美国人对欧洲都有哪些愚蠢的误解？（二）
What are some silly misconceptions Americans have about Europe?
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美国认为的欧洲：
正文翻译
What are some silly misconceptions Americans have about Europe?
美国人对欧洲都有哪些愚蠢的误解？
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What is Europe?
America’s idea of Europe: This idea of Europe for Americans stems from the part of Europe they are most familiar with. This is the part of Europe most Americans visit. The majority of white, especially early Americans, descent from what are now these countries. This region of Europe is most similar to America in terms of language, religion, food, customs, etc. 2. Outdated knowledge of European country names
Most Americans still call what is nowadays the United Kingdom, Great Britain. Also quite a few people still think there is a country called Czechoslovakia.
3. Stereotypes about Europeans
Americans have certain stereotypes about Europeans. For example, that all Swedish women are blonde and beautiful, that French people are smelly, that all Germans wear lederhosen. These are shaped by early European immigrants, or perhaps by later representation of such people in cultural events or in movies.
1.什么是欧洲？
美国认为的欧洲：
（见上图）
美国人对欧洲的这种观念源于他们最熟悉的欧洲部分。这是大多数美国人游览的欧洲部分。大部分白人，尤其是早期的美国人，都来自现在的这些国家。欧洲的这个地区在语言、宗教、食物、习俗等方面与美国最相似。
真实的欧洲是：
2. 过时的欧洲国家名称知识
大多数美国人仍然称现在的联合王国为Great Britain。还有相当多的人仍然认为有一个国家叫捷克斯洛伐克。
3. 对欧洲人的刻板印象
美国人对欧洲人有某些刻板印象。例如，所有的瑞典女人都是金发美女，法国人都很臭，所有的德国人都穿皮短裤。这些都是由早期的欧洲移民塑造的，也可能是后来这些人在文化活动或电影中的表现。
Due to many similarities between Slavic people, such as in language, religion, names, etc., many Americans assume that when they encounter these people they are Russians. There are currently 13 Slavic countries in Europe.
4. 很多斯拉夫人都是俄罗斯人
由于斯拉夫人在语言、宗教、名字等方面有许多相似之处，许多美国人认为当他们遇到这些人时，他们就是俄罗斯人。目前欧洲有13个斯拉夫国家。
其中一些国家的历史比俄罗斯长，大多数国家，特别是南部和西部斯拉夫国家的历史发展完全不同，大部分历史都与俄罗斯独立。西里尔字母不是俄语字母，它是在保加利亚发明的。大多数东正教斯拉夫国家都有自己的国家东正教会，他们不属于俄罗斯东正教会。
5.不发达
美国人想当然地认为，如果欧洲国家还在发展，那么它们就是落后和不成熟的。
I once visited a marine museum near Boston as a child. A very friendly guide asked me where I was from. At first he thought I was Jewish because of my accent (Yiddish is a dialect of Alemannic German so this happens all around the globe actually), then I said I am from Switzerland.
He was very excited and asked me whether we have a lot of sharks in our Fjords in Sweden… I did not know what to answer
Later in my life I realized he mistook Switzerland for Sweden and then Sweden for Norway…
我小时候参观过波士顿附近的一家海洋博物馆。一位非常友好的导游问我从哪里来。一开始他以为我是犹太人，因为我的口音(意第绪语是阿勒曼德语的一种方言，所以这种情况实际上在世界各地都有)，然后我说我来自瑞士。
他非常兴奋，问我瑞典的峡湾里是否有很多鲨鱼……我不知道该怎么回答。后来我意识到他把瑞士当成瑞典，又把瑞典当成挪威……
I find it rather silly that Americans confuse Switzerland and Sweden… Those words in English look nor sound anything alike.
It’s not like Portuguese “Suíça” and “Suécia”, which are really extremely similar.
我觉得美国人把瑞士和瑞典搞混是很愚蠢的……这两个词在英语里看起来和听起来都不一样。
它不像葡萄牙语中的“Suíça”和“Suécia”，这两个词非常相似。
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处
The main one I’ve noticed is that a lot of Americans appear to treat Europe as a single entity with a common identity. They quite often say “I went to Europe” and then apply their experiences of one or two European countries to the continent as a whole. It’s a huge continent made up of many countries with their own unique cultures and languages, and experiences of (say) Paris are likely to be completely different to those of (for example) Warsaw so saying you went to Europe is a vague and largely meaningless statement.
Please, Americans, don’t just say you went to Europe. Be more specific and indicate where in Europe you went. Your experiences in one or two specific countries are not representative of the whole continent, and without telling us which countries you visited it’s impossible to draw any conclusions.
我注意到的一个主要问题是，许多美国人似乎把欧洲视为一个具有共同身份的单一实体。他们经常说“我去过欧洲”，然后把他们在一两个欧洲国家的经验应用到整个欧洲大陆。这是一个巨大的大陆，由许多国家组成，他们有自己独特的文化和语言，在巴黎的经历可能与(例如)华沙的经历完全不同，所以说你去过欧洲是一个模糊和毫无意义的陈述。
拜托，美国人，不要只说你们去了欧洲。具体一点，说明你去过欧洲的哪些地方。你在一两个特定国家的经历并不能代表整个大陆，如果不告诉我们你去过哪些国家，就不可能得出任何结论。
And that's also true the other way round, the USA is vast and each state has it's own unique appeal (or lack off). Having holidayed a few times in the US Las Vegas is different from New York and Rhode Island is completely different to both. Then there's New Orleans which is a unique experience and Orlando and Miami etc.
反过来也是如此，美国幅员辽阔，每个州都有自己独特的吸引力(或缺乏吸引力)。我在美国度假过几次，拉斯维加斯与纽约不同，罗德岛与两者完全不同。还有新奥尔良，这是一种独特的体验，还有奥兰多和迈阿密等等。
That is probably the underlying reason for this misconception. The USA is one enormous country made up of many distinct states, so Americans inevitably think of Europe in the same terms and treat ‘Europe’ as the country with the countries being equivalent to states.
这可能是造成这种误解的根本原因。美国是一个由许多不同的州组成的巨大国家，所以美国人不可避免地以同样的方式看待欧洲，并将“欧洲”视为国家，国家相当于州。
Mostly, I see the misconceptions about the political system and about danger.
The political system is when they hear that there are “socialist” governments in Europe. Now, socialism is a very broad spectrum, that goes all the way from market-based social democracy (along the US Democratic Party) all the way to the former Soviet countries that would be better described as communist, rather than socialist.
So, where Americans hear about a socialist party getting into office, they immediately picture collective farms, a dictatorship of the proletariat and a bunch of grey people marching into work under the watchful eye of the military.
That is just plain funny, as Americans lump everything into the same bag, and they think of having a national health service as akin to an October Day parade at the Kremlin.
The other funny misconception is the perception of danger. I remember in the 80’s, there were a few terrorist attacks in Europe. 100 people may have been dead, out of a population of 500 million over the course of a decade. More people would be a victim of violent crime in New York in a month than in the whole of Europe in a year. Well, I remember an American telling me with a serious frown that he would never venture going to Europe because of “the danger” of a terrorist attack. Meanwhile, our kids would be walking to school alone, without a care in the world, while in the US that would be considered a crime of child neglect.
My response may be a bit outdated, since they reflect my stay in the US in the 80’s, but I think that with a few adjustments the misconceptions are pretty similar to this day.
大多数情况下，我看到的是对政治制度和危险的误解。
政治制度是当他们听说欧洲有“社会主义”政府时。现在，社会主义是一个非常广泛的范围，从以市场为基础的社会民主主义(沿着美国民主党)一直到前苏联国家，这些国家更应该被描述为共产主义，而不是社会主义。
因此，每当美国人听到一个社会主义政党上台，他们马上就会想到集体农场、无产阶级专政和一群在军队监视下走上工作岗位的灰色人群。
这真是太有趣了，因为美国人把所有东西都放在一个袋子里，他们认为拥有国家医疗服务类似于克里姆林宫的十月一日游行。
另一个有趣的误解是对危险的感知。我记得在80年代，欧洲发生了几起恐怖袭击事件，在10年的时间里，5亿人口中可能有100人死亡。但在纽约一个月内成为暴力犯罪受害者的人数将超过整个欧洲一年的人数。我记得一个美国人皱着眉头严肃地告诉我，他永远不会冒险去欧洲，因为有恐怖袭击的“危险”。与此同时，我们的孩子将独自步行上学，没有外界的关心，而在美国，这将被视为一种忽视儿童的犯罪。
我的回答可能有点过时，因为它们反映了我在80年代在美国的生活，但我认为经过一些调整，这些误解与今天非常相似。
American here.
The main thing is bizarrely how it doesn’t seem to exist. To many Americans it doesn’t really register as a place…. it is known of, yes, but it’s sort of a vague idea of a place that isn’t real.
You talk about the US compared to other countries and everywhere else is places stressed on the news as dangerous or in upheaval or where natural disasters are happening. No one ever says, “You don’t like it, why don’t you try Norway?!”… and you get sort of a blank when you mention all the benefits and pluses of other countries out there.
Europe is kind of both acknowledged as better and denied actual existence… and this is fair, to an extent, because the average American doesn’t get daily info about daily life realities in European countries because our news sells doom and gloom. So countries where things are rolling along pretty well don’t get examples handed to the general US population daily… we, again, largely only get news of Europe if a protest or death or disaster has struck.
我是美国人。
最重要的、也很奇怪的是，它（欧洲）似乎并不存在。对许多美国人来说，它并不是一个真正的地方。是的，它是已知的，但它是一个不真实的地方的模糊概念。
你谈论美国与其他国家的比较，其他任何地方都是新闻中强调的危险或动荡或自然灾害正在发生的地方。没有人会说:“你不喜欢它，为什么不去挪威试试?”当你提到其他国家的所有好处和优点时，你有点茫然。
在某种程度上，人们既承认欧洲更好，又否认它的实际存在，这是公平的，因为普通美国人并没有每天得到关于欧洲国家日常生活现实的信息，因为我们的新闻充斥着悲观。所以，那些事情进展得很顺利的国家不会每天向美国普通民众提供这样的例子……我们基本上只有在欧洲发生抗议、死亡或灾难时才会得到消息。
Not sure if I’m describing what I’ve seen all my life in a clear manner here, but trust me it’s pervasive.
When you’re the one or three people from your home town or social group that has spent a chunk of time there and lived daily life there and describe it there’s reliably disbelief or a readjustment being seen taking place in their heads when you answer questions….
人们同时以白日梦/渴望/永远不会去的方式谈论它，希望有一天能看到它的一部分，但却不清楚它是一个……真正、真实的地方。我不确定我是否清楚地描述了我一生中所见的一切，但相信我，它无处不在。
当你是来自家乡或社会群体的人，在那里度过了一段时间，在那里过着日常生活，开始描述它时，他们的脑海中出现了可靠的怀疑或重新调整……
不，只要不伤害他人，他们就可以畅所欲言，不，他们可以抱怨他们的政府，不，你不必等很长时间去看医生，是的，那个国家的医疗保健也很好，实际上他们到处都有百货公司，很容易乘坐公共汽车或有轨电车去任何地方，很多人说英语，他们有很多或更快的互联网，LGBT人群手牵着手四处走动，没什么大不了的，实际上我可以在当地商店买到，质量不错。事实上，亚马逊在我下单后两天就送货了，有些人很混蛋，但大多数人都很好，就像在家里一样。当我采取和在其他地方一样的预防措施时，我觉得在X城市/国家和在美国Y城市一样安全。
房租在这个地方和那个地方是一样的，他们非常爱狗，同样的信用卡在任何地方都可以使用，在L国做的大多数事情看起来和在美国每天做的事情几乎一样，是的，他们现在正在抗议，但那只是一个大城市/整个国家的几个特定地点。是的，有一名游客在数千人的航班班次中失踪。没有旅馆根本不是害怕旅馆的现实理由……
The main thing is bizarrely how it doesn’t seem to exist. To many Americans it doesn’t really register as a place…. it is known of, yes, but it’s sort of a vague idea of a place that isn’t real.
I laughed at this because I used to have the exact same, somewhat vague feeling about the United States. Like it’s something that exists only on TV and in movies. The idea that there are actual people who consider themselves Americans felt unreal somehow. Surely they’re just actors from actual existing countries, acting on the screen to provide a fictional country that can be used as the setting for any film or series. Like how “the Republic” and “the Empire” are used to give some context in Star Wars.
我笑了，因为我曾经对美国有完全相同的，有点模糊的感觉。就好像它只存在于电视和电影里一样。有真实的人认为自己是美国人，这种想法不知何故让人感觉不真实。当然，他们只是来自真实存在的国家的演员，在银幕上表演一个虚构的国家，可以用作任何电影或电视剧的背景。就像“共和国”和“帝国”在《星球大战》中是如何被用来提供一些背景一样。
It seems a lot of Americans think Europe = the EU.
While a majority of people in most EU countries want to their nation to remain in the EU, they don't IDENTIFY as EU citizens. We identify with our cities, regions and countries, but the EU bears very little emotional value. Try convincing your average Dane that he has a tighter bond with a “fellow EU citizen” from Romania than with a fellow Scandinavian from non-EU member Norway and you’ll know what I mean…
Europeans see Europe as the WHOLE of Europe and whether countries are EU members or not has very little meaning to us when discussing other things than politics and trade.
似乎很多美国人认为欧洲=欧盟。
虽然大多数欧盟国家的大多数人都希望自己的国家留在欧盟，但他们并不认为自己是欧盟公民。我们认同自己所在的城市、地区和国家，但欧盟几乎没有什么情感价值。试着说服你的普通丹麦人，他与来自罗马尼亚的“欧盟公民同胞”的关系，比与来自非欧盟成员国挪威的斯堪的纳维亚同胞的关系更紧密，你就会明白我的意思……
欧洲人认为欧洲是整个欧洲，当我们讨论政治和贸易以外的事情时，国家是否是欧盟成员对我们来说意义不大。
There are many but perhaps the first and most striking misconception is the concept of “Europe” itself. Europe is a continent, not a country and it harbors a range of different political, social and economic environments.
The idea that “over in Europe, they have X”, as though France, Germany, Norway, Poland, and Croatia were all one homogeneous country with the same institutions and socioeconomic systems and standards always strikes me as a very American notion.
有很多误解，但也许第一个也是最显著的误解是“欧洲”本身的概念。欧洲是一个大陆，而不是一个国家，它拥有一系列不同的政治、社会和经济环境。
“在欧洲，他们有X”的想法，好像法国、德国、挪威、波兰和克罗地亚都是一个同质的国家，有着相同的制度、社会经济制度和标准，总是让我觉得这是一个非常美国的概念。
Don’t worry, Americans are even worse when it comes to Africa. The only continent where political and cultural diversity is truly acknowledged by Americans seems to be Asia.
There’s also that statement constantly repeated by American liberals that the rest of the world is more liberal than the US. It’s not even just Eurocentric; it’s mostly specific to Western Europe.
别担心，美国人对非洲的概念更糟糕。美国人真正承认政治和文化多样性的唯一大陆似乎是亚洲。
还有一种说法是美国自由主义者不断重复的，即世界其他地方比美国更自由。它甚至不只是以欧洲为中心;它主要是西欧特有的。
It's not at all a strictly “American” notion. I've known individuals from Japan, India, and Mexico who generalize “Europe" in the same way (Mexico is obviously part of the continent of North America, but by “American" people typically mean the United States…until they don't, an issue which is both confusing and amusing).
The generalizations are typically good, i.e. “Europe has Universal Healthcare", “Europe is the birthplace of Western Civilization”, etc. When it's bad, people will typically differentiate and generalize by country. A Japanese friend was married to and had a child with a Frenchman. Everything was great until he became a serial philanderer. Then I heard how French men are all pigs, etc.
这根本不是严格意义上的“美国”概念。我认识一些来自日本、印度和墨西哥的人，他们以同样的方式概括“欧洲”(墨西哥显然是北美大陆的一部分，但“America”通常指的是美国……直到他们不这样做，这个问题既令人困惑又有趣)。
概括通常是好的，例如“欧洲有全民医疗”，“欧洲是西方文明的发源地”，等等。当它不好的时候，人们通常会根据国家来区分和概括。一个日本朋友和一个法国人结婚并生了一个孩子。一切都很好，直到他变成了一个花花公子。然后我听说法国男人都是猪，等等。
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处
“were all one homogeneous country with the same institutions and socioeconomic systems and standards always strikes me as a very American notion.”
Funny thing is that a lot of people overseas make the same exactly mistake when it comes to US. Letter “s” at the end of the United States means a lot. There are huge cultural and political differences between states.. But still people keep generalizing..
“我们都是一个具有相同制度、社会经济制度和标准的同质国家，这一直是一个非常美国的概念。”
有趣的是，很多海外的人在谈到美国时都犯了同样的错误。字母“s”在美国的末尾有很多意思。国家之间存在着巨大的文化和政治差异。但人们仍然在一概而论。
That is true, although the overriding American identity does create a greater sense of unity than the actually distinct nations of Europe.
Your average Texan and your average New York er may be pretty seriously culturally different but they speak the same language and have a number of common American experience that are just a few degree less the case if we compare say, a French an and a Czech.
这是事实，尽管压倒一切的美国身份确实比实际上各不相同的欧洲国家创造了更大的团结感。
普通的德克萨斯人和普通的纽约人可能在文化上有很大的不同，但他们说同样的语言，有许多共同的美国经历，如果我们比较的话，就像法国人和捷克人。
When stationed in Germany I was one of a group hosting a party of visiting US service personnel in our Sgt’s mess.
I got chatting with a guy who had served in the UK and done some travelling there, we knew of places in common. A female Sgt nearby was listening and piped up that she and her husband would love to take a vacation in Europe when he got back from Grenada (to give a time frx) as she hadn't been there. Before I could say anything he said, “We are in Europe. Which country do you want to visit?“, she replied, “This is Germany, I want to visit England which is Europe not Germany “. After an exchange she wandered off and started a discussion about why hadn’t the Brits sent troops to Grenada.
The guy with me turned and apologised, “She probably couldn't find the USA on a map”.
当我驻扎在德国的时候，我在我们军士的食堂里举办了一个美国访问人员的聚会。我和一个在英国服役的人聊天，他在那里旅行过，我们知道一些共同的地方。
附近的一名女中士在听，她大声说，她和丈夫很想在他从格林纳达回来后去欧洲度假，因为她还没去过那里。我还没来得及说话，他就说:“我们在欧洲。你想去哪个国家?她回答说:“这里是德国，我想去英国，那是欧洲，不是德国。”
在这次交流之后，她走开了，开始讨论为什么英国人没有派军队去格林纳达。和我在一起的那个人转过身来道歉，“她可能在地图上找不到美国。”