姆巴佩的英文道歉信，是否诚意不足？

来源：英文悦读

姆巴佩因为涉华不当言论引发轩然大波，多家中国公司都与其解约品牌代言。

昨天他在社交平台上发布了一份中英法三语致歉信：

其中英文原文是：

During a recent interview, I reacted to an image of myself.

My comment was ill-judged, and I now understand that it hurt many people in China and in Chinese communities around the world.

I apologize to everyone my words have upset. This was absolutely not my intention. I have deep respect for the Chinese people and their history, and I am sincerely sorry.

这封道歉信写得如何呢？我认为这是一篇标准的公关文，但从诚意上来说是比较不足的。

信中值得留意的是这一句：My comment was ill-judged，其中ill-judged的英文释义是：showing poor judgment or thinking，意思相当于“不明智的、欠考虑的、判断失当的”。

这个词放在这里有点轻飘飘，因为它评价的是判断过程，不是言论的道德性质。

My comment was ill-judged潜台词是“我的言论考虑不周”，而不是“我的言论是错的”。

另一个点是这句话的主语是my comment（我的言论），ill-judged修饰的是言论，而不是说话者的行为。这样写给人感觉姆巴佩不愿意承认自己的错误。

哪怕写成：I made an ill-judged comment. 都会好很多，已经它起码承认“我做了这件事”。

实际上，国外名人写的英文道歉信里面经常会出现wrong, offensive, hurtful, unacceptable这些语气更加严肃的词。

比如美国歌手J. Cole之前因为歌词冒犯了自闭症患者而引发争议，事后他发的道歉信是这样写的：

Last week, when I first saw a comment from someone outraged about the lyric, I realized right away that what I said was wrong. I was instantly embarrassed that I would be ignorant enough say something so hurtful.

其中，what I said was wrong 直接将言论定性为“错误”，并且紧接着用hurtful承认伤害后果，而不是把问题停留在“判断失当”层面。

又比如英国男演员Liam Neeson前几年因为种族言论争议而致歉，信中这样写：

I was wrong to do what I did. I recognize that, although the comments I made do not reflect, in any way, my true feelings nor me, they were hurtful and divisive. I profoundly apologize.

句子的结构是I was wrong to do what I did，主语是“我”，动词是“做”，宾语是“我所做的事”。而且Liam Neeson也用了hurtful这一比较重的词。

作为对比，My comment was ill-judged的主语是“言论”、谓语是“判断欠妥”，两者截然不同。前者承认“我做了错事”，后者只承认“言论考虑不周”。

姆巴佩的道歉信里面还有这样的句子：

My comment was ill-judged, and I now understand that it hurt many people…

这里hurt的主语是it（指代my comment），也就是“言论”，而不是“我”，这也是一种责任弱化。更直接一点的道歉会说：

I now understand that I have hurt many people…

另外，姆巴佩说的是：hurt many people in China and in Chinese communities around the world，这其实是将伤害对象限定在“华人群体”，不是对更广泛普世价值的冒犯，这是一种控制影响半径的公关策略。

总体来看，这封信读起来更像是一份公关模板文，经过了大量模糊化和去责任化的处理，但诚意是明显不足的。

相关阅读：

姆巴佩致歉！声明用法、中、英三文发布
皇马保持沉默：系姆巴佩个人言论