Monday, June 16, 2014

Common Sense, Common Knowledge

有時食飽飯等 X X 

諗埋啲無謂野... 

Key in "common sense", Google Translate returns 常識, as does SDL Free Translation. 

But I thought 常識 was "common knowledge", no? 

So I keyed in "common knowledge", and guess what? It still returns 常識.  And SDL returns 共同知識. 

NOW WAIT JUST A COTTON-PICKING MINUTE.... 

There is a huge difference between "sense" and "knowledge".... 

Paralink translates "common sense" as 常識; 天生的判斷力. 

So, 常識 and 天生的判斷力 are the same in Chinese, or do they presume that it's the same in English...but then Paralink also returns just 常識 on "common knowledge".... 

I once read a translation of "common sense" as 基本理智. While I'm no Chinese language scholar by any means, that seemed more reasonable. 


So, what gives? 


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3 comments:

  1. 又係喎, common sense 好似無一個我哋會常用嘅詞彙, 通常用都係講英文。
    Sense 應該係天生嘛, 一定唔係知識.

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    Replies
    1. Exactly my thoughts la....

      Did you read my friend Isis's comments on FB? :-)

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  2. I checked OALD 8/E (bilingual edition) and the Chinese translation of both terms are 常識. The dictionary has a separate entry for 'common sense' but 'common knowledge' is put under the entry 'knowledge'. In fact, I haven't heard of 'common knowledge' until I saw this blog entry!

    For 'common knowledge', they have another Chinese translation: 眾所周知.

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