“MBA智库百科”网站将“私人财产”译为“personal property”。 （http://wiki.mbalib.com/wiki/%E7%A7%81%E4%BA%BA%E8%B4%A2%E4%BA%A7）网站对“私人财产”定义如下：
私人财产是指个人财产，个人所有物（如固定资产或服饰）等。从法律上说，私人财产即私有财产、个人财产。在我国刑法第九十二条规定，私人财产是指公民的合法收入、储蓄、房屋和其他生活资料、依法归个人、家庭所有的生产资料、个体户和私营企业的合法财产、依法归个人所有的股份、股票、债券和其他财产。
这里重点关注一下“房屋”也属于私人财产。再看何为personal property：
Personal property is a type of property which can include any asset other than real estate. The distinguishing factor between personal property and real estate is that personal property is movable; that is, the asset is not fixed permanently to one location as with real property, such as land or buildings. Examples of personal property include vehicles, furniture, boats, and collectibles.
（https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/personalproperty.asp）
Possessions other than real estate or buildings. Personal property is movable and includes tangible (appliances, car, furniture, jewelry) and intangible (bonds, right to a benefit, shares or stocks) items whose ownership belongs to the individual. Also called chattels.
（http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/personal-property.html）
可见，personal property（也可以叫personal estate）是“动产”，不包括房产，不符合“私人财产”定义。“私人财产”的准确英文表述应为private property：
Tangible and intangible things owned by individuals or firms over which their owners have exclusive and absolute legal rights, such as land, buildings, money, copyrights, patents, etc. Private property can be transferred only with its owner's consent, and by due process such as sale or gift.
（http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/private-property.html）
说起private和personal的区别，首先想到的可能是前者涉及隐私，后者特指个人，比如private information是不愿公开的隐私信息，而personal information是与个人有关的信息，比如年龄、性别什么的。不过有些时候，private也可以指“个人/个体”，而非“私人”。比如，a doctor in private practice是个体行医的医生，而非为个人服务的私人医生。私人医生可以说a personal/private doctor。A private opinion和a personal opinion意思相同，都是可以与别人分享的个人意见。
Personal和private的差别有时不大，有时则极为明显，比如personal与private property。面对这类容易混淆的词语，译者应充分意识到存在出现误译的可能，查询相关用法权威解释，放大区别、分清差异，这样才能避免出现类似将“私人财产”译为“personal property”的问题。
（中国翻译研究院）
