In China, we usually talk about a typical kind of temperament which represents no good and no bad, just a character we called "性子”。and everyone can be classified under either "慢性子” or "急性子”。
慢性子represents the kind of people who tend to take their time and get things done gradually.
急性子represents the kind of people who tend to get things done ASAP and are always in the rush.
Those two types of people always despise each other:
slow tempered (I don't know how to say 慢性子in English) people see quick tempered people(急性子)as mice who seem to never get an idea how to stop running.
quick tempered people see slow tempered people as sloths who seem to take them their whole life to lift up their asses .
Q1: does anyone know how to say 慢性子 and急性子in English exactly?
Q2: which category are you in?
Q3: in your country, people prefer which kind of temper or see them equally?
It's hard to translate! A 慢性子 would call themselves "conscientious", which means they pay lots of attention to detail. However a 急性子 would call them "fastidious", which refers to someone who's so obsessed with details they're very slow ("fastidious" doesn't always have a negative meaning, but it has its origin in "fastidium" (Latin for "loathing/hatred") and is quite commonly used to criticise, unlike "conscientious", which is very positive)
A 急性子 would call themselves "efficient" or "hardworking". But a 慢性子 would call them "careless" (which is the opposite of conscientious) or "jittery" (which means unable to relax)
A few notes:
- Unlike 慢性子/急性子 alll of these words are adjectives
- Conscientious and fastidious are rather formal. Jittery is rather informal
- Careful with the naughty language! "Ass" is probably a bit too vulgar for a context where you're interacting with a bunch of strangers :)
Maybe 'laid-back' would be a good English word for the first type. Always taking their time, often seen as lazy or slow by the other type.
For the second type I can't think of an adjective on it's own. In fact, there may not be a direct one-word equivalent in English. You can describe someone as 'always on the go', if they always want to get things done. 'Uptight' could also be a more negative word for this type of person, but again it doesn't quite match your description exactly.
I'm definitely in the second type, but I wish I was more like the first!
I would say in Britain that the second type is seen as becoming more and more positive in this ever faster-paced world.
Thank you Susan and Alan for sharing your comprehension about this discussion.
WOW! so many new words are pouring into my vocabulary notebook. It's gonna take me quite a while to look up in dictionary and memorize all those new words. but it's awsome and I think it'll be worthwhile if I digest them. so thanks you guys all.
To the 'ass' part, how does 'butt' sound to you? or any other proper words? Cos you know to Chinese people they are all the same, we only have "屁股" for translation. so I have no concept, what's the difference?
I do not think we have a similar concept in American culture. In school I was taught about the 4 classical temperments as a system that the ancients believed, but we do not have a words and categories similar to the ones you describe.
The closest things I know to this is personality theory with some words to describe enduring personality traits. Kiersey´s temperament theory might have some minor similarities to this but really does not give simple words with the same concepts. http://www.keirsey.com/4temps/overview_temperaments.asp
Some of the words from trait theory might have some similarity, such as the trait of ¨conscientiousness¨ for the first type of person and ¨novelty seeking¨ or ¨impulsivity¨ for the second type. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trait_theory ;
I think the closest might be calling the first type of person a ¨conscientious¨ person and the second type an ¨impulsive¨ person.
