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> * 关系 (Guanxi) (Mandarin): Your network of connections that help you get stuff done in life and business. I do think in American English at least there is a p

by Swizec 2y ago

> * 关系 (Guanxi) (Mandarin): Your network of connections that help you get stuff done in life and business. I do think in American English at least there is a phrase for this: Your Network. You even used it to explain the word :) Usually the first association to “your/the network” is social. You have to specify if you mean the technical version with computers.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
earth-adventure 2y ago
The mandarin guangxi encompasses a whole lot more than just your network. That would be considered a very bastardised translation, losing all the extra meanings such as good luck created by having that network, possibilities to fortune, a kind of karma, and more.
- frutiger 2y ago
  > all the extra meanings such as good luck created by having that network, possibilities to fortune, a kind of karma, and more. In your 20s you might think of your network as people who you went to college with. In your 40s your network takes on a meaning much closer to what you have described. I don’t yet know what happens in your 60s.
- creamyhorror 2y ago
  Karma aside, "having connections"/being "well-connected" is pretty much the equivalent in English. It's not bastardised at all; terms don't need to have the exact same cultural implications to be basically equivalent.
bumbledraven 2y ago
In American English, in the context of people, "network" typically refers to business contacts. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/network https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/network : “To get a job in today's economy, it is important to have a strong network.”
- lucubratory 2y ago
  In English your family and friends are absolutely part of your network. If I needed a job and someone told me they'd reach out to everyone in their network until they found me one, I'd be very confused if they'd failed without ever speaking to their friends and family about it. "Your network" is definitely related to/aimed at economic productivity and personal productivity, but it is not composed only of people you've met at work.
082349872349872 2y ago
> * น้ำใจ (Nam-jai) (Thai): Literally "water from the heart". Being very nice and helpful without expecting anything back. "Charity"
- nopinsight 2y ago
  There are many key differences between the two concepts. 'charity' would be a bad translation of 'น้ำใจ'. GPT-4o explains it well: https://chatgpt.com/share/e/987705c8-fcb7-4af3-a8bd-9d7dc228508c https://chatgpt.com/share/e/987705c8-fcb7-4af3-a8bd-9d7dc228...
  - 082349872349872 2y ago
    That "share" link doesn't. Perhaps I should specify: "charity", as used in "faith, hope, and..." (although I generally prefer "charity" as in the computer language)
    - nopinsight 2y ago
      Having lived in Thailand, I am confident that 'น้ำใจ' is still a distinct concept from 'charity' in 'faith, hope, and charity'. They are probably closer in meaning than the most common definition of 'charity' though.
- sirn 2y ago
  Charity is closer to ใจบุญ (jai-bun) than น้ำใจ (nam-jai). A mixture of "act of kindness" and "good will" would be a more fitting translation, but the interesting part here is that "sportmanship" is also considered an act of น้ำใจ (น้ำใจนักกีฬา nam-jai nak-kee-la or literally. sportman's nam-jai). We also have a word เสียน้ำใจ (sia-nam-jai) for when our nam-jai ended up as a waste, or for when the other party is being ungrateful for the kindness that's being given, and also เลี้ยงน้ำใจ (leang-nam-jai) for when you're doing/accepting nam-jai for the sake of not making the other party sia-nam-jai.
  - lukeschlather 2y ago
nopinsight 2y ago
Major differences between them. The concepts are rooted in very different cultures. In-depth explanation by Orlando Yang: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/chinese-guanxi-vs-western-social-network-what-differences-yang/ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/chinese-guanxi-vs-western-soc... Easier-to-read one by GPT-4o: https://chatgpt.com/share/e/b2a76479-2950-4aad-ad8e-97e775be654b https://chatgpt.com/share/e/b2a76479-2950-4aad-ad8e-97e775be...
- _as_text 2y ago
  I really don't think it's all that different, sorry. The difference is that there is a more direct and established way of talking about these things in China, because it has such a long history of bureaucracy and everyone got used to these dnyamics over thousands of years, but even in places like Sweden you can have guanxi. It boils down to doing something for a member of your ingroup strictly because he's in your ingroup. I mean even the word 关系 and "network" have the same etymology. 系 = threads of silk arranged in a pattern.
thaumasiotes 2y ago
The Mandarin word literally means "relationships" and the concept is well established in English. When you describe somebody as "connected", that's what you're saying. It's an incredibly poor example of an "untranslatable" phrase.
- _as_text 2y ago
  The first and only time I've ever felt like I really know Chinese was when I came across the phrase '洋汽扑鼻' in "Fortress Besieged" by Qian Zhongshu. It literally means 'the breath of the sea assaults the nostrils". It's a joke on how fashionable and in demand everything Western was in China in the 1920s. For me it's just laugh-out-loud-for-10-minutes funny. I've tried to explain it to literal dozens of my friends and now I know not to even try.
  - thaumasiotes 2y ago
    Probably worth noting that while 洋 does literally mean "sea", it also means "foreign".

by Swizec 2y ago

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

earth-adventure 2y ago

The mandarin guangxi encompasses a whole lot more than just your network. That would be considered a very bastardised translation, losing all the extra meanings such as good luck created by having that network, possibilities to fortune, a kind of karma, and more.

frutiger 2y ago
> all the extra meanings such as good luck created by having that network, possibilities to fortune, a kind of karma, and more. In your 20s you might think of your network as people who you went to college with. In your 40s your network takes on a meaning much closer to what you have described. I don’t yet know what happens in your 60s.
creamyhorror 2y ago
Karma aside, "having connections"/being "well-connected" is pretty much the equivalent in English. It's not bastardised at all; terms don't need to have the exact same cultural implications to be basically equivalent.

bumbledraven 2y ago

In American English, in the context of people, "network" typically refers to business contacts. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/network https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/network : “To get a job in today's economy, it is important to have a strong network.”

lucubratory 2y ago
In English your family and friends are absolutely part of your network. If I needed a job and someone told me they'd reach out to everyone in their network until they found me one, I'd be very confused if they'd failed without ever speaking to their friends and family about it. "Your network" is definitely related to/aimed at economic productivity and personal productivity, but it is not composed only of people you've met at work.

082349872349872 2y ago

> * น้ำใจ (Nam-jai) (Thai): Literally "water from the heart". Being very nice and helpful without expecting anything back. "Charity"

nopinsight 2y ago
There are many key differences between the two concepts. 'charity' would be a bad translation of 'น้ำใจ'. GPT-4o explains it well: https://chatgpt.com/share/e/987705c8-fcb7-4af3-a8bd-9d7dc228508c https://chatgpt.com/share/e/987705c8-fcb7-4af3-a8bd-9d7dc228...
- 082349872349872 2y ago
  That "share" link doesn't. Perhaps I should specify: "charity", as used in "faith, hope, and..." (although I generally prefer "charity" as in the computer language)
  - nopinsight 2y ago
    Having lived in Thailand, I am confident that 'น้ำใจ' is still a distinct concept from 'charity' in 'faith, hope, and charity'. They are probably closer in meaning than the most common definition of 'charity' though.
sirn 2y ago
Charity is closer to ใจบุญ (jai-bun) than น้ำใจ (nam-jai). A mixture of "act of kindness" and "good will" would be a more fitting translation, but the interesting part here is that "sportmanship" is also considered an act of น้ำใจ (น้ำใจนักกีฬา nam-jai nak-kee-la or literally. sportman's nam-jai). We also have a word เสียน้ำใจ (sia-nam-jai) for when our nam-jai ended up as a waste, or for when the other party is being ungrateful for the kindness that's being given, and also เลี้ยงน้ำใจ (leang-nam-jai) for when you're doing/accepting nam-jai for the sake of not making the other party sia-nam-jai.
- lukeschlather 2y ago

nopinsight 2y ago

Major differences between them. The concepts are rooted in very different cultures. In-depth explanation by Orlando Yang: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/chinese-guanxi-vs-western-social-network-what-differences-yang/ https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/chinese-guanxi-vs-western-soc... Easier-to-read one by GPT-4o: https://chatgpt.com/share/e/b2a76479-2950-4aad-ad8e-97e775be654b https://chatgpt.com/share/e/b2a76479-2950-4aad-ad8e-97e775be...

_as_text 2y ago
I really don't think it's all that different, sorry. The difference is that there is a more direct and established way of talking about these things in China, because it has such a long history of bureaucracy and everyone got used to these dnyamics over thousands of years, but even in places like Sweden you can have guanxi. It boils down to doing something for a member of your ingroup strictly because he's in your ingroup. I mean even the word 关系 and "network" have the same etymology. 系 = threads of silk arranged in a pattern.

thaumasiotes 2y ago

The Mandarin word literally means "relationships" and the concept is well established in English. When you describe somebody as "connected", that's what you're saying. It's an incredibly poor example of an "untranslatable" phrase.

_as_text 2y ago
The first and only time I've ever felt like I really know Chinese was when I came across the phrase '洋汽扑鼻' in "Fortress Besieged" by Qian Zhongshu. It literally means 'the breath of the sea assaults the nostrils". It's a joke on how fashionable and in demand everything Western was in China in the 1920s. For me it's just laugh-out-loud-for-10-minutes funny. I've tried to explain it to literal dozens of my friends and now I know not to even try.
- thaumasiotes 2y ago
  Probably worth noting that while 洋 does literally mean "sea", it also means "foreign".