做“二道翻译”

我们6楼新搬来一对南非的年轻夫妇，那位妻子对我说：“嗨，我叫裘琳。”

裘琳小姐皮肤白皙，很热情，会点中文，偶尔还会一两句上海话。初次遇见，裘琳告诉我：他们是来上海从事教育工作。她还向我询问了一些有关自来水等方面的问题。自此以后只要见面，我们便“哈罗”一番。

这天傍晚时分，我想去银行取钱，正要推自行车，裘琳和她的丈夫骑着电动车回来了。裘琳小姐说：“我正想请你帮忙呢。”她递过来一张当月的煤气账单。原来，她搞不清楚上海的水、电、煤收费的程序，房东事先又没有详细地向她作介绍。她居然把自来水表的本月抄码“478”误抄到煤气的单子上了。张冠李戴，这一来煤气账单收费数字自然就畸高了。她打电话到燃气公司询问有何办法纠正，对方接线员不擅英语，她的中文水平又不足以与对方沟通这个专业的问题。情急之下，她便央我为她给燃气公司打个电话，边说着，她边递给我手机。那边，接线员要我报一下裘琳家的煤气表本月抄码，我便跟着裘琳小姐上了6楼。

可是裘琳只知水表所在，浑然不知煤气表在何处。我俩在厨房内外打开许多橱柜，找了5分钟也未见煤气表的踪影。还是她那位不懂汉语的丈夫，提醒裘琳顺着燃气管道往上寻找。她攀上去，打开燃气管道上的柜子，踮起脚跟才发现煤气表“平躺”在那里。她又不知如何读数，因数字有红蓝之分，我却有腿疾难以攀爬。机灵的她立马用手机拍下照片，终于一目了然。原来燃气本月抄码应为“405”，与“478”相比自然大相径庭了。

燃气公司的接线员答复说，得把此事落实到抄表组，三个工作日内会有两个解决办法：一是更正数字，重新寄发燃气收费单；二是由裘琳按“478”先付费，然后停抄煤气表，直到见抄数超过“478”再继续抄表。

我年轻时学的是俄语，会讲几句“洋泾浜”英语是后来自学的，当然无法将此解决方法对裘琳讲明白。她情急之下拨通了上海的外国人求助热线。经过电话里一来二去，我终于与燃气公司的女接线员落实了“第一个解决办法”。

问题解决了，裘琳小姐又通过求助热线的女翻译询问我两个问题：一是燃气收费单上所写“您12月的煤气费25元已收到，谢谢！”是何意？二是电费抄表如何操作？我通过翻译小姐告诉她：房东已经付清了12月的煤气费。而电表在走廊里，抄表员会用仪器自动抄表。这下，裘琳小姐乐了。她放下手机，请我坐下，还为我冲了一杯奶茶……

此次做“二道翻译”让我深为自己英语的臭水平自责，如此简单的一件事竟花费了半个多小时，如果搁在我儿子身上也就是几分钟的事！当然，我也为上海这座国际大都市某些公共服务部门的英语服务阙如感到些许遗憾。

Tags: 口译 同声传译 英文翻译 英文翻译公司 英译中 英语翻译 英语翻译公司 西方语种翻译

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