速意翻譯社的部落格

〈談文論譯〉「國家」可指 country,

nation, state 蘇正隆

中文「國家」可指 country, nation, state，沒嚴格區分。英文 country 是地理概念，nation 是族群概念，state 是主權概念，翻譯時可依中文習慣譯為「國家」或「國」即可。

地理概念： a divided country
In the aftermath of World War II Germany became a divided country. 二戰後德國成為分裂國家。
After Japan had lost the war Korea became a divided country.日本戰敗後韓國成為分裂國家。
countries on the other side of the Pacific 太平洋彼岸的國家

族群概念： a divided nation
How America Became a Divided Nation of the Protected and the Unprotected
美國何以變成一個族群分裂—受保護與不受保護者—的國家

主權概念： a sovereign state
Latvia is a democratic sovereign state, parliamentary republic and a very highly developed country according to the United Nations Human Development Index.
拉脫維亞是議會共和制的民主主權國家，據聯合國 UNHDI 指標，屬高度發展國家。

Mongolia is a sovereign state in Asia and boasts its own language, currency, prime minister, parliament, president, and armed forces.
蒙古是一個主權國家，擁有自己的語言、貨幣、總理、國會、總統及軍隊。

A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a business enterprise where the government or state has significant control through full, majority, or significant minority ownership.
國營企業/國有企業是指由政府投資或參與控制的企業。
國營企業也可說 a state-owned corporation。

Google 統計亦可印證：
"How America Became a Divided Nation" 約有 464 項結果
找不到 "How America Became a Divided Country" 的結果。
(是美國的族群分裂，非地理割裂。)

"a state-owned enterprise" site:uk約有 10,800 項結果
找不到 "a nation-owned enterprise" site:uk 的結果。
找不到 "a nation-owned corporation" site:uk 的結果。
找不到 "a country-owned corporation" site:uk 的結果。
找不到 "a country-owned enterprise" site:uk 的結果。
(強調的是主權，非族群或地理概念)

最後談一下national一詞，在台灣national往往與國立畫上等號，然而「全國的」才是它的核心意義。台灣一般人會以為美國的 National Ballet Institute for the Arts是國立芭蕾舞學院，其實它是私立學校。(Jerome Su,September,20,2019)