English word for...

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Rachel Udin

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I'm a fluent English speaker. So the following is English vocabulary problems generated by a translation problem.

I'm writing a novel about really ancient Korea. I know my characters are talking in Old Korean, but I'm translating it back to English in my head (since I have semi-fluency with Korean, so often sentences come in my head as Korean then I translate them back to English again. I know my head is a mess.)

I've run against a problem. A word just won't translate properly even though I write in 100% English.




I *know* what it means, but I can't find a word with equal weight in English. In Japanese (Kokoro/Shin), Korean (Maum/sim) and Chinese (xin1) it means "Heart", but it also means "Mind" with a sense of a "center" (as in the phrase in English, "the heart of the matter.")

The context is roughly, make the Queen stronger because the King is bent on making her love him, but he doesn't want to leave his _blank_ open for attack. (Heart, mind, center of his being... It works so much better in Korean/Japanese/Chinese).

I need something that has the same kind of meaning, but without the religious aspect since the religious aspect I'm being careful to separate. Any bright ideas on best translation?

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/心 is the original page.

Closest I got was psyche, I think, but it really doesn't get into "heart/emotions" as much as I'd like. Plus my head is warped with the original story, so I might be seeing more "heart" in that word than the average user.

If there isn't a good equal word it'll result in awkward info dump and extra explanation. I'd rather avoid it.

Suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.
 

BardSkye

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Essence? Sorry, that's about as good as I can come up with. I'd use "soul" even though I'm not religious, because it's about the only thing I can think of that combines heart, mind, being in one word.
 

shaldna

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The context is roughly, make the Queen stronger because the King is bent on making her love him, but he doesn't want to leave his _blank_ open for attack. (Heart, mind, center of his being... It works so much better in Korean/Japanese/Chinese).

I need something that has the same kind of meaning, but without the religious aspect since the religious aspect I'm being careful to separate. Any bright ideas on best translation?

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/心 is the original page.

Closest I got was psyche, I think, but it really doesn't get into "heart/emotions" as much as I'd like. Plus my head is warped with the original story, so I might be seeing more "heart" in that word than the average user.

If there isn't a good equal word it'll result in awkward info dump and extra explanation. I'd rather avoid it.

Suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.


I would say 'soul' but I'm not sure that's exactly right.
 

poetinahat

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Can you co-opt an existing word, or invent a compound - say, one's "All" or "Own-ness", but less naff - and overlay it with your meaning through usage? Something like Orwell's Newspeak or Hemingway's use of "rare" to mean "weirdo" in A Farewell to Arms (though I assume that's another example of inexact translation).
 

mirandashell

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I was thinking 'soul' but yeah, there are religious connotations.

Probably next best is 'essence'. But that doesn't really go with 'attack'.

I would go with soul, I think. And trust the reader will know it's not religious in context.
 

Nualláin

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Sometimes in translation, where no word in English accurately represents the source word, you can fudge a little and let the reader interpret meaning for you. A slightly clunky sentence can indicate that there's something more going on in the source language that you can't quite express in English.

What about something like "he doesn't want to leave his self open for attack"?

By leaving a deliberately ungrammatical construction, "his self" from "himself", you flag the word to your readers as meaning more than what they would normally take it to mean. Self could potentially encompass the unity of physical and mental/emotional being without being too flowery.

Just a thought. There might be better examples, that's just what popped into my head. It's definitely one of the big problems in doing translation... Clearly English hasn't yet nicked enough words off other languages around the world.
 

Rufus Coppertop

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Closest I got was psyche, I think, but it really doesn't get into "heart/emotions" as much as I'd like.

Are you completely sure that "psyche" doesn't fit? My understanding of the word is that it actually does encompass the heart (in the emotional sense) as well as the rational part of the mind.
 

HarryHoskins

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make the Queen stronger because the King is bent on making her love him, but he doesn't want to leave his _soft danglers_ open for attack.

This is a little like Blankety-Blank. :)

The only other thing I came up with was heart & soul but that sounds clunky.

Have you considered going a bit metaphory? Or perhaps you could purloin a word from somewhere else -- seeing as it's a king and queen, does chess have a similar term?

Hope this helps. :)
 

Summonere

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from the fleeting thoughts passing through my brain

Soul / spirit
being
essence
mojo
self
center
mind | nous (Gk.)
will | strength | character |
heart | mind | center = spirit = soul = essence = being (core of my being)
chi, qi = life-force, life-energy
prana = same as above (vital life)

energeia: potentiality, actuality
eidos: personal eidos, maybe? Eidetic self?

areté - Translated as "virtue," the word actually means something closer to "being the best you can be," or "reaching your highest human potential." Areté is identified with what enables a person to live well or successfully, but may prove slightly useful in some form.

kusala – Sanskrit word for the Buddhist version of areté
 

jmlee

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My first instinct is to say ki/qi, even though this is different and represented by a different character - but I think its use is slightly more common in colloquial English (isn't it used in yoga these days? -- and people are familiar with it from martial arts) and you might get a higher understanding rate with it? Even if it's not 100% accurate?
 

Siri Kirpal

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Sat Nam! (Literally "Truth Name''--a Sikh greeting)

Psyche sounds okay by me.

Or what about Self?

Soul suggests religion to me too.

Inner core?

Essence sounds hard to attack.

So, I guess I'd go with Self (capitalized to make it clear that his Self isn't a grammar error) or psyche or inner core.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal
 

kuwisdelu

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I would consider "soul" to be more spiritual than religious. It doesn't strike me as very religious.
 

Rachel Udin

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Thanks for the suggestions so far!

Oh and the one narrating is Kushani... so Sanskrit and Pakrit are fine. (Greek is also fine for the same reason. King was part Bactrian.)

I'm trying to keep Ki separated since I'm using it as part of the (soft) magic system. (Animatism mixed with Animism mostly).

Currently leaning towards soul or psyche, though they aren't perfect. I'm obsessing because the word needs to come up repeatedly... it is part of the subplot. ^^;;
 

boron

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I don't see a problem.

The translation for something what means heart is - heart, isn't it?

In the Orthdodox Cristianity, there is a term "mind in the heart," like you plan something, but before you do anything, you check your thought in your heart. If you are in peace with the though, the thought seem to be right; if not, you think further until you are in peace. The word "center" is often associated with this concept, but the process of contemplating occurs in the heart. It's a real, simple, warm, emotional word...
 
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Siri Kirpal

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Thanks for the suggestions so far!

Oh and the one narrating is Kushani... so Sanskrit and Pakrit are fine. (Greek is also fine for the same reason. King was part Bactrian.)

I'm trying to keep Ki separated since I'm using it as part of the (soft) magic system. (Animatism mixed with Animism mostly).

Currently leaning towards soul or psyche, though they aren't perfect. I'm obsessing because the word needs to come up repeatedly... it is part of the subplot. ^^;;

Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

If you can use Sanskrit, then Atma would be good. The word for mind/heart/soul is Man, but I wouldn't use it for obvious reasons.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal
 

Xelebes

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Atma sounds like the Old English word Æþm (Athm) - breathing, breath. Heart-athm or Athmheart (compounds I made up) if you really want to go archaic.
 
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blacbird

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Many languages have words for which English has no direct equivalent. Which is one of the major reasons why English is so willing to adopt the foreign words, like angst, ennui, jihad, macho, lutefisk. Essence might be close to what you are looking for.

caw
 
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