又中又英︱The Year of the Loong

Did dragons really exist in ancient times? According to a BBC science report, stories about dragons go back thousands of years, appearing in the legends (old stories) of Ancient Mesopotamia. Later stories about dragons came from countries such as China, India, Greece, and Britain. But the BBC report said the dragons in ancient stories are imaginary although many creatures today have the word “dragon” in their names. The most powerful is the meat-eating Komodo dragon, a lizard which can grow to 10 feet.

This is the Year of the Dragon, but Mainland media have now replaced dragon with “loong”. This is Mandarin for dragon because Mainland media said dragons in Western culture are vicious but dragons in Chinese culture are gentle. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu has started saying Year of the Loong. But the English pronunciation of loong doesn’t sound exactly like the Mandarin word for dragon. It sounds even less like a dragon in Cantonese. Loong needs a diacritic (accent symbol) to sound more like dragon in Mandarin or Cantonese. Does calling it the Year of the Loong have staying power?

To have staying power means to remain popular or successful for a long time. The Year of the Loong must catch on for a long time to have real staying power. To catch on means to become fashionable or popular. It has a year to catch on before the Snake replaces the Dragon in 2025. Will people still call it the Year of the Loong when the Dragon returns in 12 years? I don’t know but I am sure the West will not rename it as the Year of the Loong.

龙在古时是否真的存在？根据英国广播公司BBC的一个科学报告，有关龙的故事可追溯至几千年前，于古代美索不达米亚的传说（legends）中出现。其后有关龙的故事亦出现于中国、印度、希腊和英国等国家。但BBC的报告指出，上古故事中的龙都是想像出来的，虽然今天许多生物的名字中都有「龙」字。最强大的是肉食性的科莫多龙，一只可生长至十尺长的巨蜥。

今年是龙年，但内地媒体现在都用“loong”取代之前的翻译dragon 。那是龙的普通话读法，因为内地媒体说，西方文化中的龙是凶狠残暴的，但中国文化中的龙是温和的。特首李家超也开始说 Year of the Loong。然而，loong的英语发音并非真的像普通话「龙」的发音，跟广东话的「龙」就更不似。Loong 需要一个变音符号（ diacritic）去让它更似普通话或广东话之中的「龙」。不知叫它做the Year of the Loong 可有 staying power？

To have staying power是指有持久力，能长时间受欢迎或保持成功。The Year of the Loong需要流行（catch on）很长的时间，才叫作有真正的持久力（staying power）。To catch on是指去变得时髦或流行起来。它在二零二五蛇年取代龙年之前，有一年的时间去流行起来（ catch on）。再过十二年，又到龙年的时候，人们还会叫它作 the Year of the Loong吗？我不知道，但我肯定西方不会将它重新命名为 the Year of the Loong。

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Michael Chugani褚简宁
中译：七刻