里昂證券預測2012馬敗選 《自由時報》翻譯錯誤？(英文討論)

[Michael-liu]

究竟外資里昂證券是否是預測總統馬英九會在2012年總統大選敗選已成羅生門？國民黨立委吳育昇今（25）日下午出示里昂證券所發布的《國民黨最可怕的敵人是自己》（The KMT as its own worst enemy）報告，質疑有媒體扭曲報告結論，但卻反遭質疑有選擇性翻譯之嫌。

吳育昇今日下午質疑媒體翻譯錯誤，吳育昇表示，他上午已跟里昂證券高層聯絡，里昂證券高層表示這份報告評估「馬英九會贏得2012的大選、沒有做負面評估」。 吳育昇下午根據報告原文在媒體面前翻譯，但卻有媒體質疑吳育昇選擇性翻譯，忽略掉報告第一句話（We maintain the view we proposed last June, that the 2012 presidential election is the KMT's to lose.）。

對於媒體的質疑，吳育昇解釋，「他講的這句話不是說他（馬英九）會輸掉2012的選舉，他（里昂）說去年我們評估這件事情的時候，是不是指去年的政治情勢？國民黨始終維持一個不好的政治情況，因為從去年以來，國民黨的政治情勢就不好」。

I found another news report which provides a very good answer for this controversial issue :

〔中央社〕媒體引述里昂證券的報告，指中國國民黨將輸掉2012年的大選，關鍵字句is the KMT's to lose不但遭到誤解，更被作了相反的翻譯。正確的解讀是，國民黨理應勝選，但有可能因為犯錯而落敗。

Something is someone's to lose是英文常用語，但要直譯成中文並不容易；重點在於，在這樣的句子裡，這個something（在這裡是2012年的選舉）理應在這個someone（國民黨）的掌握之下。

也就是說，2012年該勝選的是國民黨，除非國民黨自已搞砸，而輸掉選舉。

Then I googled this "Something is someone's to lose" expression and found the following discussion :

What does 'someone's to lose' mean?
Context:
Her main opposition was another Democrat named Gene Locke. Locke is less known in the city than Parker, and the two have very similar views on most of the major issues, MAKING THE RACE PARKER'S TO LOSE.

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters
They are saying Locke is unlikely to win unless Parker does something which would change the outcome dramatically. They believe Parker is a sure thing.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index ... 153AAaykQt

So, we can judge who is right now. I am not trying to talk about politics here. The point is we learn something new from this controversial news


Michael

[Julian]

It's a good sample of language learnning and intereting!~ Still I have to emphasize it's nothing politicial.
Thanks for sharing, Michael