葡萄酒跟寫作其實很像。葡萄酒有風土條件，寫作有文筆天份。天生文采好的人，再怎麼不好的題材，就是有辦法吸引讀者的目光；風土條件好的葡萄酒，遇到再不好的釀酒師或酒堡主人，還是有其精采的地方。
喝酒跟寫作也有點像。喝酒除了爽，還是爽之外，還要有一點想像力。寫作除了抒發情感，把感情訴諸文字之外，也是要運用一點想像力，把一瓶酒變成一幅畫。
喝酒跟寫作另外一個相像的地方，就是練習。寫作需要練習文筆，練習文字的流暢，練習把情感跟文字結合，練習精準地用正確的詞句表達心中的想法。喝酒需要練習酒膽、酒量之外，還要練習分辨酒中的不同元素，看、聞、嚐，這每一步動作跟都是需要練習才能達到精準的境界，才不會把泥土的味道聞成爆竹的味道，才不會把柑橘的香味嚐成無花果的口感，才不會把烤焦麵包的味道當成蜂蜜。
我的文字屬於無厘頭的口沫橫飛，仔細看Darren的文章，發現其實他的文字是美麗的。在他的英文用詞裡有許多文學的元素，但透過翻譯有的時候沒辦法完全的表達出來，更何況他的譯者是一個無厘頭的創意型不連結自以為俏皮的莫名其妙。
我建議各位讀讀Darren的英文寫作。他的文字也許比較嚴肅，用詞比較專業，我想這除了跟他年紀大有關之外，大概是從前報社編輯出身的職業病吧！這個論調也很有趣，因為依照這樣的理論，我的無厘頭大約是從小耍賴的天生懶骨造就出來的吧！
[Darren的註解：寫作風格的不同另外還有文化與語言的關係。英文這種語言可以寫簡單明瞭的文章，所以很適合寫技術、科學、法律等文章。但若用來寫具意象、藝術、與詩意的文章，就不太適合。因此我的文風比較清楚簡潔，Venus就常會天馬行空。這也是為什麼Venus有時候覺得我的文字不好翻譯的原因。英語同一個詞可以用不同字，來形容不同的程度，英文在這方面其實分的比中文要細，這也讓英文可以清楚並精準的用在技術用語上。這不是我說的，這是取自偉大的人類學家跟文化語言學家Umberto Eco的作品。
我喜歡Venus的寫作風格，她把味覺和嗅覺都圖像化了。她這種把口味田園化的作法在英文裡面很難找到，所以在我修改她的英文的時候很難把他的意象語言修正為敘述語言。但是這種想像是值得的，我最喜愛的一段是她把微酸的酒形容成跳跳糖在嘴巴裡的感覺。]
註：年紀大會是原因是有我的道理在的。時下年輕人或上班族使用黑莓機收發電子郵件、手機傳簡訊，漸漸習慣以最少的文字最快地傳達訊息，已經很少人會美麗文藻或譬喻手法來發送簡訊了。Darren除了身為加拿大人，還有歷史學者的背景，對於”效率”這種事情不會太積極，因為歷史的洪流，不像現代化的過程，是會跟隨著社會的發展的加快腳步的。
[Darren的註解：很多台灣人把速度和效率搞混了，這兩個不是同義字。試想一個典型的台灣公司的辦公室內，有著許多人忙進忙出，卻沒完成什麼大事 –這就是一個很好的例子。]
台灣人覺得一定要跑在前面，所以才不會輸給別人，這是台灣”贏的哲學”。近年來台灣已經有一些針對生活品質的體認，但是尚未貫徹執行。Darren在某些方面是對的，台灣的管理階層即使根本沒什麼大事要做的時候，也會有意無意的鼓勵員工加班來顯示忠誠度，所以才會造成員工在雜事上面花了太多的時間精力，沒有把眼光或精神放在大事的決策上，而導致了能量與速度的分散。>
[Darren的註解：很不幸的是，除了老闆之外，每個人都知道這個道理。]
而這些最後的爭論跟品酒或寫作一點關係都沒有。那寫幹嘛？因為作者是個台灣人，也總是忙來忙去什麼事也沒達成。
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Wine and writing are similar, just as good wine requires terroir, good writing needs talent. A born writer can attract readers, even if the subject's unenjoyable; wine from a good terroir can somehow stand out despite a terrible winemaker or chateau.
Both drinking and writing can bring joy; but, besides the positive feelings of expressing oneself in writing and the more earthy joys that come from drinking wine, one needs imagination to bring the two together into a written picture of the wine.
Another similarity between drinking and writing is practice. Writing requires practice to hone the skill, and accurately put meaning and feeling into words. Wine tasting also requires practice to be able to differentiate wine's complex elements. Observing, smelling, and tasting each demand lots of practice to be able to distinguish soil from mineral, citrus from fig, or burned toast from honey – to name but a few.
My writing contains weird thoughts and silly talk. If you read Darren's writing, you'll find his words are quite simple but beautiful. There are artistic wordings and literary elements to his writing, which sometimes might be lost in translation – not to mention his translator is sometimes naughty and clueless.
I suggest you read Darren's English writing carefully. Though his wording can be serious, and his phrases use some wine terminology, it still has grace and beauty. I think this relates to his background as a newspaper editor and copy-writer (also he’s older).:-) According to this theory, my weird thoughts and writing style might result from being too lazy to form a logical argument and a natural tendency towards disconnected thinking.
[Darren's Note: There are other cultural and linguistic reasons for the differences in writing style. English is a wonderful language for writing simple, clear and concise articles. English is great for writing about technical matters, like law and science. It is poor for writing in an imaginative, artistic or poetic manner. Thus my writing will tend to be clear and to the point, while Venus’s tends to wander around more. This is also why Venus finds my writing hard to translate, English has much finer gradations of meaning than Chinese – this allows us to have the clarity and precision necessary for technical writing. These are not my own ideas, I am paraphrasing from the work of that brilliant anthropologist and cultural-linguist Umberto Eco.
I understand the frustration of trying to translate English's relatively fine gradations of meaning. The only time Chinese is more clear and specific than English is when talking about family relationships. As an English speaker, I often find myself frustrated. Why do you need to know that this uncle is from your father’s side and is younger than him? Uncle should be enough information. But, I realize that English is more specific in every other area and that Chinese learners must experience the same frustration when dealing with the entire English language.
I love the style Venus brings to writing about taste and flavour. Her method of painting a pastoral scene based on flavors is very different than what one might find in English, and thus hard to edit into comprehensible form when I work on her English. But, the imagery is great and worth the effort. Her description of a slightly acidic wine as having a pop-rocks feel in the mouth is my favourite turn of phrase].
Note: There's a reason I say Darren being older makes his writing more serious. Now, the younger generation use blackberries to send emails and cell phones to send SMS messages. There are less and less people writing with “big words” or using metaphors. Aside from being Canadian, Darren also holds a master's degree in history. He is not too excited about being speedy, or should we say efficient – for history, unlike modernity, will not be moved by social development speeding up its pace.
[Darren's Note: Too many Taiwanese confuse speed with efficiency. The words are not synonymous. Think of a typical Taiwanese company with the workers scurrying around very fast while accomplishing nothing - a perfect example of speed without efficiency].
(Venus's feedback: I work with Canadians and understand their concept of efficiency. Private time and holidays always come before work. This is healthier and more balanced. However, it is a nightmare for Taiwanese businessmen dealing with Canada during holiday season. While Darren says some Taiwanese try to go fast and accomplish nothing, some Canadians are just too annoyingly slow. Holiday season is a case in point. During summer Canadians go on vacation while Taiwanese buyers are left here worrying about shipments not arriving – simply because there are no Canadians in the office. No wonder Canadians invent the Blackberry?) (But it will be nice if they use it sometimes when there's an enquiry…)
Taiwanese tend to think they need to run as fast and hard as they can in order not to fall behind the competition. Recently there has been some awareness in Taiwan of life quality issues, but perhaps not enough has been done. Darren is right that many Taiwanese management practices force workers to be inefficient. (There are bosses who encourage workers to stay late, even when they have nothing to do. There is the tendency to dedicate far too much energy to trivial matters while allowing important matters to languish unattended – the problem of misdirected energy/speed).
[Darren's note: Unfortunately everyone understands this except the bosses].
And this has nothing to do with wine, nor writing. So why compare? Because the writer is Taiwanese and also likes to run around accomplishing nothing.
Darren Haughn & Venus Chen (c) 2008-03-08
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