加油！加油！加油！加油！
 
Feifei:  这个助威呐喊声想必大家一定都很熟悉。
 
Finn:  Yes, we’re feeling sporty in Q and A today. 
 
Insert
 
加油！加油！加油！加油！
 
Finn:  I’m Finn.
 
Feifei:  And I’m Feifei. 在你问我答节目中我们来回答大家对英语语言提出的种种问题。
 
Finn:  And this week we have a question from a student called Hui Yao, who’d
like to know how to translate 加油  into English.  
 
Feifei:  这个问题问的非常好，Hui Yao 想知道“加油”这个词用英语怎么说。
 
Finn:  Indeed, 加油. Well in English 加 means ‘add’ and 油 means ‘oil’. But you’ll
never hear this at a football match in Britain:
 
Insert
 
Add oil, add oil, add oil, add oil, add some oil mate!
 
Feifei:  Sounds a bit funny! 你是绝不会在英国的足球场上听到刚才上面加油的方式。How
DO we translate 加油?
 
Finn:  Well, it’s a very good question – it’s not as simple as it sounds. The
problem is that in Chinese, 加油  is an all-purpose chant.
 
Feifei:  A chant. 有节奏的反复叫喊; all-purpose 通用的。日常生活中很多情况下我们都可
以用加油这个词，还有就是体育比赛中，不论是给一个队伍或是个人摇旗呐喊的时候我
们也可以说加油。Is there a similar all-purpose chant in English, Finn?
 
Finn:    Well, the closest is probably this:

Insert
 
Come on!  Come on!  Come on!
 
Finn:  Come on. But sometimes it might be…
 
Insert
 
Go for it!
 
Finn:  Or how about?
 
Insert
 
Go, go, go!
 
Finn:  Or…
 
Insert
 
Keep going…!
 
Finn:  Or maybe even…
 
Insert
 
Don’t give up!
 
Finn:  Or, how about…
 
Feifei:  OK – stop! 我觉得说道这儿我明白了，就是说在英语里没有一个像“加油”一样的词
让我们在任何情况和语境中都可以通用的词，对吗？
 
Finn:  That’s right, although 加油  is the most common chant in China, we don’t
have the same kind of all-purpose phrase in English.
 
Feifei:  提出这个问题的其实不光是我们的听众 Hui Yao，其实很多中国的网友们也在online
forums 在线论坛中提过这个问题。
 
 
Finn:  Yes, so let’s look at each of these phrases in turn. Feifei, shall we explain?
 
Insert

Come on!  Come on!  Come on!
 
Go for it!
 
Feifei:  我们通常使用  ‘come on’ 或是‘go for it’ 给某人以鼓励。
 
Finn:  encourage

 
Feifei:  给某个表现不佳的运动员或队伍以鼓励，打气，或者在一支球队就要进球的时候我们常
说  come on 或  go for it.
 
Insert
 
Keep going…! Keep going…!
 
Don’t give up!
 
Finn:    Ok these are both used to encourage a team or player that is losing energy,
someone who needs an extra push.
 
Feifei:  这两个表达我们通常用来给一支士气不足，热情不够的队伍加油鼓劲的。这些队伍一般
都需要更多地推动力 an extra push.
 
Insert
 
Go, go, go!
 
Feifei:  最后一个，也是用来  encourage 大家的，但是这个词更多的会用于单项比赛中对一
个运动员的鼓励，而较少的用在团体项目中。
 
Finn:  And Feifei, we haven’t even begun to speak about all the different chants
in different games like football.
 
Insert
 
Football chants?
 
Feifei:  到这儿我们今天的节目也就结束了，别忘了如果你有问题的话欢迎给我们来信，我们的
email 是chinaelt@bbc.co.uk 或者可以登陆我们的网站：
 
Finn:  www.bbcchina.com.cn. Now, I have one final thing to say to all our friends
in China learning English.
 
Feifei:  What’s that?
 
Finn:  加油!

 
Feifei:   加油！Bye bye.
 
Finn:    Bye. 

This week’s question comes from Hui Yao, who wants to know how to say 加油 in English.

Whether you like football, basketball or athletics, if you are a sports fan you will want to cheer on your team.

In Chinese, 加油 is the all-purpose chant which you can use for all sports.

But what is the best chant in English?

Of course you can’t translate 加油 literally into English as it would sound very strange to shout ‘add oil’ at a football match in Britain.

Actually there are a lot of different things you can chant to encourage your team.

Have a look at the list below:

Come on
Go for it
We normally use these phrases to encourage a team that is losing, or maybe when a team is just about to score.

Don’t give up
Keep going
These are both used to encourage a team or player that is losing energy.

Go, go, go!
This is also to encourage people, but is more used for individual athletes, especially racing events, than for team sports.

Thanks to Hui Yao for her question. If you have a question about the English language, send us an email to questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk. Your name and answer to the question could appear on our website.

Glossary 词汇

athletics
田径

sports fan
运动迷

cheer on
为…鼓气

all-purpose
通用的

a chant
有节奏的反复叫喊

encourage
鼓励