【200分汉译英】苏轼的普通话之迷？

问:

苏轼的普通话说得怎么样？宋朝皇帝是中原人，能听懂他说的四川话吗？

Question:

How was Su Shi’s Mandarin in your opinion? The emperor of the Sung dynasty came from China’s central plains, could he understand Su’s Sichuan dialect?

答:

1.问的挺有意思!如此大师的散文,古文,诗歌能被大家广泛的流传,他的普通话功底应该深厚,当时大家都那么说话而已,能听懂的,但如果纯说方言，那听的费劲了!

Answer:

This is an interesting question. Well, judging by the widespread acceptance and appreciation of Su’s literary works, he must have been well versed in Mandarin as it was spoken by the intellectuals. If Su just spoke a local dialect, he could not have been so popular.

2.另外宋朝的语音还处于中古语音系统，语音非常丰富，光声调就有七个，和今天的客家话是非常接近。如果当时也有“普通话”，那这种说起来七拐八弯的语言就是他们的普通话吧。

Moreover, the Sung Dynasty still had a medieval language system. It has rich sounds, intonation alone has seven variations , quite similar to the modern Hakka dialect. If there were to be a popular language or Putonghua then, it could be a poorly pronounced common language with local accents.

3.至于苏轼和皇帝的交流问题，宋朝的皇帝虽然身在开封，但他说的可不是今天的河南话，而是他们的“普通话”——即接近现在客家话的语言。而现在的四川话里尚有客家话的痕迹，好几百万人都还能说得很流畅，难道苏轼当时不能和皇帝交流吗？

As for the issue of communication between Su and the emperor, although the latter lived in Kaifeng, he did not speak the Henan dialect of today but the then prevailing popular language, equivalent to the modern Hakka dialect. The modern Sichuan dialect still has traces of Hakka influence and millions can speak it very well. Based on this, it is certainly reasonable to conclude that Su could exchange ideas easily with the emperor.

4.还有玩笑一说，那么大的官员即使普通话不好，肯定有翻译,应该交流不成问题的。所以不存在问题中的顾虑了。

If such a senior government official could not speak the popular language well, an interpreter would certainly be assigned to help him. This may be considered a joke, but certainly the worry about Su’s communication problems is unwarranted.