“艺人”用英文应该怎么讲呢？这是网友在BBC英伦网的栏目“英国问答”中提到的问题。工作人员拿到手，都有点面面相觑。是啊……有的时候这样的日常用词要翻译起来还的确让人摸不着头脑呢。以下，是他们商量以后的结果：

It seems that the Chinese term 艺人 can refer to many different jobs in the world of entertainment in the Chinese context¹.

看起来，“艺人”这个单词在中文的语境里可以代表很多演艺圈的不同工作。

However, this may not be the case in English.

而在英语的语境中，却不仅如此。

Both fortunately and unfortunately there isn't a single English word to convey all the meanings of the Chinese term yi ren 艺人.

幸与不幸的，英文中没有一个确切的单词能够全面地表达中文“艺人”所传达的意思。

Perhaps the word that is closest in meaning to 艺人 is entertainer.

也许，离“艺人”最近的单词应该就是entertainer了吧？

But as you will hear from both language experts and two entertainers, there are separate words to describe different jobs within the realm of entertainment. For example a singer, a dancer or a street performer can all be regarded as entertainers.

不过，无论是语言专家、还是两位entertainer本人都表示，在娱乐圈还有很多单独的词语来表达不同的工作种类。比如：singer（歌手）、dancer（舞者）、或是street performer（街头艺术家）都在“艺人”的范围里。