Hi, just a quick question which I hope sb can answer: can I translate “escalation path” as 升級道 (in a managerial/administrative setting/usage) or is that too literal … ? Any other suggestions? Thanks a bunch, Xpet.
How about “高陞法門”. “升級” is more like something upgrade. If a emploree become a manager, we call that “高陞”.
升遷管道
Hi, and thanks for the responses. “Escalation path” does not describe a career development or anything like that, its a pre-determined and regulated way of dealing with conflicts, decision making etc. on different levels … e.g. if no decision can be found/agreement reached the issue can be escalated to the next higher “authority” (e.g. management level). In that context, how does 覆議管道 sound? Thanks a lot!! Xpet.
If you’re talking about tech service, I’ve found a reference to 技术支持
程序 on the Web (a Hewlett Packard site, FWIW). A Symantec site in Chinese has 向上提报的程序, which seems pretty descriptive too. There doesn’t seem to be a set translation as of yet as far as I can see.
I’d probably pick the Symantec version of the ones I saw, but your mileage may vary. (Obviously the usual disclaimers apply – I’m not a native speaker, etc. etc.)
[quote=“ironlady”]If you’re talking about tech service, I’ve found a reference to 技术支持
程序 on the Web (a Hewlett Packard site, FWIW). A Symantec site in Chinese has 向上提报的程序, which seems pretty descriptive too. There doesn’t seem to be a set translation as of yet as far as I can see.
I’d probably pick the Symantec version of the ones I saw, but your mileage may vary. (Obviously the usual disclaimers apply – I’m not a native speaker, etc. etc.) [/quote]
Hi Terry, thanks for the comments! It seems 技术支持程序 is a little too technical for our intended usage (more in the area of management decision making), if you had to decide between 覆議管道 and 升級管道, which seem to be crystalizing out of our discussions here at the office, which one would it be? Although one basic meaning of 升級 is escalation, I believe it’s also being widely used to mean upgrade nowadays, e.g. software upgrade etc… On the other hand, my problem with 覆議 is that it seems to say “review”, sounding more like a routine review procedure rather than conveying the hierarchical (and soemtimes menacing 
) aspects that come with the term escalation … Thanks for your learned comments, much appreciated!
Anther question: how do you find stuff like your two suggestions? I.e., how do you do a search using an English expression/term etc. that gives you Chinese results? Or did you remember having seen this stuff before and went back there?? Just curious, would be useful to know! Thanks, Xpet.
(事态/事件/案例/下情)(升级/上报)(渠道/程序)
(situation/incident/case/lower level condition)(escalate/report to above)(pathway/procedure)
take the most appropriate combination for the context.
Of the two 覆議管道 seems the most related to “escalating” as we use it in English, although you’re right about the lack of menacing connotation.
I’m not sure what they used, but a good way to find relevant resuts is to type in English words and then include a Chinese term that is likely to appear in the same field. This tends to produce pages with at least some level of bilingual content.
Another thing is to go to an organization that you would think would use that sort of term and scan their site for promising leads.
Xpet, you seem to be talking about 申訴管道 – it’s a path that is used to appeal a decision made by someone or file a complaint against someone to a higher authority.
I would say it means " 申诉途径or 诉求途径"
path means “管道”?? I don’t think that is right translation, 管道 is a pipe.
am I wrong?
You are right, usmaster81. 管道 is very weird to use in this case.
yes, path is generally translated as: 途径，小路, 小径, 路线, 轨道, 通道
“Path” in the abstract sense is best translated as 渠道 (pathway) or 途径 (way). 路线 is roadmap, which involves the notion of a ‘plan’ and is not appropriate here.
No, in Taiwan people use 管道 to mean path/pathway and has the connotation of a process/procedure. If you are in Taiwan, you would want to use this term instead of others. Another term to use is 途徑. I agree with what zeugmite said about 路線, and it is also more a mainland Chinese term.
I should clarify that if in context the pathway is actually a kind of procedure, 程序 should be the term to use.
that’s pretty weird in my mind 
usmaster81 wrote:[quote][quote]Woodchild wrote:
No, in Taiwan people use 管道 to mean path/pathway and has the connotation of a process/procedure. If you are in Taiwan, you would want to use this term instead of others. Another term to use is 途徑. [/quote]
that’s pretty weird in my mind[/quote]
Yes, over the years Taiwan and the mainland have each developed a lot of expressions that sound completely weird in each other’s ears.
For example, in Taiwan, most people would call a bicycle 腳踏車. Occasionaly you would hear 自行車 here. However if you call a bicycle 腳踏車 in China, people would probably just laugh.
This is just a sidepoint. I apologize to the original poser about deviating the thread.
yes, another example of the difference when I began to know after my arrival in the US.
In my shcool, there are also a bunch of students from Taiwan. Once, they called rubbish “Le4 Se4(垃圾)”, I didn’t understand what they meant and rather confused. They used another word which is commonly used in mainland China, that is “la1 ji1”.
I am wondering how this huge difference of rubbish pronunciation occur? quite interesting.