“虚拟世界”果真是“虚”的吗——Virtual意义虚实辨

Nearly true though not true:A mistranslation case of "virtual

目前在中国 (包括香港和台湾 )的译文中 ,“virtually”都被译为“实际上” ,而其借以派生的形容词“virtual”却多被误解误译成“虚”或“虚拟”。其实 ,“virtual”意义的本质是实 ,虽无名 ,但有其实 ,而不是虚。多数情况下 ,它与“real”的关系并非反义 ,而是同义。科技及计算机领域中的“virtual” ,大多不可译为“虚”或“虚拟” ,而应视情况处理为“如真”、“等效”、“网上”等。

Though 'virtually' is all interpreted as '实际上', 'virtual' usually as '虚' or '虚拟' in China, including in Hong Kong and Taiwan. In fact, 'virtual' means that something is such in essence or effect, though not in name. It is synonymous, not antonymous with 'real' in many cases. 'Virtual' in scientific and technological documents should mostly be interpreted as '如真', '等效' or '网上', but not '虚'or '虚拟'.