I’m a bit unsure of how to best translate something and could use a bit of advice from anyone who feels up to it.
In a paper I’m writing, I’m describing the view of a number of mainland linguists and PTH promoters that Putonghua is a “standard language” that has no native speakers. I want to quote the following in English:
The “mother” topolect is acquired (naturally) in a natural language learning environment during the process of socialization. Putonghua is deliberately learned against a background of topolectal obstacles. Mother topolect acquisition is a process that begins and ends with perception, whereas Putonghua acquisition is a process of moving from rational cognition to perception.
My understanding of psychology terms in English and Chinese ain’t so good. How would you lot translate 感性 here so that it contrasts nicely with “rational cognition”? What this long-winded paragraph is basically saying is that topolects are acquired naturally whereas Putonghua is learned, but I’d like to translate the whole thing with the original writer’s contrasting of 感性 and 理性 intact.
interesting question, going to give an amateur response, “natural cognition” came to mind and that phrase googled a number of responses, here’s one quote from one:
“Teaching may be a natural cognition that, despite its complexity, is learned at an early age without any apparent instruction.”
In my translation work, this would be a prime example of when I would ask my client (who would be an expert in the field, whereas I would not be such) to provide the English renderings to ensure accuracy and professionalism. You’re dealing with field-specific jargon here. But it doesn’t appear that you are being hired by the author of this work to translate it.
Anyway, ordinarily when I see ganxing vs. lixing, I think “emotional” vs. “rational”. But I’m no expert in educational psychology.
When talking about language acquisition, we often distinguish between “learning about” a language and “acquiring” the language. I think this is probably pretty much the same distinction. The dialect, which is characterized as natural, is acquired naturally; the standard form is learned, and then through learning is acquired (made into a set of unconscious habits in the mind).
Does that make sense? “Learning about” means being able to analyze and state rules; “acquiring” means simply being able to use the language automatically, although one might not be able to analyze (or teach!) it.
[quote=“ironlady”]When talking about language acquisition, we often distinguish between “learning about” a language and “acquiring” the language. I think this is probably pretty much the same distinction. The dialect, which is characterized as natural, is acquired naturally; the standard form is learned, and then through learning is acquired (made into a set of unconscious habits in the mind).
Does that make sense? “Learning about” means being able to analyze and state rules; “acquiring” means simply being able to use the language automatically, although one might not be able to analyze (or teach!) it.[/quote]
Hmm. I thought I made it clear above that I knew exactly what the author meant, but that I was just looking for the precise term used for 感性 in English.
Tempo Gain, the “natural cognition” suggestion was a good one and I nearly went with it, but then I asked a PhD student I know from the mainland. She went to one of the government’s bilingual academies-I think there’s one each in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou-since she was in the first year of primary school. Fucking amazing English and Chinese. She was one of Wu Yi’s interpreters through the whole SARS thing. Anyway, this is what she had to say:
Well, 感性 here has been shortened from 感性认识, and the commonly accepted translation for 感性认识 is “perceptual cognition”. It actually refers to the initial stage of perceiving the outside world through our perceptual organs. By contrast, 理性认识, which is rational cognition, draws on the previous development of/findings of perceptual cognition and works out the internal connections between phenomena or realities. Therefore, in Chinese thinking, rational cognition comes after perceptual cognition and is of a higher level. You can refer to Wikipaedia for a more refined explanation. I am afraid mine is rather crude.
hmmm, rational cognition and perceptual cognition. perfect! curious, if you wanted to say “he’s very perceptive” in chinese could you say, “ta hen you gan xing?”
I’m just telling you what the “hang hua” is in L2 teaching circles. It all depends on what your audience is, too. IMHO what I’ve listed is pretty much equivalent to the full terms listed in English – with the exception that the average person might understand one or the other better. I’m not coming down on either side, but if you show both versions to my mother, who is my default plain ol’ person for purposes of textual clarity, I know which one she’s going to understand. If your text is destined for rarified experts, they may better understand the other version, of course.
IF there is a widely-used technical term for those words, fine, use it/them. IF there isn’t, then using plain ol’ English that is comprehensible might be a better choice than coining an English term based on the Chinese. That’s all I’m saying. It depends on the usage, the breadth of usage, and the intended audience.