how many times与how often能否互换

问题描述

How many times have you been to the Great Wall?？
How often have you been in love in your life?
请教专家： how many times 与how often能否互换，谢谢。

老师答疑

龙老师：

对于How often have you been in love in your life?一句，《牛津英语用法指南》的两个版本给出了两个不同的翻译：

第二版：How often have you been in love in your life? 你一生中多久谈一次恋爱?

第三版：How often have you been in love in your life? 你一生中谈了多少次恋爱？

我觉得很奇怪，按理说其中有个翻译可能是“误”译。但为了慎重起见，我查了一些词典，发现以上两种翻译都没错。原来how often有两个用法：

一是表示“每隔多久”（这是大多数语法书和词典都有介绍的）。如：

How often do you exercise? 你多久锻炼一次？

How often do you wash your hair? 你多长时间洗一次头发？

How often do you see your parents?  你多多去看望一次你的父母？

二是表示“多少次”（与how many times同义），《牛津高阶英汉双解辞典》第6版认为这是属于口语（spoken）用法。如：

(spoken) How many times (= how often) do I have to tell you not to do that? 我得告诉你多少回不要做那种事？（《牛津高阶英汉双解辞典》time词典）

董老师：

谢谢龙老师，我懂了。