圖像來源, CRAIG LOVELL / ALAMY
在墨西哥生活要破解當地的時間「密碼」。
When I first stepped foot on Mexican soil, I spoke relatively good Spanish. I was by no means fluent, but I could hold a conversation. So when I asked a local ice-cream seller in downtown Guadalajara when he expected a new delivery of chocolate ice cream, and he said 『ahorita』, which directly translates to 『right now』, I took him at his word, believing that its arrival was imminent.
當我第一次踏上墨西哥國土時，我的西班牙語還不錯。雖然不夠流暢，但也足夠與人交談了。於是，當我向瓜達拉哈拉 (Guadalajara) 當地一位冰淇淋老闆詢問，巧克力冰淇淋什麼時候會補貨，他說"ahorita"，直譯過來是"馬上"，我也就這樣理解他的回答：我以為自己馬上就能等到冰激淋。
I sat near his shop and waited, my Englishness making me feel it would be rude to leave. Half an hour passed and still no ice cream arrived, so I timidly wandered back to the shop and asked again about the chocolate ice cream. 「Ahorita,」 he told me again, dragging out the 『i』 ‒ 「Ahoriiiiita」. His face was a mix of confusion and maybe even embarrassment.
我坐在他的商店附近等候，我的英國範兒告訴我離開是不禮貌的。半小時過去了，冰淇淋仍然沒有等來，我略帶羞怯地返回商店再次詢問巧克力冰淇淋的進展。"Ahorita，"他還是這麼回答我，拉長了"i"的發音——"Ahoriiiiita"。他臉上的表情有些迷茫，甚至還夾雜著些許尷尬。
圖像來源, MADELEINE JETTRE/ALAMY
作者在等候冰淇淋的過程中了解到"Ahorita"不能只按照字面意思理解。
I was torn. Waiting longer wasn’t appealing, but I felt it was impolite to walk away, especially if the ice cream was now being delivered especially for me. But finally, after waiting so long that I』d built up an appetite for dinner, dark clouds appeared overhead and I made a rush for the nearest bus to take me home. As I left, I signalled up at the sky to the ice cream seller to let him know that I obviously couldn’t wait any longer and it really wasn’t my fault. His face was, once again, one of total confusion.
我不知所措。我不想繼續等待，但又覺得離開是不禮貌的，特別是，要是老闆正專門為我製作冰淇淋該怎麼辦呢。但最終，在我等到已經想要吃晚飯的時候，天空中出現烏雲，我還是奔向最近的巴士回了家。離開時，我指著天告訴冰淇淋店老闆我沒辦法再等了，真的不是我的錯。他的臉上再次滿是迷茫。
As I sat on the bus, rain pattering on the windows, I replayed the conversation in my head and decided indignantly that the ice cream seller was a liar.
坐上巴士後，雨滴開始敲打著窗戶，我的腦海裡回放著剛才的對話，我憤怒地認為冰淇淋店老闆是個騙子。
This incident faded from my memory until years later when I came back to live in Mexico. I discovered that cracking what I came to call the 『ahorita code』 took not a fluency in the language, but rather a fluency in the culture.
這件事情本來已經淡忘，但幾年後，我再次返回，開始在墨西哥生活。我發現要破解我稱為"ahorita 密碼"，與其說需要熟悉語言，不如說還需要了解這裡的文化。
When someone from Mexico says 『ahorita』, they should almost never be taken literally; its definition changes dramatically with context. As Dr Concepción Company, linguist and emeritus researcher at the Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City, told me, 「When a Mexican says 『ahorita』, it could mean tomorrow, in an hour, within five years or never.」
當墨西哥人說"ahorita"時，幾乎不能按照字面意思理解，它的意思在不同語境中會有巨大的差別。正如康塞普西翁·孔帕尼（Concepción Company）博士告訴我的："當墨西哥人說'ahorita' 的時候，它的意思可能是明天、一個小時後、五年內或者永遠不。「孔帕尼博士是來自墨西哥城自治大學的語言學家和名譽研究員。
Ahorita llego, which directly translates to 『I am arriving right now』, in fact means 『I will be there in an indeterminate amount of time』, while ahorita regreso (『I will be right back』) means 『I will be back at some point but who knows exactly when』. 『Ahorita』 is even used as a polite way of saying 『no, thank you』 when refusing an offer. Even after almost seven years in Mexico, this response can still catch me off guard when I’m hosting friends; I find myself hovering, unsure if I should get my guest what I offered them or not.
"Ahorita llego"直譯過來是"我馬上就到"，事實上意味著"我到達的時間還不確定，"而"ahorita regreso"（我馬上回來）意思是"我會回來，但具體時間還不確定。""Ahorita"甚至是"不，謝謝"的一種禮貌表達，用於拒絕別人的提議。即便在墨西哥生活了幾乎七年後，我在招待朋友時聽到這個回答時仍然感到措手不及：我在猶豫，不知是否應該拿給他們我想給的東西。
圖像來源, EDU VISION/ALAMY
儘管大多數說西班牙語的國家使用指小詞"ita"來加上即時的意味，但是在墨西哥，它的作用是更隨意，不那么正式。
Mexicans are famous in the Spanish-speaking world for their extensive use of the diminutive. While in most Spanish-speaking countries the addition of the diminutive 『ita』 to an adverb like ahora (meaning 『now』) would strengthen it to indicate immediacy (i.e. 『right now』), this is not the case in Mexico. Dr Company explained that Mexicans instead use the diminutive form to break down the space between the speaker and the listener and lessen formality. In this case of 『ahorita』, the addition of the diminutive reduces urgency rather than increasing it – a difference that can be extremely confusing for foreigners.
墨西哥人因其大量使用指小詞而在西班牙語世界廣為人知。在大多數說西班牙語的國家，儘管在"ahora"（意思是"現在"）這樣的動詞後加上指小詞"ita"可以起到加強作用，表示立即（"馬上"），但是在墨西哥並非如此。孔帕尼博士說，墨西哥人使用指小詞是為了拉近說者和聽者之間的距離，減少拘謹感。至於"ahorita"，它添加的指小詞並不是增加緊迫性，而是相反——這種差別會讓外國人感到非常困惑。
Subtle adjustments to the pronunciation of the word also affect the way 『ahorita』 is interpreted. 「The stretch in the 『i』 sound in the word 『ahorita』 is a demonstration of the stretching of time,」 Dr Company informed me, implying that the longer the sound, the longer one can expect to wait. Equally, 「if you want to imply that you really mean right now, you would say 『ahorititita』,」 she explained, noting the short, sharp sounds represent the idea that something needs to happen at once.
發音的細微調整也會影響 "ahorita" 所要表達的意思。" 'ahorita' 中 'i' 的發音拉長表示時間的延伸，"孔帕尼博士告訴我，這意味著發音越長，需要等待的時間就越長。同樣，"如果你想要表達立即的意思，你應該說 'ahorititita'，" 她說，你需要用短而急促的聲音表示需要某件事情立即發生。
Difficulty interpreting what I have come to call 『Ahorita Time』 is a reflection of different cultural understandings of time. Dr Company explained that if she is giving a talk in Mexico and goes over her allotted time, Mexicans 「feel like I am giving them a gift」. In the UK or the US, however, 「The audience starts to leave, feeling like I am wasting their time.」 My Mexican friends plan parties for 7pm knowing that no one will show up until at least 8:30pm. Foreigners who are new to Mexico organise events for 8:30pm not knowing that means that most people will arrive at 10pm.
我所謂的 "Ahorita 時間" 的理解困難，反映出不同文化對於時間的理解差異。孔帕尼博士表示，如果她在墨西哥發表演講時超出了規定時間，墨西哥人會"認為我給了他們一件禮物"。但是，在英國或美國，"聽眾會起身離開，認為我佔用了他們的時間。" 我的墨西哥朋友們計劃下午 7 點聚會，但是他們知道，至少在 8:30 之前都不會有人來。剛來墨西哥的外國人想要組織晚上 8:30 的活動，殊不知大多數人10 點鐘才會到達。
I have heard foreigners complaining about Mexicans』 tardiness, viewing lateness as a lack of manners and respect. This stems from the notion that 『time is money』 – a finite, valuable resource that should not be squandered. Mexicans on the other hand have a much less loaded attitude, viewing time as something flexible and malleable; something that cannot be controlled. Ahorita Time makes little commitment and allows for spontaneity, because you never know what might happen between now and 『ahorita』.
我曾聽到外國人抱怨墨西哥人的拖拉，將他們的遲到行為視作缺少禮貌和尊重。這來源於"時間就是金錢" 的觀念——把時間看作是一種不應被浪費的有限的寶貴資源。而相比之下，墨西哥人的態度則輕鬆許多，他們認為，時間是靈活多變的，也是無法控制的。"Ahorita 時間"不需要承諾，而提倡自發性，因為你永遠不會知道現在和"Ahorita"之間會發生什麼。However, some expats living in Mexico just cannot get used to this more fluid way of measuring time. After moving to Mexico from the US, Elizabeth Wattson found a unique way of working with Ahorita Time. 「Whenever my boss said 『ahorita』, I would respond by asking 『ahorita when?』. I just couldn’t work with this vague concept of something getting done at some indeterminate point in the future,」 she said.
但是，一些生活在墨西哥的移民還是無法適應這種衡量時間的不固定方式。從美國移居到墨西哥後，伊莉莎白·沃森 (Elizabeth Wattson) 發現了處理"Ahorita 時間"的獨特方式。"不論任何時候，只要我的老闆說'ahorita'，我都會問'ahorita 何時？'。我不能適應這種在未來某個不確定的時間做事情的模糊概念。"她說。For me, cracking the 『ahorita code』 ‒ and understanding why my ice cream never arrived ‒ came when I relaxed into the flow of Mexican life, which felt far less hurried than my life in London had been.
於我而言，破解"ahorita 密碼"——並理解為什麼我的冰淇淋始終沒有等來——是我在適應了墨西哥的生活節奏後才領悟到的，它比我在倫敦的生活慢了許多。Since moving to Mexico, my attitude towards time has changed dramatically. I don’t worry so much about being late; I am generally still on time to appointments (old habits die hard), but when I’m not, I don’t panic. And while I still get frustrated when waiting for a plumber who may arrive in the next five minutes or the next five hours, I know that the payoff is feeling far less controlled by time and I enjoy the spontaneity that this adds to life.
搬到墨西哥後，我的時間觀念也發生了巨大的變化。我不再那麼擔心遲到，雖然我通常還是會準時赴約（本性難移），但是如果未能準時，我也不再驚慌。儘管我不知道水管工人是在五分鐘還是五個小時後到達，但是我知道，他獲得的報酬不會受時間的左右，我很享受生活中平添的這種自發性。
Ironically, it would seem that Ahorita Time has actually allowed me to live far more in the 『right now』 than I ever did before.
讓人哭笑不得的是，似乎"Ahorita 時間"才讓我的生活比以往任何時候都更加活在"當下"。