中外幽默碰撞

中外幽默碰撞

When Cultures Collide: Chinese and Foreign Perception of Humor

4月22日，“國際朋友說”第6期在北京大學未名湖湖心島的“魯斯亭報告廳”舉辦，邀請北大的留學生嘉賓一起探討“中外幽默碰撞”這一話題。

The 22nd of April, Ruth Hall on a Weiminghu Lake's islet in Peking University served the date and the place for the sixth meeting of "World Speaking" club, a special Peking University edition. We invited PU foreign students to give a talk on Chinese-Western humor.

主持人(Hosts)：吳星鐸（Wu Xingduo）、 蘇莉（Anastasia Sukhoretskaya）、于嬿華（Filiz Unal）

嘉賓(Guests)：意大利留學生安德雷亞（Damuding Andrea,Italy),美國留學生星悅 （Lila Kidson,the USA), 馬來西亞留學生朱致瑩（Choo Tzer Ying,Malaysia), 阿富汗留學生羅明（Mohammad Ramin,Afghanistan),美國留學生馬小龍（Brendan Dowling,the USA),委內瑞拉留學生袁旖嬪（Yuanfeng Yibin ,Venezuela), 保加利亞留學生狄特（Dimitar Vladimirov Yosifov,Bulgaria),日本留學生中村大熙（Nakamura Taiki,Japan)

幽默大碰撞

Big Collision of Cultures

星悅：中美網紅有知音

互聯網現在可以造就很多網紅。比如說中國的papi醬，覺得她特別幽默特別好笑。只要你聽得懂中文，她的這些笑點你都能體會。美國也有一個類似的網紅，叫珍娜·瑪波，我覺得她們倆特別能對得上，她們

Lila: China and the USA have lookalikes among Internet celebrities.

Nowadays, the Web generates a lot of “Internet celebs”. For example, papi. I think, she is so hilarious. If you understand Chinese, you won’t have a problem getting the jokes. In the USA there is a similar “Internet celebrity” called Jenna Mar-都非常愛聊女孩的煩惱，比如減肥、美食、談戀愛等等。我覺得她們講的很多幽默都特別相似。bles. I believe, these two are quite similar. They both rattle about some girly issues like weight loss, food, romance etc. They are very funny and even look quite alike.

狄特：讓你笑的那個人

保加利亞也有一些脫口秀節目，我記得每周二的一個節目，叫“讓你笑的那個人”，它每期會請不同的人來演講，主要反映我們生活中的一些笑點，這個節目很會諷刺。

Dimitar: The man who makes you laugh

There is a talk-show program in Bulgaria broadcast every Tuesday called “Komicite”. In Bulgarian language it means “the man who makes you laugh”. Every program they invite guests to make a performance. The episodes are of a rather satirical nature, they mock many aspects of our life.

馬小龍：好的幽默大家都會笑

中美文化交流也越來越多，越來越好。在美國能去電影院看中國的電影，比如說周星馳的《美人魚》。同樣，在中國，也能看到美國的一些電影很流行，包括電視節目，我覺得雖然有文化的差異，但是好的幽默、好的電影，大家都會笑。拿脫口秀來說，美國有《艾倫秀》，中國也有《金星秀》，“完美！”說起脫口秀，美國這些年最好的就是“周六夜現場”，這個節目每個星期六出一期，已經20多年了，每期都很幽默。

Brendan: Everyone will appreciate a good joke

The American and Chinese cultural exchanges are growing bigger and stronger. It is a reality now in the USA that when you go to the movies, you can also see some Chinese movie on. For example,“Mermaid”. The same is true for China. They run some of the most popular American movies and TV series. I guess, despite cultural differences, a good movie, a good joke can make everyone laugh. Concerning talk-shows, in the USA we have “Ellen’s show”, in China it is “Jin Xing’s show” “Perfect”. Again about talk-shows, in the recent years the top show has been “Saturday Night Live (SNL)”. It’s a weekly program, aired every Saturday. It has been on the screens for more than 20 years, and every episode is hilarious.

朱致瑩：馬來西亞也有相聲和網紅

馬來西亞也有相聲，幾個相聲老師姚新光、蘇維勝就師承馬季，馬季曾經來新加坡、馬來西亞招徒弟，他們就是他的徒弟。馬來西亞的相聲比較貼近生活。除了相聲之外，我想說馬來西亞也有網紅，例如黃明志，他也會惡搞和諷刺，他常常通過作歌來諷刺社會現象。

Choo Tzer Ying: Malaysia also has crosstalks “xiang sheng” and Internet celebrities

Malaysia has crosstalks as well. We have masters like Yao Xinguang, Su Weisheng. Their teacher is Ma Ji who headed for Singapore and Malaysia in search of disciples. Those two mentioned performers are his disciples. Malay crosstalk, also reflects our every day life. We have Internet celebs too, for instance, Huang Mingzhi who is good at making parodies and mockery. kind of funny. Through a song, one can ridicule some sides of our society.

袁旖嬪：各國都有牛油果的笑點

我覺得各個國家都有一些特別“俗”的笑點，委內瑞拉產一種水果叫牛油果，在中國比較貴，可是在我們國家很便宜。牛油果有一個特點就是它成熟了的時候會很軟，你一捏它就會碎，或者是爛掉。這里有一個說法，就是“千萬不要捏，如果你想捏的話就捏你的屁股吧！”很多人就會笑很久，像這樣的笑話中國也有很多。

Yuanfeng: Every country has its “avocado” jokes.

I believe, every country has the jokes peculiar to its culture. In Venezuela we have a national fruit called avocado, which is very expensive in China and very cheap there. When the fruit is ripe, it becomes very soft. I can smash it with my fingers easily. With this regard, a humorous saying was born: “Don’t pinch avocados. If you need to pinch something, then do it to your butt”. It made a lot of people chuckle for a long time. China has similar examples.

羅明：整個城市的人都在笑

在我們阿富汗，有一個脫口秀叫“漢達巴澤爾”，意思是整個城市的人都在笑，大家對某種社會現象表示很不滿意的時候，他們用比較瘋狂的表演方式，在舞臺上表達。經常會有一個主題是城市人和農村人的對比，特別有意思。

Mohammad: The whole city is laughing.

In my country, Afghanistan, we have a talk-show called “Khanda Ba Zare” which in our language means “the whole city is laughing”. When people are discontent with some society’s aspects, they express it on the stage with a wild performance. One of the hottesttopics is the comparison between villagers and city dwellers. I think this is interesting.

左起：羅明、狄特、馬小龍、星悅、安德雷亞、朱致瑩、中村大熙、袁旖嬪

中村大熙：日本“落語”VS中國“單口相聲”

日本有一個比較傳統的幽默藝術叫“落語”，是一個人表演，有點類似美國的獨角喜劇和中國的單口相聲。落語起源于300多年前的江戶時期，有不少段子和中國淵源甚深，有的直接取自中國明末作家馮夢龍所編的《笑府》。后來又受到《宮廷野史》和《聊齋志異》等文學作品的影響。中國的相聲是站著說，日本落語是坐著說。

Nakamura: Japanese “luo yu” vs. Chinese stand-up comedy “xiang sheng”.

In Japan we have a traditional show called “luo yu”. It is a “one man show” which resembles the American and Chinese stand-up comedy. Japanese stand-up comedy show dates back to 300 years ago, to the Jianghu times. Besides, many episodes were based on the Chinese ones, some of them were taken verbatim from China’s late Ming dynasty’s writer Feng Menglong and his literary work “Xiaofu”. Later, the Japanese stand-up was influenced by “Unofficial history” and “ Strange Stories from Chinese Studio”. The Chinese “xiang sheng” is performed while artists are standing, and in Japan when they are seated.

安德雷亞：無論怎樣也不能沒有手勢！

在意大利，我們不管說什么話，一定會加手勢的。如果一個人說話沒有用手勢的話他肯定不是意大利人。有些話甚至你都不用開口，直接用手勢說就行了。意大利比較有名的演員，或者脫口秀主持人，他們之所以精彩，在我看來都是因為他們手勢很到位。

Andrea: No matter what the situation is, you need to use the gesture.

In Italy, no matter what you are talking about, you always need to show this gesture. If an Italian is talking without using the gesture, then he’s not Italian. In some situations you even don’t need to open your mouth, making this gesture would be enough. Some well-known Italian actors and show hosts are popular due to having mastered this useful gesture.

融合生笑點

The blend of languages produces a new joke

星悅：中外語言的融合，會產生笑點，我覺得在中國有一些比較幽默的流行用語，都是中文和英文融合的結果，聽著聽著就忘了其實這不是英語母語的人說的英文。上次我回家，我妹妹開車不專心，做一些別的事情，差一點撞了，我看到就說：“NO ZUO NO DIE。”這就是中文“不作死就不會死”的比較搞笑的英文“譯法”。

Lila: The blend of Chinese and English can give the beginning to a new joke. I think, in China they have some popular expressions, which are the result of mixing English and Chinese. You might even forget that the speaker’s native language is not English. Last time, when I was back home, my sister was driving her car too carelessly, all the time she was distracted by something. We almost ran into a car, then I said to her:“No zuo no die”. In Chinese it means “If you don’t look for trouble, you won’t run into it”. It’s a quite funny English interpretation.

Host: This curious way of mixing English and Chinese is called Chinglish. There are phrases like “Good good study, day day up” “Peoplemountain people sea” etc. If someone insulted you, you can say: “I will give you some color to see see”.

主持人：像“NO ZUO NO DIE”這樣的中英融合的搞笑的說法，我們叫它“Chinglish”， 比如最經典的“Good Good Study，Day Day Up（好好學習天天向上）”，還有“People Mountain People Sea（人山人海）”。還有比如誰得罪了你，你可以說“I will give you some color to see see（我要給你點顏色看看）”。

星悅：比如最近流行“友誼的小船說翻就翻”，因為友誼（Friendship）的發音像“翻的ship(船）”。

中村大熙：其實現在大家都在說的“萌萌噠”的“萌”，是從日語過來的，一開始是日本宅男文化。

Lila: As an exmaple, there is a popular saying “The little friendship boat turned over”

Nakamura: Actually, many people nowadays use the phrase”萌萌噠” ( cute), where “萌” is originally a Japanese word, used by stay-athome boys in Japan.

老外學中文

Foreigners learning Chinese

主持人：大家在學中文的過程中，由于對中文還沒有掌握得特別好，或者是因為中外的文化差異，肯定也鬧過不少笑話吧。

星悅：當然有啊，尤其是因為中文的很多詞表面的意思和實際含義是不一樣的。比如說有一次我跟我一個男性朋友在吃飯，他點了一份豆腐，看起來好好吃，我就說：“哎，我可以吃你的豆腐嗎？”后來就發現原來這句話還有另外一個意思。

安德雷亞：我開始學中文的時候有幾個臺灣和香港的朋友。香港人說普通話的時候經常把語序顛倒，比如“快點給錢我”，所以我一直以為中文是這個語序，后來我和同學打籃球，特別

Host: In your Chinese learning process, because you haven’t mastered Chinese to a good level yet or because of some culture differences, you certainly must have come across some embarrassing situations.

Lila: Yes, for sure. Especially in Chinese there are some words that mean something different from what they express. For example, once me and my male friend were eating out. He ordered a plateful of tofu. It looked very appetizing, and I asked him: “Hey, can I eat you tofu?” editor’s note: To eat “tofu“ in chinese means “to flirt”. Only later I discovered its other meaning.

Andrea: When I just started learning Chinese, I had several friends from Taiwan and Hong Kong. When the hongkongers speak Chinese, they tend to mix the word order. For example, they might say:“Quickly give the money me I always thought that’s the right word order. Later when I was playing basketball with my friends, I said in a hurry: Quickly give the ball me. My classmates started laughing at me. I also have friends from Taiwan, they speak Chinese in an especially sweet manner. Instead of There is no difference they would say Don’t bother about it. I also adopted this manner in my speech. Later, one of my friends from Shanxi pointed at me saying: Pussy!. I didn’t know what it meant at the beginning, but I never spoke in this Taiwanese way again.

Choo Tzer Ying: When we, Malaysian, speak Chinese, we tend to著急地說：“快點給球我！”同學們都笑。還有臺灣人，說話比較嗲，“沒有區別”他們會說“沒差啦”，“你在說什么”他們會說“你在唆什么”，我也受影響這么說，后來一個山西的朋友指著我說：“娘炮。”我一開始也不知道“娘炮”是什么意思，后來我再也不臺灣腔了。

朱致瑩：我們馬來西亞人說中文，總喜歡加一些語氣詞。比如“哇啦喂”。我們好像不管什么事情都可以“哇啦喂”。比如去吃飯人很多，我們就會“哇啦喂”；考試考得很好，“哇啦喂”；考試考不好，“哇啦喂”。所以下次聽馬來西亞人說話可以自動省略掉后面的“哇、啦、咯、嘞、嘛、哈、嗯、啊”。

羅明：在中國有各種方言，有的地方的方言“s”和“sh”不分。有一天我去逛街，看到一個錢包，很好看。我說：“這個多少錢？”他說：“4塊錢。”我正好有5塊錢在口袋，我就拿出來說：“給我1塊錢，因為這是4塊錢。”他說不夠。一番解釋之后，我才知道他說的不是4塊錢，是10塊錢。我認識了一個剛剛學漢語的朋友，我問：“你是哪兒的？”他說：“我是一般人。”我說：“我也是一般人，我說你是來自哪里？”他說：“我就是一般人。”后來我發現，原來他說的是“我是日本人”。

馬小龍：有一次，我到我西安的朋友家里做客，他父母說“你多吃點”。我說我真不吃，我今天生病了，不舒服，頭疼什么的。然后他說你多喝點“費”，我就不懂什么是“費”呢，我朋友說是“水”。后來我也慢慢學了一點兒西安話。

狄特：有一次我坐出租車，跟司機說我要去保加利亞大使館的前門，可能我的表達不流暢，司機很疑惑：“你到底是去大使館還是去前門？”我還是堅持說我去我們大使館的前門，后來我才知道，前門指的是北京的前門大街的前門，我們大使館是前門兒，我應該加兒化音。

add modal particles, for example, "Oh, la, wei”. No matter what the occasion is, we always use this “Oh, la, wei”. The exam went well, “Oh, la, wei”, the exam didn’t go smoothly, “Oh, la, wei”. Next time when you hear the Malaysians speaking, ignore them: “wa”, “la”, “luo”, “lei”, “ma”, “ha”, “en”,”a”.

Mohammad: There are so many dialects in China. In some parts of China people don’t differentiate between “sh” and“s”. Once when I went shopping, I saw a pretty purse. I asked: “How much?” The peddler said: “Four kuai”. I had five kuai in my pocket. I gave it to him demanding one kuai as a change. He then said the money was not enough. After some explanation having been done, only did I understand he was asking for ten kuai from the beginning and not four kuai. I remember I got a friend who just started learning Chinese. I asked him: “Where do you come from?” He replied: “I am an ordinary person”. I said that I was also an ordinary person, but asked him again: “Where do you come from?” He again answered: “I am an ordinary person”. Later I discovered, he meant he was from Japan , only that his “Japan” did not sound like Japan at all.

Brendan: Once I was in Xi’an visiting a friend. When I was at his home, his parents encouraged me to eat more. I politely refused saying “I don’t want to eat, got sick, don’t feel well, got a headache” and so on. Then they told me to drink more “fei”,“waste”). I really didn’t know what they meant by “fei”. Then, with the help of my Xi’an friend, I learnt they were saying“shui”, water. I learnt a bit about Xi’an dialect.

Dimitar: Once I took a cab and asked the driver to take me to the front gate of the Bulgarian Embassy. Maybe I didn’t pronounce it well, the driver felt uncertain: “Where, after all, are you going? The Embassy or the Qianmen Street?

Later I knew, “Qianmen refers to the Qianmen Street in Beijing, our Embassy’s front gate is pronounced “qian mener”. I should have added at the end of “Qianmen”.

笑點排行榜

The chart of most humorous and least humorous nations.

主持人：談談大家心目中的笑點排行榜。哪個國家的人笑點高，這個笑話特別可笑他也不笑；哪個笑點低，特別容易被逗笑。

安德雷亞：以我個人的經歷來看，我覺得中國人笑點最低，我有一個中國好朋友，我干什么他都笑。比如上課回答問題也是，任何一個中國人站起來回答問題，沒事。老師說，誰來？我說，我來，然后他就笑。我還覺得中國的東北人笑點低，但是同時他們也特別幽默，我比較喜歡二人轉，東北F4。

Host: Now let’s talk about which nation is the most humorous and least humorous. If the nation’s sense of humor is high, means they are easy to be made laughing. And if it’s vice versa, then even if it is the funniest joke ever, they won’t smile at it.

Andrea: Out of my own experience, I believe the Chinese has the highest sense of humor. I have a Chinese friend who no matter what I do always laugh at me. Like when we are in the class and the teachers asks us questions, if it is for a Chinese student to stand up, my friend doesn’t move. But when the teachers asks: “Who will be answering?” and I say: “I will”, he starts giggling. I think the people from North-Eastern China

星悅：我也覺得中國人的笑點蠻低的，可能唯一比中國人低的就是美國人。但我不知道是美國人的笑點很低，還是我個人的笑點很低。

朱致瑩：笑點最高的不知道，笑點最低的話，其實每個人的笑點不一樣，我個人覺得馬來西亞人笑點蠻低的。

羅明：阿富汗我覺得也是很低。相反我們的鄰居伊朗就比較高。

馬小龍：我覺得美國的笑點肯定是最低的，毫無疑問，最高冷的應該是英國。

袁旖嬪：委內瑞拉屬于拉丁美洲，我覺得拉美人的笑點都還蠻低的。就像我開始舉的那個“牛油果”的例子，他們就會笑很久。因為可能人生活節奏比較慢，壓力沒那么大，就一直都笑笑笑。

狄特：我覺得笑點很高的都是歐洲偏北的國家，比如英國、德國。中國的話，我覺得北方人笑點高，南方人很低。我覺得我們保加利亞人笑點比較低，但是就我而言，我的笑點比較高。

中村大熙：日本人的笑點可能比中國人的高。我有一次和中國朋友去看一個日本電影，中國觀眾都笑了，我卻沒笑。但是我覺得笑點最高的還是英國人，他們的幽默特別冷。

has a great sense of humor and they are funny themselves. I love "er ren zhuan", a duet from China’s North-East.

Lila: I also think that the Chinese has the highest sense of humor. Maybe the only other country that beats China here is the USA. But I’m not sure if it’s the American sense of humor is high or is it just mine.

Choo Tzer Ying: I’m not sure about what country has the driest sense of humor, because everyone has its own perception of humor. I personally think that Malaysian people have the highest sense of humor.

Mohammad: I believe people from Afghanistan has the best sense of humor. Afghanistan’s neighbor country Iran has a drier sense of humor.

Brendan: I think it’s the Americans who have the best sense of humor. And no doubt, the emotionally coldest nations is the British.

Yuanfeng: Venezuela is in Latin America. I think that the Latin-Americans have the best sense of humor. I brought this example with avocado to you, where people were laughing for so long. Their life is very relaxed, less stress so they laugh all the time.

Dimitar: I think the Northern European countries have the lowest sense of humor, like England, Germany. Concerning China, I also think in the Northern part of China people have a rather low sense of humor, and high sense of humor in the South. I think in Bulgaria we have a high sense of humor but mine is quite low.

Nakamuro: Maybe in Japan the sense of humor is drier than in China. Once I went to watch a Japanese movie with my Chinese friend. All the Chinese audience was laughing except me. But I think the lowest sense of humor is in England. Their humor is a bit cold.

一句話結尾

Summing up:

中村大熙：煩惱的事情，換個角度來看，都可以找到幽默。

羅明：幽默是生活的鹽。

安德雷亞：幽默是生活的米。

馬小龍：幽默感讓生活更完美。

狄特：做一個讓你笑的人。

星悅：幽默是友誼的開端，感覺自己萌萌噠。

朱致瑩：幽默源于生活。

袁旖嬪：面帶笑容，問問自己：笑飽了沒有？

（本期合作單位：北京大學國際合作部，中文整理：吳星鐸，英文整理：蘇莉，實習生劉暢參與錄音整理）

Nakamura: In any annoying situations, once change the angle, can find something humorous.

Mohammad: Humor is the salt of life.

Andrea: Humor is the rice of life.

Brendan: Sense of humor makes perfect!

Dimitar: Be a person who makes everyone laugh.

Choo Tzer Ying: The humor comes from life.

Yuanfeng: with smile on your face,ask yourself ,did you laugh enough today?

(The cooperating organization is Office of International Relations,Peking University,Chinese version: Wu Xingduo; English version: Anastasia Sukhoretskaya; intern Liu Chang responsible for recording decipherment)