Yi Ren in English 艺人的英语表达
Yang Li: 大家好，欢迎收听你问我答节目， 我是杨莉，今天我邀请了我的同事Finn 一起来解答一
个翻译上的问题。 Hi Finn.
Finn: Hello Li. Yes, we have a very interesting question about the translation of one
Chinese word. 艺人。
Question
Which is the exact word to describe the Chinese word yi ren (艺人) which refers to a
person who can sing, play in TV drama programme and movies, and host TV
programmes? Thanks
Finn: It seems that the Chinese word 艺人can refer to many different jobs. But this
may not be the case with English.
Yang Li: 没错，汉语中的艺人可以指多种职业，比如，杂技、戏曲、民间歌舞、曲艺演员；手艺人
或者娱乐圈内的所有人。不过英语就不同了。
Finn: That’s right. There isn’t a single English word to convey all the meanings of yi
ren. As China team editor, Alison, explains:
Insert
I don’t really think we have one word to cover everything. Sometimes we used to say an
entertainer, but that would be somebody who’s on stage who can sing but who can also
dance and maybe tell jokes that kind of thing. So I think we have separate more specific
word for each thing.
Finn: Alison said that there is no word to cover everything.
Yang Li: 没有一个概括性的词语。不同的行当有不同的词。
Finn: Yes, there is a specific word for each thing. So for somebody who’s on stage
who can sing, dance and tell jokes, we would call them an entertainer.
Yang Li: Entertainer 泛指杂技、戏曲、民间歌舞、曲艺演员这一类的艺人。
Finn: There is another type of entertainer, the street artist.
Yang Li: 街头艺人 street artist. I spoke to two street artists in Covent Garden. Listen
and see how they describe their jobs.
Insert
My name is great man Davie. I’m here in Covent Garden to provide entertainment and
love and joy for everybody who is here.
Li: Would you call yourself an entertainer?
I would so, yes.
My name is Marcel I am a Covent Garden street performer. I do acrobatics, gymnastics,
entertain the audience.
Finn: The first man says that his job is to provide entertainment and love and joy
for the audience.
Yang Li: The second man described himself as a street performer 街头表演者。
Finn: He does acrobatics and gymnastics to entertain the audience.
Yang Li: 他表演杂技 acrobatics, 体操 gymnastics 让观众开心 to entertain the audience.
Yang Li: 欢迎大家继续收听你问我答，我们正在探讨艺人这个词的翻译。 Is the English word
entertainer the closest in meaning to the Chinese word 艺人？
Finn: Let’s hear from another language expert, Diarmuid, about the definition of the
word entertainer.
Insert
An entertainer for me would probably be someone who either appears on the stage or
screen, so a singer or a dancer or perhaps a comedian, or television presenter, someone
who is like that someone who addresses the audience directly with the intention of
making them smile or feel good or causing them to applaud in someway or other.
Yang Li: 在 Diarmuid 看来 entertainer 这个词涵盖的范围还挺广泛的。
Finn: Yes. It refers to anyone who addresses the audience directly with the
intention of making them feel good and applaud.
Yang Li: 直接同观众交流并让大家开心和鼓掌的角色就是 entertainer. 这可以包括舞台或银幕上
的人。
Finn: Someone who appears on the stage or screen.
Yang Li: 也包括了歌唱家，舞蹈演员或者喜剧演员。
Finn: A singer, a dancer or a comedian.
Yang Li: 好，说到这里，我想大家应该对 entertainer 这个词有了一个初步的概念，它概括了艺人
的基本定义，不过不是完全相等的。比如，在涉及电视节目主持人的时候，英语中另有表
达.
Finn: Such as a television presenter or talk show host. Let’s listen to Alison again:
Insert
TV presenter’s quite a wide definition so that’s anybody that presents any kind of TV
programmes. A talk show host is very specific. It’s a presenter who only presents talk
shows. A talk show is a programme where usually a celebrity is interviewed by a TV
presenter and they tend to be quite informal, jokey type of programmes.
Yang Li: Television presenter 是电视节目主持人，泛指所有电视节目。不过 talk show host
脱口秀客串则更为具体, 通常是对名人的采访，谈笑风生比较轻松。
Finn: A talk show is a programme where someone, usually a celebrity, is
interviewed by a TV presenter and it’s usually quite informal and jokey.
Yang Li: Very good. Now let’s go back to the original question: is there an exact
English word for 艺人？ The answer is…
Finn: No. There is no exact equivalent. But the closest to yi ren is entertainer. But
there are more specific words to refer to different jobs in the world of
entertainment and media.
Yang Li: 没错。在翻译艺人这个概念的时候是要根据具体行当来选择对应的英语名称。 不过这是非
常好的一个翻译上的问题。让我们大家都受益。多谢来信。
Finn: If you have any questions, please email them to us at
questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk.
Yang Li: 感谢大家收听，我是杨莉，下次节目再会。
Finn: Bye bye.