Chinese character for "existence" or "I am"?

[the_one10100]

Hello everyone,

I say "nice to meet you" to all since this is my first post here.

The reason I come here hoping I'll find the answer is that I'm looking for the chinese sign(s) for "existence" or "I am" or something close-related to these terms. If you could give me the answer and the way to spell it I'll be very grateful.

Thank you in advance and have a nice day!

[nipponman]

The reason I come here hoping I'll find the answer is that I'm looking for the chinese sign(s) for "existence" or "I am" or something close-related to these terms. If you could give me the answer and the way to spell it I'll be very grateful.

Firstly, they're not signs. They're characters. Secondly, there are different characters for different situations. The most basiccharacter of existence would be you3 有.

[Pravit]

It'd be pretty funny to see "有" used as a tattoo or the logo for some organization, though, if that's what you're getting at, the_one.

[skylee]

You could consider 存在. But if it is for a tattoo, I consider it a bad choice. Why? Take a look at this post.

[amandagmu]

Am I reading into this too much or would you like to know the definition of "I am"/"existence" in the Descartes or Sartre sense of the word(s)? If so, then it might be helpful to ask someone proficient in intellectual Chinese terms. I do know that there is no precise definition of "privacy" in Chinese and that questions of self and individual might be harder to define in Chinese than in English... they definitely hold more weight in English. Anyways, maybe you should clarify what kind of definition you're looking for first.

~Amanda

[skylee]

I do know that there is no precise definition of "privacy" in Chinese

I am not sure if there is really no precise definition of "privacy" in Chinese. In Hong Kong, a Chinese territory, there is a Privacy Commissioner's Office to look after the relevant laws. I would think that if there are laws, the term privacy should be pretty well defined. The Chinese name of the office is 個人資料私隱專員公署. And 私隱 is a common translation for "privacy". Here you can find some dicitionary entries for the chinese terms for "privacy".

This however probably is not related to the OP's original questions.

[djwebb2004]

I saw a copy of Heidegger's Being and Time - a work abstruse in any language - translated as :

是于时

[djwebb2004]

是与时

[amandagmu]

Well, I was referring to it more in the conceptual sense of the meaning behind the word "privacy" in English, which usually refers to someone saying they need "privacy" when they want to be alone. That is, people tend to treasure "privacy" and therefore give it more weight. It's just a simple difference in terms of meaning. It's like trying to tell people in English what guanxi means in Chinese. It's not just "relations" or "connections" right?

Anyways, what I think the OP is trying to do is somethin similiar--translate something into Chinese that has a lot of weight in English but not in Chinese (or which might use a different word in Chinese to give the same connotation that "I am" or "existence" does in English).

[skylee]

Oh then maybe I misunderstood you. I thought you were teasing us for not understanding the concept of privacy, thus the non-existance of the a definition for the term "privacy" in our language. My apologies if that was not what you meant.

[HashiriKata]

Besides 存在, the OP could also consider 生存.

有 itself is also a good choice for the humorous effect.

Regarding the word "privacy" in English, I guess it'd be more accurate to say that Chinese doesn't have an exact equivalent word for it.

[trien27]

是与时: I'm sorry. But this makes absolutely no sense to someone who's Chinese like me?!.

Heidegger's "Being and Time" is just a change to the verbatim definition, and as I said above, meaningless to Chinese people.

是 = to be(as in all those verbs used for all the pronouns: is, am, & are); extended to mean "yes" as in "Yes or no?"

与 = and

xiao 时 = hour(s)

时 jian = time (pertaining to a clock or watch)

时 hou = time as in "this time"

时 chen = a Chinese "double-hour"

Thanks for the info though, djwebb2004.