“给力”登上纽约时报 遭各国群众围观

Geili 给力

　　Chinese Internet buzzword which means “cool,” “awesome” or “exciting。” Literally, “giving power。”

　　中国的网络词汇，含义是“酷”、“很棒”或者“有劲”，字面意思是“给予力量”。

　　The Shanghai Daily reported that a Chinese neologism, “geili,” which means, “cool,” “awesome” or “exciting,” had been granted the “official seal of approval” by appearing in The People’s Daily – the official paper of the Communist Party:

　　上海日报报道说，一个汉语新词“给力”，意为“酷”、“很棒”或者“有劲”登上了党报《人民日报》，代表着这个词已经被官方认可。

　　“Geili” is created from two Chinese characters “gei” and “li。” Literally, it means “giving power,” but is now widely accepted as an adjective describing something that’s “cool。”

　　“给力”是两个汉字“给”和“力” 组成的，字面含义是“给予力量”，但是它现在广泛用作形容词，形容什么东西很“酷”。

　　A test of a Chinese jargon word’s trendiness is if users translate it into a foreign language, according to its pronunciation. “Geili” has been transformed into the English-sounding “gelivable,” and “ungelivable,” and the French “très guélile。”

　　检测一个汉语流行语新潮程度的方法之一是看有没有使用者把它翻译成外语(请允许小编偶吐槽下，这是谁定的标准啊~)，根据它的发音，“给力”已经被音译成英语的 “gelivable” 和 “ungelivable”，以及法语的“très guélile”。

　　But it was the word’s antonym “bugeili” – meaning dull or boring – that first grabbed wider public attention after it appeared online in May in an episode of a Chinese-dubbed Japanese comic animation。

　　但实际上最先引起广泛注意的是这个词的反义词“不给力”，意思是单调无趣的，这个词最早是五月出现在一部汉语配音的日本动画的某集中。

　　本内容出自纽约时报SCHOTT'S VOCAB 专栏。

　　以下为文章下面各国群众的围观：

　　来自康涅狄格州的网友小h：　　How would this be pronounced? I'm not sure if I'm saying it correctly。这词咋发音啊？我都不知道我说的对不对。

　　来自加拿大魁北克的网友JT：

　　Fascinating resemblance to a buzzword used by German youth。太巧了吧，德国小青年也有这么个词儿诶。

　　来自德国的Gray表示同意：

　　Yup, indeed, a strange coincidence that there's a German slang word with the same meaning and almost the same spelling: Geil (pronounced 'guy-el.')是啊，这个真的有，有个德国的俚语词儿跟这个意思一样的，拼写都差不多，德语写成Geil(读成guy-el)，奇怪的巧合啊。

　　Originally, that word meant "fertile" (but that's obsolete

　　now)， later it was used in the meaning of "horny" (still is used in that way)， and since about 30 years, people will most often use it as a synonym for "cool," "awesome" or "exciting." Really a strange coincidence. Or have the Chinese copied the German word? I'm very sure it wasn't the other way round!这词儿最早的意思跟英语的fertile差不多(这个意思现在已经不用了)，后来用成“horny”的意思(好色的，这个意思现在还在用)，差不多30年前开始的吧，大家更常用这个词表示“酷”啊“棒”啊“有劲”啥的，太巧了。要不就是汉语借鉴了德语词？反正肯定不是德语抄汉语的！

　　Btw, even "geili" can be used in German, and people will understand it. I'm sure I've heard that variant here before。顺便说下，“geili” 在德语也能用，德国人也听得懂，我确定我在这听过这个变体。

　　来自布鲁克林的大卫同学很有教学经验：

　　The correct tones for pronouncing it are 3 and 4: gei3-li4. The third tone sort of starts at middle voice then drops to low voice then goes back up to middle voice (like in "whoa") while the fourth tone starts high and quickly drops to low (as in giving a command)。正确的发音是三声和四声：gei3-li4。三声开始是中间的声音，然后降低再回到中间来(像whoa这个词这样的)，四声是从高高的调儿降到低声(跟下令似的)。

　　Also, gei is pronounced like "gay" and li like "leee"。还有，“给”的发音跟英语的 “gay” 很像，“力”的发音像英语的“leee”。

　　Therefore, putting these things together, it would sound something like "gaaay-lee"。所以，这俩放一起，发音有点像英语的 “gaaay-lee” 。

　　来自深圳的小姑娘对德国群众表示了反对：

　　Actually, geili is written as 给力； it's nothing close to "geil". It pronouced /'gei 'li:/. much more like "gay lee"。其实geili 写成“给力”，跟“geil”一点都不像啦，发音是 /'gei 'li:/，跟“gay lee”挺像的。