拼音不是英文 PinYin is Not English.
前幾天我在上海家附近散步經過一間小學, 小學門口的家長接送區牆面裝飾了小學生們色彩豐富的創作畫作, 其中也穿插著校方宣導海報,例如遵守交通規則等以及對應的"英文翻譯"。第一眼看到這些音譯直翻完全沒有任何意義的"英文翻譯" , 例如安全的"英文翻譯" 是 “an quan” , 而不是有實際意義的英文單字"safe”。
我差點笑翻了, 心想最好是外國人看得懂在寫什麼! 然後突然理解了這些不是要給外國人看的英文, 這些英文字母的確不是英文單字! 它們是拼音符號! 就跟台灣的注音符號一樣, 標註在中文國字旁邊, 是要幫助小學生閱讀, 不是給外國人的英文翻譯!
如同我們從小學習注音符號以便認知中文發音一樣, 這些我以為的英文其實是拼音符號, 寫在小學門口的宣導海報裡是為了讓正在學習中文字的小學生可以閱讀以及辨認中文字。在台灣的小學學校也可以看到中文字旁邊標註著注音符號, 其實是同樣的作法, 都是教學符號, 只是以不同系統表現出來。在這一刻, 我發現我好傲慢, 我太習以為常注音符號系統, 也很自然認定什麼是”正確的英文”, 所以第一時間完全沒有想到任何其他可能性。
從這件事, 我反思了自己在專業以及私人生活上的經驗以及思考方式:
(1)明確知道誰是溝通目標族群(Target Audience), 並用他們接受的方式溝通。舉這次小學的宣導海報, 目標溝通族群是小學生跟父母們, 自然要用拼音輔助去跟還在學習中文字的小學生們溝通, 目的不是跟英文母語的外國人溝通, 當然不會寫英文翻譯文字。
(2)跳出侷限的框框(Think out of box)。我太執著於什麼是”正確的英文”, 所以除了正確的英文文法外, 我第一反應完全不會想到拼音符號, 但其實我完全弄錯切入方向。
(3)永遠嘗試去觀察跟理解身處的人事物, 除非我可以站在他們的角度去理解問題, 我就不會知道他們的需求跟生活痛點(pain point)是什麼, 也就無法提出適合的商業模式跟解決方案。
這就是那天散步的下午經過小學門口引發的小故事, 至少我現在不會再將拼音誤解成英文囉(笑)。
A few days ago, I passed by an elementary school around my neighborhood in Shanghai. The entrance of the school was decorated by kids’ paintings, cute, and colorful. There were some paintings that contained simplified Chinese characters and “English translations.” But are they valid English translations? No! It is just a direct translation turning simplified Chinese characters into alphabet letters without meaning and just presenting it in Chinese pronunciation. I was about to laugh at it then suddenly an idea hit my mind.
Those alphabet letters are not English!
They are China PinYin learning system which is created to teach little kids to learn Chinese pronunciation and characters before they fully learn and recognize Chinese characters. The purpose is exactly like how I, as a Taiwanese, learned my traditional Chinese characters and pronunciation class 101 at the age of 3. For instance, “safety” in China PinYin system presents the Chinese pronunciation in “an quan”, in Taiwan system it is “ㄢ ㄑㄩㄢ.” Both of the systems present the pronunciation of Chinese but in different symbols.
Oh God, the minute the idea came into my head, I found how arrogant I was. I had been learning Taiwanese pronunciation system since I was little. I 。have been so used to it without thinking about other practices.
From this instance, I reflect to my profession and personal experiences:
(1) Recognize who is the right target audience. Know how to speak to them. The paintings from the elementary school are presented to kids and their parents, so the school use PinYin instead of Chinese characters to communicate. Not for the foreigners who use English as their language.
(2) Think out of the box. I was so used to the perception of what “correct English” should be, so that I did not realize it in the first place that it was PinYin and NOT English at all.
(3) Always observe the environment and people surrounding me. Unless I put myself in their shoes, I would not understand the way they live, which means I could never find their pain points to speak or build business models to present properly. Quoted from an article that my friend once shared to me: “The effectiveness of marketing really does boil down to creating a great lead magnet. I’ve found that the right lead magnet presented to the right audience can have explosive results. The best way to do this is if you can identify the right pain points and present a solution in your lead magnet, you’re on the right track.”
So, these are what I have been thinking about that afternoon when I passed by the elementary school and I would like to share with you too. At least we know PinYin is not English, neither the Taiwanese pronunciation learning system. (laugh)
