評論
打印
German humour
德國幽默
Get thee to an Institute
聞所未聞的幽默培訓
Germans concede that in humour they need professional help
德國人認為幽默需要專門的訓練
EVA ULLMANN took her master's degree in 2002 on the part that humour has to play in psychotherapy, and became hooked on the subject. In 2005 she founded the German Institute for Humour in Leipzig. It is dedicated to “the combination of seriousness and humour”. She offers lectures, seminars and personal coaching to managers, from small firms to such corporate giants as Deutsche Bank and Telekom. Her latest project is to help train medical students and doctors.
2002年，伊娃·烏爾曼以“幽默在心理治療中的作用”為論文研究主題獲得了博士學位，并對該主題產生了巨大的興趣。2005年，她在萊比錫城創建了德國幽默研究所，致力于研究“嚴肅和幽默之間的關系”。伊娃為管理者們（從小公司到諸如德意志銀行和德國電信之類的商業巨頭）都有進行演講、開展討論會和個人輔導。最近，她正在著手訓練醫學學生和醫生。
There is nothing peculiarly German about humour training. It was John Morreall, an American, who showed that humour is a market segment in the ever-expanding American genre of self-help. In the past two decades, humour has gone global. An International Humour Congress was held in Amsterdam in 2000. And yet Germans know that the rest of the world considers them to be at a particular disadvantage.
奇怪的是，德國并沒有特定的幽默培訓。一個叫約翰·莫瑞爾的美國人指出曾經一度膨脹的資歷的美國精神中，幽默也是市場的一部分。過去的20年里，幽默走向了國際。2000年國際幽默大會在阿姆斯特丹建立。在此之前，德國人還不知道在其他國家的人眼里，他們十分嚴肅。
The issue is not comedy, of which Germany has plenty. The late Vicco von Bülow, alias Loriot, delighted the elite with his mockery of German pretension and stiffness. Rhenish, Swabian and other regional flavours thrive—Gerhard Polt, a Bavarian curmudgeon, now 72, is a Shakespeare among them. There is lowbrow talent too, including Otto Waalkes, a Frisian buffoon. Most of this, however, is as foreigners always suspected: more embarrassing than funny.
這個議題并非是個喜劇，德國的此類例子很豐富。已故的 Vicco von Bülow, 別名Loriot,曾就以諷刺德國人的自負和固執娛樂精英。萊茵河人，斯瓦比亞人和其他地區的精英們層出不窮——Gerhard Polt是個巴伐利亞人，脾氣很怪，現年72歲，就是其中的一個莎士比亞。也有一些比較膚淺的人物，比如弗里斯蘭小丑Otto Waalkes。然而大多數情況下，外國人的懷疑：往往是尷尬大于有趣。
Germans can often be observed laughing, uproariously. And they try hard. “They cannot produce good humour, but they can consume it,” says James Parsons, an Englishman teaching business English in Leipzig. He once rented a theatre and got students, including Mrs Ullmann, to act out Monty Python skits, which they did with enthusiasm. The trouble, he says, is that whereas the English wait deadpan for the penny to drop, Germans invariably explain their punchline.
人們常常可以看到德國人大笑。他們真的在很努力地發出笑聲。在萊比錫大學教授商務的英國人詹姆斯·帕森斯說，“他們沒法變的幽默，但他們可以表現得很幽默。”他曾經租了一個歌劇廳，邀請了一些學生，包括烏爾曼一起表演Monty Python短劇。他們表演得很有熱情。但是，問題是，英國人會面無表情地等硬幣落下來而德國人則認為很有笑點。
At a deeper level, the problem has nothing do with jokes. What is missing is the trifecta of irony, overstatement and understatement in workaday conversations. Expats in Germany share soul-crushing stories of attempting a non-literal turn of phrase, to evoke a horrified expression in their German interlocutors and a detailed explanation of the literal meaning, followed by a retreat into awkward politeness.
更深層次上來說，這個問題與笑話無關。他們在正常的工作交流中，沒有一連串的諷刺，大話和保守言論。德國的外國移民設法通過非文學的方式，與當地人交流窩心的故事，對他們的德語朋友產生恐懼的印象并不得不解釋這些詞語的文學一次，因而最后會陷入尷尬的禮貌卻又疏離的境地。
Irony is not on the curriculum in Mrs Ullmann's classes. Instead she focuses mostly on the basics of humorous spontaneity and surprise. Demand is strong, she says. It is a typical German answer to a shortcoming: work harder at it.
諷刺不屬于烏爾曼的授課內容。相反，她主要集中在自發幽默和驚喜的基本原則。她說人們對幽默的需求很強。這是典型的德國人對待缺點的方式：埋頭苦干。譯者：毛慧 校對：王紅兵
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