X-Man
Logic in Chinese Reading through the Japanese Loan Words topic, it seems that the nearest Chinese word to English's 'logic' (逻辑 - luoji) has come via Japan and judging from the sound I assume it was originally borrowed from English - presumably this happened because neither China or Japan had a word close enough in meaning. What are the near equivalents in Chinese though? What are the differences, if any between saying 'it's logical' and saying 'it's 合理' or '有道理'. I've got my own ideas about this, but I'm interested to hear what everyone else reckons.
Dec 19, 2007 7:13 AM
Answers · 2
I think the closest word is 逻辑 itself, coz this word has been widely accepted by now. We normally say 合乎逻辑(in article)or 合逻辑(orally used). if you don't want to use this one, just say 合理or 有道理, they are both ok in the situation of 合逻辑. But you can't turn over, that means: 合逻辑 is always 合理or 有道理, but 合理or 有道理 do not mean it is always correlative to 逻辑. In my way of thinking, 逻辑=logic, 合逻辑=logical, 合理=reasonable(normally good things), 有道理= reasonable with some actual/obvious arguments. And also 有道理 can be used in oral, if you want to simply agree with someone's arguments, just say it to agree..
December 19, 2007
There's another word translated from English, 幽默 (from Humour), and it was translated by 钱钟书 (Qian Zhongshu, the author of 围城 Weicheng). I think they need this translation because the Chinese sense of humour was different. And speaking of logic, I think 逻辑 is actually a Chinese translation. There used to have another translation for LOGIC indeed, Dr Sun (孙中山先生) referred LOGIC as 理则学 (Li3 ze2 xue2), I think it makes quite a good translation.
December 19, 2007
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