翻译技巧-“啃老族”的正确翻译

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\"啃老族\"是当今紧张而忙碌生活的产物。有这样一个句子：这个啃老族已经30岁了，但仍然依靠他的父母生活。有人是这样翻译的:



This Neet is already 30 years old but still lives on his parents.



其实严格地说，live on后面要跟sth，不跟sb；而live off后面可以跟sb或sth，意思分别是\"靠什么人养活\"和\"靠什么活着\"，目前还没有\"live on sb\"的搭配。例如：They live on a diet of bread and cheese.（他们靠吃面包和奶酪活着。）This unemployed worker lives on unemployment benefit.（这个失业工人靠失业救济金为生。）



\"啃老族\"指既没有上学也没有就业或接受职业技能培训但必须依靠父母养活的青年人。在英国英语中，\"NEET\"指啃老族的一员，\"NEET group\"指啃老族群体。\"NEET\"是\"Not Currently Engaged in Education, Employment or Training \"或\"Not in Education, Employment or Training\"的缩略语。美国英语则称之为\"boomerang child/kid\"。



Boomerang原指澳大利亚土著居民的飞镖。例如：



An investigation indicates that about 70% of the unemployed young people in our country now live off their parents, thus becoming Neets.\"（调查显示，我国目前约七成失业青年靠父母养活，因而成为啃老族。）



In Japan, more and more young people have joined in the Neet group who neither go to collage nor go to work..\"（越来越多的日本青年加入到既不上学又不工作的啃老族。）



The boomerang child phenomenon has become a social problem on a nationwide scale.\"（啃老族现象已成为全国性的社会问题。）



如果把\"啃老族\"翻译为adult dependent child是不妥的。\"adult dependent child\"的意思是\"有心理缺陷或生理缺陷的需要抚养的成年子女\"，比\"啃老族\"含义要宽泛。例如：An adult dependent child is one who is incapable of self-care because of a mental or physical disability.（一个需要抚养的成年子女是因为心理缺陷或生理缺陷而不能自理的人。）



所以开头的那句话应该翻译为：



This Neet is already 30 years old but still lives off his parents.