Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Chinese term or phrase:
Opportunity (explanation of the Chinese ideogram for)
English translation:
??
Added to glossary by
Roddy Stegemann
Mar 22, 2004 13:54
20 yrs ago
Chinese term
Brazil
Senior Interpreter English Portuguese
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Works in: English to Portuguese, Spanish to Portuguese, Portuguese, and 2 more.
Opportunity (explanation of the Chinese ideogram for)
Non-PRO
Chinese to English
Art/Literary
Linguistics
language
Dear translators,
Could anyone please explain for me each of the elements that make up the Chinese ideogram for opportunity?
According to my powerpoint slide they are
(tian)
(shi)
(di)
(li)
(ren)
(he)
I would like to know the meanings of these parts and how they make up a whole, and I am especially interested in how the Chinese view of Opportunity differs from the Western view. Please send explanations in English, I can't speak Chinese.
Many thanks in advance
ME
Could anyone please explain for me each of the elements that make up the Chinese ideogram for opportunity?
According to my powerpoint slide they are
(tian)
(shi)
(di)
(li)
(ren)
(he)
I would like to know the meanings of these parts and how they make up a whole, and I am especially interested in how the Chinese view of Opportunity differs from the Western view. Please send explanations in English, I can't speak Chinese.
Many thanks in advance
ME
Proposed translations
(English)
| 4 -1 | opportunity = favorable convergence |
Roddy Stegemann
|
| 4 +1 | 机遇 |
Ray Luo
|
| 4 | FYI |
Edward LIU
|
Proposed translations
-1
11 hrs
Roddy Stegemann
United States
United States
Native in English
Specializes in field
United States
Search HKLNA!
Native in: English 
Works in: German to English, Japanese to English, French to English, and 3 more.
Selected
opportunity = favorable convergence
Below you will find the Cantonese rendering for what you have provided in Chinese characters. Ray has already provided the origin.
機會 (gei wui) = opportunity
天時 (tin si) = time
地利 (dei rei) = place
人和 (jan dzi) = people
where j is pronounce as the y in yell.
Literally speaking the Chinese word for opportunity means a favorable convergence. Certainly there is a matter of luck involved, but from the view of a strategic wartime (in this case corporate) planner it is a matter of waiting for each of these three conditions to be present before taking action.
p.s. I have left out the inflection markers for Cantonese which are somewhat more complex than those for Mandarin.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 11 hrs 24 mins (2004-03-23 01:18:43 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
The Chinese is utf-8 encoded. I have provided this note for those with Chinese ability.
機會 (gei wui) = opportunity
天時 (tin si) = time
地利 (dei rei) = place
人和 (jan dzi) = people
where j is pronounce as the y in yell.
Literally speaking the Chinese word for opportunity means a favorable convergence. Certainly there is a matter of luck involved, but from the view of a strategic wartime (in this case corporate) planner it is a matter of waiting for each of these three conditions to be present before taking action.
p.s. I have left out the inflection markers for Cantonese which are somewhat more complex than those for Mandarin.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 11 hrs 24 mins (2004-03-23 01:18:43 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
The Chinese is utf-8 encoded. I have provided this note for those with Chinese ability.
Peer comment(s):
| neutral |
Stefanie Sendelbach
: Please use pinyin for transcription. The question is asked for Mandarin Chinese, not for Cantonese.
21 days
|
|
Oh really? The person requested information about Chinese. Cantonese is just as much Chinese to a native Cantonese speaker as Mandarin is to someone from Beijing.
|
|
| disagree |
Denyce Seow
: Are you answering the question???? By the way, your Cantonese transcription is wrong. Maybe you would like to check before you put it up.
21 days
|
|
Actually the transcription was correct. The character was wrong. It should have been 知 not 和. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thanks to all of you. Your answers were extremely helpful and it's actually hard for me to pick one. I will choose Hamo's answer because in a way it sums up all the information above.
"
+1
1 hr
机遇
天时，Favourable weather
地利，Favourable terrain
人和, Support of the people
机遇, three facts above give the opportunity in an ancient war-battle.
地利，Favourable terrain
人和, Support of the people
机遇, three facts above give the opportunity in an ancient war-battle.
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Roddy Stegemann
: The elements necessary to engage in war and exit victoriously. Please see a perhaps more English rendering below.
10 hrs
|
1 hr
Edward LIU
Canada
Canada
Native in Chinese
Canada
Conference interpreter, MBA, ATIO, ATA
Native in: Chinese
Works in: Chinese to English, English to Chinese, Russian to Chinese, and 8 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
16
FYI
(tian) heaven/climate
(shi) time
(di) earth/location
(li) favorableness
(ren) people
(he) harmony/support
Together they mean favorable climate/timeliness, geographical position/environment and support of people. Similarly in English there is the phrase of 'being in the right place in the right time'.
I think these terms tend to rationalize the elements for success but it fails to capture the role of chance or luck in success. Just as Mr. Dolittle needs a bit of luck in 'My Fair Lady', the Chinese has the saying that arriving at the right time is better than arriving earlier.
The Chinese and the Western cultures view opportunity in roughly the same way as is the case of 'an early bird catches the worm'.
One difference that I can think offhand is that in the west 'equal opportunity'. Probably it is because of the fact there are too large a population in a country with relevatively limited resources, there goes the saying in Chinese that 'the crying baby shall get milk to drink'.
(shi) time
(di) earth/location
(li) favorableness
(ren) people
(he) harmony/support
Together they mean favorable climate/timeliness, geographical position/environment and support of people. Similarly in English there is the phrase of 'being in the right place in the right time'.
I think these terms tend to rationalize the elements for success but it fails to capture the role of chance or luck in success. Just as Mr. Dolittle needs a bit of luck in 'My Fair Lady', the Chinese has the saying that arriving at the right time is better than arriving earlier.
The Chinese and the Western cultures view opportunity in roughly the same way as is the case of 'an early bird catches the worm'.
One difference that I can think offhand is that in the west 'equal opportunity'. Probably it is because of the fact there are too large a population in a country with relevatively limited resources, there goes the saying in Chinese that 'the crying baby shall get milk to drink'.
Peer comment(s):
| neutral |
Roddy Stegemann
: Being in the right place AT the right time. No cry-babies needed. :-)
9 hrs
|
Discussion
I've uploaded a screenshot to http://home.att.net/~mefarre/opport.jpg to make it a little easier to the respondents. thanks for your patience.