my smartphone was too limited. The set of emojis that came with my iPhone have birds, seven of them, some very cute, but no hippos and no ewes. It has rams (those are male sheep for readers who know little about animal husbandry), a hog, a cow and even dragons, but no ewes.

應該說，是我的智能手機內置的722個符號——面孔、動物和各種物品——形成了一個非常有限的詞庫。這些iPhone上自帶的繪文字裏有鳥，一共七隻，有幾隻非常萌，但沒有河馬，沒有母羊。裏面有幾隻ram（就是雄性綿羊，請對畜牧沒什麼瞭解的讀者知悉），一隻豬，一頭母牛，甚至還有幾隻龍，但沒有母羊。

There is a simple reason that joke doesn’t translate into emojis. It is not Japanese. And emojis are.

這個笑話不能翻譯爲繪文字的原因很簡單。它不是日本笑話。而繪文字是日本文字。

They are essentially a foreign language that we have tried to adapt for the English language and American customs. I know I risk sounding like a bureaucrat in the French Ministry of Culture lamenting the dilution of the French tongue by English words like computer and Internet. But that is chauvinism. My complaint is practicality.

從根本上說，繪文字是一種外語，我們試圖讓它們適應英語和美國習慣。我知道這種腔調聽着像個法國文化部官僚在哀嘆，法語被computer、Internet之類的英文詞給侵蝕了。但那是沙文主義。我不滿的是實用性。

Emojis have become a popular way to quickly express yourself on the run. Versions of them are also used on Facebook, Twitter, Google chats and Slack. They should be embracing new vocabulary as the English language embraced words that can’t be translated, like the German schadenfreude or the French flâneur.

繪文字已經成爲一種常見的快捷表達方式。Facebook、Twitter、谷歌(Google)聊天工具和Slack都有自己的繪文字。它們應該接納新的詞彙，就像英語接納無法翻譯的外來詞一樣，比如德語的schadenfreude（幸災樂禍），或法語的flâneur（閒逛的人）。

There is just too much I can’t express because the symbols don’t exist. Apple is expected to release a revised set of emojis for the iPhone and iPad in the spring. Mostly it will be offering more racially diverse versions of the existing white faces and hands: black, brown and yellow. (If that made you wince, then you won’t be surprised that the change is already getting some people hot under the collar. And no, you can’t express that American idiom with emojis.)

由於符號的缺失，我有太多的東西無法表達出來。蘋果(Apple)有望在今春發佈一套修訂版iPhone和iPad繪文字。其中主要的改變是在現有的白麪孔和手的基礎上大幅增加種族多樣性，加入黑、棕和黃。（如果這事讓你搖頭，你大概能想象，已經有人對此hot under the collar[直譯“領子下發燙”，意即“怒火中燒”。——譯註]了。是的，這句美國成語也沒法用繪文字表達。）

The original all-white cast reflects how a homogeneous Japanese society sees itself. If you look at their comic books (manga) and cartoons (anime), you know what I’m talking about. Many tall, long-legged blondes with big round Emma Stone eyes populate those universes.

原版繪文字裏的人物全是白皮膚，這反映了一個同質性的日本社會對自身的看法。去看看他們的漫畫(manga)和動畫(anime)你就明白了。那裏面滿是長腿高個子金髮姑娘，長着一對又大又圓的艾瑪·斯通(Emma Stone)式眼睛。

Expanding the universe of humans solves only part of the problem because the entire set is infused with Japanese sensibilities. There is the unchi-kun, or the smiling poop emoji. That character had appeared for decades in Japanese commercials, in bedrooms as children’s plush toys and even as candy before it ever showed up on a cellphone screen.

拓展人類譜系只解決了一部分問題，因爲整套繪文字依然浸淫着和式感性。裏面有“運氣君”(unchi-kun)，就是一坨笑眯眯的屎。在進入手機之前，這個角色在日本已經存在了幾十年，它出演過廣告，被做成毛絨玩具擺在孩子的臥室裏，甚至還做成糖果。

Or look at the smartphone screen full of buildings. One of them is a “love hotel,” a place for assignations where wildly decorated rooms can be rented for an hour or two. No seedy motels are offered. Japanese love their excellent public transportation, and I count 12 train symbols and three aerial tramways. But no pickup truck.

再來看看智能手機上滿屏的建築物。其中有“情侶酒店”，這是一種約會的地方，有裝修十分誇張的房間可供情人們租用一兩個小時。裏面沒有破破爛爛的汽車旅館。日本人對他們卓越的公共交通系統鍾愛有加，我一共找出了12個火車符號，三種空中纜車。沒有皮卡。

Indeed, the Japanese vocabulary is most notable for what it fails to offer Americans. For example, there is no middle-finger hand signal. Or the good-luck signal of fingers crossed. No Vulcan salute to live long and prosper, which would have been much appreciated following the recent death of Leonard Nimoy, who played a Vulcan on “Star Trek.”

這份日語詞彙表實在很少照顧到美國人的需求。比如裏面沒有豎中指的手勢。也沒有兩指交叉的好運手勢。沒有祝願“生生不息，繁榮昌盛”的瓦肯禮，鑑於《星際迷航》(Star Trek)中飾演瓦肯人的倫納德·尼莫伊(Leonard Nimoy)近日剛剛去世，要是有的話應該會是件很貼心的事。

Want to tell your boss you’re too sick to go to work? The face mask emoji works in Japan, where regular people wear them in public. In America your boss might think you quit to go to med school or started robbing banks. (There is also no broken-down car, also useful for excuses.)

想對老闆說病重不能去上班？在日本可以用一個戴口罩的繪文字，那裏普通人也會在公共場合戴口罩。在美國，你老闆可能會以爲你要辭職去讀醫學院，或者搶銀行。（另外也找不到趴窩的汽車，那應該也是個好用的藉口。）

Among the pets there are no labs or golden retrievers, just Akitas and a poodle. Nothing for that most American of holidays, Thanksgiving. No turkey. Not even a whole roasted chicken.

寵物裏沒有拉布拉多或金毛，只有秋田犬和貴賓。感恩節這個最具美國特色的節日，裏面毫無提及。沒有火雞。連整隻的烤雞都沒有。

Food is a particular problem. There is no steak, no burritos, no bacon and no kale. (Though the dragon head kind of looks like kale and might be an adequate substitute.)

食物的問題格外嚴重。沒有牛排，沒有墨西哥捲餅，沒有培根，沒有甘藍菜。（不過龍頭倒是挺像甘藍，也許可以冒充一下。）

An international body exists that is trying to add as many as 250 emojis. The list is long and the debate contentious.

有一個國際組織正在嘗試加入多達250個繪文字。候選列表很長，各方爭執不下。

To make room, they could eliminate the emojis that represent the strange Japanese fascination with antiquated technology like three kinds of CDs, a floppy disk and tape cassette, pager and TV with rabbit ears.

爲了騰出空位，他們可能會去掉一些現有的繪文字——它們體現的是日本人對古董級技術的癡迷，比如裏面有三種CD，有軟盤和磁帶、尋呼機和帶兔耳天線的電視機。

But please don’t get rid of what looks like a film noir sequence of emojis: lit cigarette, bomb, pistol, knife, pill, bloody hypodermic needle and money bag. That’s speaking my language.

但是請不要去掉那些黑色電影片段一般的繪文字：點燃的香菸，炸彈，手槍，刀，藥丸，血淋淋的皮下注射器，錢袋。那是我的語言。