[译]为什么中国人很少承认他们的错误

文章来源：《环球时报》
原文标题：Why the Chinese seldom admit their mistakes
译：五月花开

There is one thing you will seldom hear in China: "It's my fault."
在中国，你很少会听到这么一句话：“这是我的错”。

In the West, saying "My bad" is heard as frequently as anyone makes a mistake. We pride ourselves on admitting our faults so as to quickly remedy the situation. But here in China, it seems that admitting a mistake is a major concession that most people are utterly unwilling to do.
而在西方，听到别人说出一句“是我的错”是和“人非圣贤孰能无过”一样频繁的事。我们为自己能够坦诚错误感到骄傲，只有这样才能快速挽救局面。但在中国，承认错误似乎是一个重大的让步，大多数人都不愿意这么做。

You will witness this at every level of Chinese society, from the car that honks at YOU while you cross the street even though it's your green, to the vegetable lady at the market who gets angry at YOU when you catch her selling rotten produce, to the taxi driver who blames YOU for getting him lost just because he was unfamiliar with your destination.
你会在中国社会的各层面看到这个现象，从你过绿灯穿马路的时候，汽车对你鸣喇叭，到你发现菜场卖菜的阿姨卖烂蔬菜的时候，她却对你发脾气，再到出租车司机因为对你想去的目的地不熟而绕圈子迷路的时候，他反过来指责你。

It should be first understood that, in the eyes of the Chinese, taking responsibility and coming clean on a dispute puts that person in a position of "losing face," which is the worst thing that can happen to a Chinese. Think of it as the Western equivalent of getting bitch-slapped by someone in public.
首先我们要了解，在中国人眼中，承担责任和澄清争议会将一个人置于“丢脸”的境地，对他们而言这无疑是一件最糟糕的事。在西方这就等同于当众扇了贱人一巴掌。

Now, when foreigners in China are placed in a situation where your Chinese interlocutor is doing everything to avoid losing face - and trust me, they will try anything - you either just accept their insincere excuse knowing that you spared them from embarrassment, or you drag that person deeper into their contradiction until they are dying of shame.
现在，当在中国的老外碰到你的中国对话者千方百计地避免丢脸这种情况时- 相信我，他们真的会无所不用其极 - 要么你接受他们虚伪的借口让他们免糟尴尬，要么你不依不饶地点破他们自相矛盾的地方，直到他们羞愤难当。

But before you proceed down one of those two paths, be aware that there are essentially two kinds of losing face. The first is "one-on-one losing face," where they'll never be able to look you in the eyes again without turning red, but at least nobody else knows. The second, and most dreaded, is "losing face in public," which is so unbearable to most Chinese that they would rather be exiled from society than face onlookers.
但在你对上述两种方式进行选择前，请注意，丢脸还分两种情况。第一种是“一对一的丢脸”，这种情况下他们无法脸不红心不跳的再次直视你的眼睛，不过至少没有第三个人知道了。第二种，也就是最可怕的“当众丢脸”，对大多数中国人来说简直难以忍受，他们情愿被社会排挤也好过被众人围观。

"Losing face in public" can further be divided into two circumstances: social and professional. An example of social would be like accusing your wife in front of neighbors of having a secret lover. She would sooner move apartments or cities after that than return to her own community to face whispers and gossip.
“当众丢脸”又可以进一步被划分成两种情况：社交层面和专业层面。社交层面举个例子，比如在邻居面前指责你妻子找小三。这种情况发生后，她宁愿搬家或离开这座城市，也不愿回到原来的住宅社区去面对流言蜚语。

For professional losing face, I actually have quite a bit of experience with this. In my line of work here in Shanghai, I have to manage numerous industrial productions, which requires me to constantly deal with Chinese factory employees of all levels, from assembly line girls to factory bosses to CEOs.
专业层面的丢脸，我倒的确有很多类似经验。我在上海工作的这一行中，我需要管理大量的行业生产事宜，这就需要我频繁地和各阶层的中国工厂员工打交道，从流水线女工，到厂长，再到CEO。

Production problems are quite frequent, which is normal, but as opposed to disclosing the issue and attempting to resolve it expediently, which is how Western bosses would, here in China local bosses prefer to try to conceal the problem in the hopes that nobody finds out. The thing is, I always find out! But it wastes an enormous amount of my time to have to dig through all the layers of lies and deceit purposely thrown in my path by these bosses. All because he didn't want to lose damn face.
出现生产问题是司空见惯的事，西方老板们会公开问题并试着以便捷的方式解决问题，与之相反的是中国当地的老板们则倾向于尽力掩盖问题，最好瞒天过海。事实是，我总能发现问题！但从层层谎言中挖掘事实浪费了我大量的时间，这些老板们会故意扔出谎言阻碍我发现问题。这一切都是因为他们不想丢了该死的面子。

And this is where it gets even more absurd, because even if you call a Chinese out on their mistake, the only thing you'll hear back from them is "It's not my fault!" (bu guan wo shi) or "It couldn't be helped" (mei banfa) or "It was because of this-and-that!" The very last thing they'll ever be willing to tell you is "Yes sir, it was my mistake. I'm very sorry, how can I fix it?"
更令人可笑的是，即便你已经对一个中国人指出了错误，你所能听到的回答也就是“这不是我的问题！”（不关我事）或者“爱莫能助”（没办法）或者“这是因为blabla！”最令他们难以启齿的莫过于“是的，这是我的问题。我非常抱歉，我该如何进行弥补呢？”

All told, I wonder how many years, decades or even centuries "face" has cost China in terms of lost production hours. How much more time have Chinese bosses spent covering up their mistakes instead of simply disclosing and resolving them? China might very well already be the world's superpower by now if it hadn't wasted so much time spinning lies and childish excuses every time someone mistepped.
综上，我好奇的是，从生产工时损失的角度来看，中国因为“面子”工程到底浪费了多少年，几十年甚至几个世纪呢。中国的老板们又花了多少时间掩盖了他们的错误而不是简单的公开并解决呢？如果每一次有人犯错的时候都不用花大量的时间周旋在谎言和幼稚的借口中，很可能中国早就成世界超级大国了。

I'm writing this not to criticize but to compel the next generation of Chinese to abandon the ridiculously prehistoric custom of "face" and start facing up to your mistakes and taking responsibility for your actions. You'll be surprised how much more people will respect you, and how much more efficiently your society will operate.
我写下这篇文章不是为了批判，而是寄希望于中国的下一代能够抛弃可笑老旧的“面子”习俗，开始直面错误并为你们的行为负责。你会惊讶于自己竟能得到那么多尊重，而社会运行得如此之高效。

The opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Global Times.
文章观点仅代表作者个人意见，不反映环球时报的见解。

-End-

译文仅供学习交流，不用于商业用途。未经许可，禁止转载。