3 ms·

Part of your comment may be partially true, but the truth is likely much deeper and subtler. I'd say much of it is a bit Western bias. Abstractions come in diff

Part of your comment may be partially true, but the truth is likely much deeper and subtler. I'd say much of it is a bit Western bias. Abstractions come in different flavors and are tied to worldview. Most people in the West (except learners of Asian traditions) also have problems understanding concepts like Tao, Buddhism's Nirvana, Confucius' filial piety even when they know the words for them. A similar thing may happen in China which compelled the comment of yours. (My native language is Thai, which is somewhat related to Chinese, and both share many characteristics. I also know a bit of Chinese and Japanese. I think a lot about languages in my job, NLU research) English might have an advantage representing Western-style abstraction, not because of its inherent linguistic nature, but the culture surrounding its uses. China, Thailand, and many other countries in Asia just started its industrialization recently and one can argue that they have not gone through a European-style Enlightenment. Many of the Western abstract concepts in Chinese and Thai are imported, rather than invented, and thus have shallower roots and limited penetration in societies. Less educated and traditionally educated people might not wholly understand them even if they have heard them mentioned in passing in a documentary or foreign news. Neologisms are invented to represent these concepts, often fairly easily since compound words are in common use in both; but for most people to deeply understand them is a different issue. So my question is what groups of monolingual population in China do you interact with and draw conclusions from? If they are not the new elites who had much education in Western tradition and worldview, their issues with Western abstract concepts may not really be of linguistic nature, but related to worldview. Note on representing emotions: Thai and Chinese use tones for meaning, but they have particle words for emotions and social cues. These are more expressive in writing compared to English. Spoken voice usually comes with emotional tones (pitch and loudness vary in these languages too) so people can almost always tell the emotions if the speaker does not hide them. So I disagree with your point about emotional expressiveness.

Htsthbjig 12y ago
"Westerners also have problems understanding Eastern concepts like Tao, Buddhism's Nirvana, Confucius' filial piety even when they know the words for them." Exactly. I'm talking about people that only speak one language, and had not been exposed to different worldviews. But you talk about Confucious, Tao or Buddhism... How many years those concepts have? Where are Asian Kant, Ortega or Nietzsche. In China there is another issue and is that the power bureaucracy simply killed their Kants, as they were dangerous for population control, but that is another issue. My native languages are Spanish,then learned German and French. But French is very similar to Spanish, German very similar to English, and languages become easier the more you speak. You go to England, you see Churches, not very different from Spanish or French ones. In Asia there is another core set of values, but there is a world of difference between China and India. I don't speak Thai, but I had traveled to Thailand and in my view they have very little in common in the way of thinking and expression. In my view Thailand is more similar to India than China. This is a highly political issue, it is like saying to Catalan nationalist they are Spanish, because even when they are very similar, they don't want to.
- sukilot 12y ago
  You seem surprisingly confident in your knowledge of classic Chinese literature, for someone who doesn't know Chinese.

Htsthbjig 12y ago

"Westerners also have problems understanding Eastern concepts like Tao, Buddhism's Nirvana, Confucius' filial piety even when they know the words for them." Exactly. I'm talking about people that only speak one language, and had not been exposed to different worldviews. But you talk about Confucious, Tao or Buddhism... How many years those concepts have? Where are Asian Kant, Ortega or Nietzsche. In China there is another issue and is that the power bureaucracy simply killed their Kants, as they were dangerous for population control, but that is another issue. My native languages are Spanish,then learned German and French. But French is very similar to Spanish, German very similar to English, and languages become easier the more you speak. You go to England, you see Churches, not very different from Spanish or French ones. In Asia there is another core set of values, but there is a world of difference between China and India. I don't speak Thai, but I had traveled to Thailand and in my view they have very little in common in the way of thinking and expression. In my view Thailand is more similar to India than China. This is a highly political issue, it is like saying to Catalan nationalist they are Spanish, because even when they are very similar, they don't want to.

sukilot 12y ago
You seem surprisingly confident in your knowledge of classic Chinese literature, for someone who doesn't know Chinese.