China's Space Program News Thread
- Thread starter crazyinsane105
- Start date
- Status
broadsword
Brigadier
a better description would be translation is an attempt to capture the meaning of the original word in the new language, using terms already familiar in the new language.
a transliteration is an attempt to capture the sounds of the original word in a new language, with the expectation that after an initial period of familiarization, the speaker of the new language will begin to map the sound, which previously had no meaning in the new language, to the actual meaning of the original word.
The reasons why science often favor transliteration of terms over translation are:
1. scientists tend to ge smart and usually have less trouble than the general public in learning new words
2. transliteration between languages with broadly similar repertoire of sounds expressable in writing makes it easier for scientists from these languages to establish spoken scientific communication.
However, I think with chinese, the second reason is not very strong. the fact is it is chinese script is not phonetic so it is difficult to capture sounds from other language in chinese in a manner that remains intelligible to the speaker of original language. So using chinese transliteration for foreign scientific and technical terms does not really help spoken communication.
So when porting foreign technical terms into chinese, one might as well creat terms that mean something in chinese rather than sound vaguely, but not convincingly, like the original term.
a transliteration is an attempt to capture the sounds of the original word in a new language, with the expectation that after an initial period of familiarization, the speaker of the new language will begin to map the sound, which previously had no meaning in the new language, to the actual meaning of the original word.
The reasons why science often favor transliteration of terms over translation are:
1. scientists tend to ge smart and usually have less trouble than the general public in learning new words
2. transliteration between languages with broadly similar repertoire of sounds expressable in writing makes it easier for scientists from these languages to establish spoken scientific communication.
However, I think with chinese, the second reason is not very strong. the fact is it is chinese script is not phonetic so it is difficult to capture sounds from other language in chinese in a manner that remains intelligible to the speaker of original language. So using chinese transliteration for foreign scientific and technical terms does not really help spoken communication.
So when porting foreign technical terms into chinese, one might as well creat terms that mean something in chinese rather than sound vaguely, but not convincingly, like the original term.
Last edited:
The best attempt is actually both, and I'll give you an example that demonstrates this as well as be relevant to space program:
Kerogen, the precursor substance for oil and natural gas is translated/transliterated to: 干酪根, whoever came up with this had a stroke of genius. Other than pronouncing very similar to kerogen the Chinese characters also very well describe the substance:
干 = dry, because kerogen is a solid (only turning into oil and natural gas after being heated)
酪 = fermented, transformed, because kerogen is organic sediment after it undergoes diagenesis
根 = root, because kerogen is the precursor to hydrocarbons
Extra-terrestrial kerogen would be a strong indication of life and may have been detected on Mars. It's an active area of research.
it’s nice if a meaningful scientific term in Chinese also sound like how most scientists outside china would say it. but that is probably the exception rather than the rule.
In most cases, it is difficult to find any string of chinese characters that come close enough to capturing the pronunciation of multi-syllable words from languages with phonetic writing systems such that the transliteration is easily understood by the speaker of the original language. The transliteration sounds like gibberish in both the original language, and in chinese. So why bother?
Make it meaningful in Chinese, then at least it would easier to learn in Chinese.
Last edited:
We should use chinese terms whenever possible instead of transliterating from other languages. Shouldn't become like the japanese where even though they have older terms of the same meaning they are not using them but transliterating from english the same words.
Japanese uses a native system of phonetic alphabet in addition to Kanji. Native Japanese words are mostly polysyllabic. These make Japanese better suited than Chinese to transliteration of words from most other major languages.
If a language is well adapted for transliteration, then using transliteration for scientific terms makes doing science across national border easier.
If a language is well adapted for transliteration, then using transliteration for scientific terms makes doing science across national border easier.
Last edited:
I think it is about Chinese SPACE program, not regional languages
Is early June of 17th morning still on track for manned mission to space station launch?
Yes.
Do you know if the chinese launcher(+capsule) will have an all-around abort capability in case something happens
In the past there was just a short period where abort could happen and thus save the crew
AFAIK SpaceX now provides a complete abort capability from the moment of ignition till all the way to space
- Status