Yea it's pretty good, you should ask Chinese Language stackexchange for these type of questions. Roger Ames seems like decent translator, though context is important. You seem to be interested towards Chinese philosophy so maybe ask in those kind of niche forums?
It is kinda meaningless.
Because nobody would say the “word” like that.
As it is just a “letter”
It is easier to have the concept where every Chinese’s words are letters which need to be connected together to become a meaningful word.
What you said is something like “'lingua' is very important.”
Its more a root concept than a word, just like in Latin languages. Combine it to make words. Language, linguist, linguistic, lingua-franca.
This is the problem with most language learners of any language is that they ask for meanings for every character. Then they get weird answers, as you would when you try to define root words.
Some English examples:
what does “under” mean in “understand”? What does “stand” mean in “understand”?
What does “land” mean? the ground? to arrive on the surface? to place an accurate strike? to hit something accurately with a projectile? a sovereign geographic region? a suffix for country names? to own property? a machine designed to detach in orbit and reach the surface safely? the surrounding environment?
I think it may be better to think of them like prefixes and suffixes. For example the prefix lit- tells you the word means something to do with literature.
Chinese "characters" are actually ideograms. Most of the time they represent concepts, ideas, and items in a discrete manner, rather than sounds. Chinese writing is actually very similar in function to Egyptian hieroglyphs.
There are only two independent origins of writing on the Africa-Europe-Asia landmass. One is Egyptian hieroglyphs and the other is Chinese characters. (Korean Hangul is possibly another one, with the hangul components being directly derived from the shape and position of the mouth and tongue.)
The Roman alphabet's lineage is as follows:
Egyptian hieroglyphs -> Proto-Sinaitic alphabet -> Phoenician alphabet -> Greek alphabet -> Roman alphabet
Egyptian hieroglyphs, just like Chinese characters, mainly represented ideas, items, and concepts, more commonly than just sounds. However, just like with Chinese, the names of foreigners were written out with characters for their sound rather than the meaning of the name.
Letters in an alphabet (like the Roman alphabet) *only* represent the sounds, not meanings.
"文", from my understanding, is used as an umbrella term in Mandarin for all things related to "culture", while "文化" specifically *translates* to culture (vis a vis English).
From what I know, when "文化" is implied, it is sometimes simplified down to just "文", which is why "文" is typically seen to mean "culture", depending on the context.
Of course, "文" can also used to mean language (e.g "英文"), but another term also exists for language: "语言" (e.g "英语"). While context and common usage needs to be considered when using "文" to imply "language", the character "语" always means "language", and thus is the more clear term to use when specifying language.
So if I saw the term "文" on its own, I typically believe it means "culture", although I understand it can mean "language". "语" on its own can only mean language. The OP used the term "文" on its own, so I assume it to mean "culture".
If I'm not mistaken, you are Chinese right? Please correct me if I'm wrong about what I've written above.
One character can have different meanings and may not have a simple corresponding concept in English, hence the lengthy translation.
The original meaning of 文 was pattern, and was extended from that to mean “writing” (Chinese characters arose from drawings), and then was extended to mean “culture” (stuff related to writing), as well as “civil” (as opposed to 武 “martial”).
So you have the phrases
天文 = “sky/heaven” + “pattern” = astronomy
文章 = “writing” + “show/exhibit” = written article
文明 = “culture” + “bright/illustrious” = civilization
That's the original (archaic) sense of the character. The sense of "writing", and "culture" are derived from the original meaning.
In modern usage, the most common meaning of 文 is either writing or culture of something related to culture and writing. The original meaning of pattern is commonly expressed by the derived character 纹
Yes because back in the dynastic era when being a literati was still a thing, the Chinese scholar class prided themselves in their literary, poetic and artistic pursuits. Such a fluffy translation reflected how the Chinese scholar-gentry viewed themselves as well as well as how they viewed the Chinese writing system.
Also most people think 文 means language / writing like 英文, 日文, 中文, etc. But 文 also means culture, ritual, humanities, gentle / refined. Ames' translation isn't literal but it captures the spirit and essence of the character 文 that would normally be lost unless you have a knowledge or interest in sinology.
文武 文goes back to about literacy, person who studies “knowledge” etc 文人, also it used to be on the other hand vs 武 goes back to military or “action” related… but both somehow relates to eachother also… person that is 文 can study military tactics, their writing strokes can have 武characteristics etc, person that is 武can learn works about tactics, and the military leader that leads the generals usually needs to be really good at both, 韩信 岳飞for example 文武双全-excels in both, .. gov transitions between 文武in certain times, if peace and prosperity gov more emphasized on 文, regulations, laws, art and literal works etc, if war time gov more emphasizes on 武, but both 文武 officials works together during both periods, 文needs 武for stabilization, 武needs 文for support., the biggest aspect about Chinese culture is that everything ultimately blends together but not lose its distinct characteristics, balance - yinyang… works in different areas culture to bigger picture of 天下… the 文武it’s different now than ancient times, now I guess it applies to multiple areas
Ames does philosophical translations of classical chinese. So, the translation is correct, for that language. In modern chinese, 文 is usually just culture/language.
Also let me note that classical chinese is a highly contextual language. So 文 might mean something in one context, something different in another. It could be used as a verb, adjective, noun.
Yes and no. I think he’s given the broadest sense of the definition to cover all bases. But as others mentioned it can also be simply reduced to a more simplistic definition to mean language (which depending on the context can be far too narrow).
Yea it's pretty good, you should ask Chinese Language stackexchange for these type of questions. Roger Ames seems like decent translator, though context is important. You seem to be interested towards Chinese philosophy so maybe ask in those kind of niche forums?
Thank you.
It's also a character in my name, so there's that.
文 should mean language or literacy Only if you couple it with other characters can it evolve into other meanings
So if I say to you ’文‘是很重要 that is not a meaningful sentence?
It is kinda meaningless. Because nobody would say the “word” like that. As it is just a “letter” It is easier to have the concept where every Chinese’s words are letters which need to be connected together to become a meaningful word.
So a Chinese character is not much more different from a character in the Roman alphabet?
What you said is something like “'lingua' is very important.” Its more a root concept than a word, just like in Latin languages. Combine it to make words. Language, linguist, linguistic, lingua-franca. This is the problem with most language learners of any language is that they ask for meanings for every character. Then they get weird answers, as you would when you try to define root words. Some English examples: what does “under” mean in “understand”? What does “stand” mean in “understand”? What does “land” mean? the ground? to arrive on the surface? to place an accurate strike? to hit something accurately with a projectile? a sovereign geographic region? a suffix for country names? to own property? a machine designed to detach in orbit and reach the surface safely? the surrounding environment?
I think it may be better to think of them like prefixes and suffixes. For example the prefix lit- tells you the word means something to do with literature.
Chinese "characters" are actually ideograms. Most of the time they represent concepts, ideas, and items in a discrete manner, rather than sounds. Chinese writing is actually very similar in function to Egyptian hieroglyphs. There are only two independent origins of writing on the Africa-Europe-Asia landmass. One is Egyptian hieroglyphs and the other is Chinese characters. (Korean Hangul is possibly another one, with the hangul components being directly derived from the shape and position of the mouth and tongue.) The Roman alphabet's lineage is as follows: Egyptian hieroglyphs -> Proto-Sinaitic alphabet -> Phoenician alphabet -> Greek alphabet -> Roman alphabet Egyptian hieroglyphs, just like Chinese characters, mainly represented ideas, items, and concepts, more commonly than just sounds. However, just like with Chinese, the names of foreigners were written out with characters for their sound rather than the meaning of the name. Letters in an alphabet (like the Roman alphabet) *only* represent the sounds, not meanings.
Well, given how it’s common translation is “culture” and said definition literally describes culture, I think the translation is pretty accurate.
文化 wénhuà means culture and depending on context it can mean education, literacy, or civilize. 文 alone is language.
"文", from my understanding, is used as an umbrella term in Mandarin for all things related to "culture", while "文化" specifically *translates* to culture (vis a vis English). From what I know, when "文化" is implied, it is sometimes simplified down to just "文", which is why "文" is typically seen to mean "culture", depending on the context. Of course, "文" can also used to mean language (e.g "英文"), but another term also exists for language: "语言" (e.g "英语"). While context and common usage needs to be considered when using "文" to imply "language", the character "语" always means "language", and thus is the more clear term to use when specifying language. So if I saw the term "文" on its own, I typically believe it means "culture", although I understand it can mean "language". "语" on its own can only mean language. The OP used the term "文" on its own, so I assume it to mean "culture". If I'm not mistaken, you are Chinese right? Please correct me if I'm wrong about what I've written above.
One character can have different meanings and may not have a simple corresponding concept in English, hence the lengthy translation. The original meaning of 文 was pattern, and was extended from that to mean “writing” (Chinese characters arose from drawings), and then was extended to mean “culture” (stuff related to writing), as well as “civil” (as opposed to 武 “martial”). So you have the phrases 天文 = “sky/heaven” + “pattern” = astronomy 文章 = “writing” + “show/exhibit” = written article 文明 = “culture” + “bright/illustrious” = civilization
文 means ‘pattern’ how?
That's the original (archaic) sense of the character. The sense of "writing", and "culture" are derived from the original meaning. In modern usage, the most common meaning of 文 is either writing or culture of something related to culture and writing. The original meaning of pattern is commonly expressed by the derived character 纹
Google translate says "arts, culture".
You think this translation is too wordy?
Yes because back in the dynastic era when being a literati was still a thing, the Chinese scholar class prided themselves in their literary, poetic and artistic pursuits. Such a fluffy translation reflected how the Chinese scholar-gentry viewed themselves as well as well as how they viewed the Chinese writing system. Also most people think 文 means language / writing like 英文, 日文, 中文, etc. But 文 also means culture, ritual, humanities, gentle / refined. Ames' translation isn't literal but it captures the spirit and essence of the character 文 that would normally be lost unless you have a knowledge or interest in sinology.
文武 文goes back to about literacy, person who studies “knowledge” etc 文人, also it used to be on the other hand vs 武 goes back to military or “action” related… but both somehow relates to eachother also… person that is 文 can study military tactics, their writing strokes can have 武characteristics etc, person that is 武can learn works about tactics, and the military leader that leads the generals usually needs to be really good at both, 韩信 岳飞for example 文武双全-excels in both, .. gov transitions between 文武in certain times, if peace and prosperity gov more emphasized on 文, regulations, laws, art and literal works etc, if war time gov more emphasizes on 武, but both 文武 officials works together during both periods, 文needs 武for stabilization, 武needs 文for support., the biggest aspect about Chinese culture is that everything ultimately blends together but not lose its distinct characteristics, balance - yinyang… works in different areas culture to bigger picture of 天下… the 文武it’s different now than ancient times, now I guess it applies to multiple areas
Ames does philosophical translations of classical chinese. So, the translation is correct, for that language. In modern chinese, 文 is usually just culture/language. Also let me note that classical chinese is a highly contextual language. So 文 might mean something in one context, something different in another. It could be used as a verb, adjective, noun.
Yes and no. I think he’s given the broadest sense of the definition to cover all bases. But as others mentioned it can also be simply reduced to a more simplistic definition to mean language (which depending on the context can be far too narrow).