我曾嘗試閱讀一本《紅樓夢》的英譯本。該譯本竟把林黛玉直譯成“Black Jade”（即黑色的玉）。翻了幾頁關于“Black Jade”小姐的事跡之后，我實在讀不下去，不得不把譯本放下。像“Black Jade”這樣的名字，豈能與羞花閉月的孱弱女子相提并論！

　　Not only are there differences between Chinese and English, there are differences within each of the two languages as well.

　　不僅中英文之間存有差異，同一個語文之中也存在著不同之處。

　　Within the Chinese language, there are already discernible differences in the Chinese used in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore.

　　以中文而言，中國大陸、臺灣、香港、馬來西亞和新加坡等地方所用的“中文”，彼此間已經有很明顯的差距。

　　"Thank you for your cooperation" is still often renderedas "Xiexie peihe" (“謝謝配合”) in mainland China. To most Chinese Singaporeans, this means: "Thank you for your co-ordination"!

　　在中國大陸，還是有不少地方用“謝謝配合”，不用我們較熟悉的“謝謝合作”。

　　Recently, I came across this Chinese word, tongli xin (同理心), which was not found in any of my dictionaries. It seemed to be a Taiwanese word which means empathy.

　　最近我偶然看到“同理心”這個詞，找遍了詞典都找不到這個詞。它似乎是出自臺灣的新詞，有因處于他人處境而對他人產生同情、憐憫之義。

　　As for English, the same language is used very differently in different places like Great Britain, the United States, Singapore, the Philippines, India and so on. Talk to a non-Singaporean English-speaker about void decks and he or she would probably not know what you are talking about.

　　至于英文，同一個字在不同的地方有不同的用法。英文盛行于英國、美國、新加坡、菲律賓、印度等國家，但各國之間卻用法不一。倘若我們對一名非新加坡人談起“void deck”（即組屋底層）的話，他將不知所云。

　　In the Philippines, to salvage someone means to execute that person. And the word, evacuate, is not uttered in polite society. It means to move one's bowels.

　　在菲律賓，“salvage”一個人并不是搶救那個人，而是將他處決，而“evacuate”（即疏散）一字在上流社會中是不便啟齒的，因為它有如廁之義。

　　These examples show how differences in culture exist among and within languages. The challenge for translators and interpreters is to be aware of these differences.

　　這些例子說明無論是在不同語文之間，或者同一個語文之中，文化差異都是存在的。翻譯員和通譯員所面對的挑戰就是要了解這些差異。

　　However, besides being aware of differences, they must also keep abreast of changes. As we enter the next Century and millennium, we must be adept at knowing or even coming out with

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