名家名譯｜林巍 譯 日本人的極端

The Japanese Extreme

Lin Wei

日本人做事極其認真，對此我有著切身的體會。在澳大利亞，我為一個日本代表團做導遊時，接到兩個“私人”電話，聊過一陣。之後，一個團員走到我跟前說，“仕事は仕事てす！分かりますか？”（工作就是工作！你懂嗎？）。對此我刻骨銘心。

From my experience, I know the Japanese are very serious about their work. In Australia, I was once a tour guide for a Japanese group. After receiving two private phone calls for a few minutes, one of the team members came to me and said: “Shi go to was hi go to de su! W aka ri ma su ka?” (“Business is business, do you understand?”) which left me an indelible impression.

無疑，日本人的這種工作態度是值得推崇的。他們不做則矣，做則要做到最好。當然，這種民族性格，若用對了地方是好事，若方向錯了，也很危險。一位日本朋友對我說，對於日本人的這種極端性格，他們自己甚至也會懷疑自己，即需要某種外力加以約束。所以，二戰後取消了日本的軍隊，無疑是一種保險的做法。

Surely, the Japanese work ethics is highly desirable. Once they decide to do something, they want to be the best. National characteristics of this kind can be both good and bad depending on their orientation. A Japanese friend of mine told me that they can’t even trust themselves since it is so easy for them to go to extremes if not confined by external forces. Abolishing Japan’s military troops after World War II was undoubtedly one of the safest ways to ensure peace.

就歷史淵源而言，日本人沒有中國人的“自我中心主義”，即認識到自己沒有深厚的文化底蘊，所以必須以他人之先進，補自己之不足，但卻由此形成了“最新主義”。

Historically, given the fact that the Japanese culture didn’t encourage egocentrism in the way the Chinese had profoundly, they developed “novelism” to embrace advantages of other nations to complement this cultural difference.

日本人一般的對外借鑑原則是“守”、“破”、“離”。“守”是指基本功要紮實，“破”是要在此基礎上打破原有模式，而“離”則是要脫離原本，以達到最高境界。

The guiding principles for the Japanese to capture foreign advantages are summarized in three words: preservation, innovation and culmination. Preservation, is to firmly lay a solid national foundation; innovation, to break through the original pattern and create something new; and culmination, to reach the top of all achievements.

日本人並不滿足於一般的“拿來主義”，而是在內容、至少在外觀上加以改造，以製出有自己特色的made in Japan的產品，從而追求“最新”。

Japanese borrowing is not an ordinary practice; it always pursues the highest standard of Japanese products, retaining their best qualities but adding new features.