公正、廉洁、为民

[TCcookie]

"公正、廉洁、为民" It looks like a slogan. A friend asked me how she ought to translate it, and I gave the following response:

I would be happy to help you translate this. It's pretty difficult though, to make it sound as good in English as it sounds in Chinese. 为民 is very difficult because, although the meaning of your translation "for the people" is correct, that phrase is a different part of speech in English and doesn't sound as good with the other parts, which is probably why it sticks out to you. I want to think about it for a little bit and maybe ask some linguistically-inclined friends ( ;) ;) )and see what we can come up with.

In the mean time, "impartiality" and "incorruptibility" are correct meanings for the first part, but might I suggest "justice" for the first one and "Integrity" for the second. The reason is that in English culture "justice" as a concept encompasses "impartiality" and sounds much grander and more appropriate for a catchy slogan like this. Similarly, "Integrity" encompasses "incorruptibility" but sounds grander and thus more appropriate to the context of the slogan in English speaking culture. Perhaps it's not appropriate for the context the slogan will be used in to use these broader English terms, but English speakers will relate better culturally to "justice" and "integrity" (kind of like the difference in response between "propaganda department" and "publicity department" for 宣传部--though the difference isn't nearly that large for these, fortunately ).

So, a few different linguistic variables come into play here. Do you agree with my cultural analysis? Would going for the broader meaning make it more culturally appropriate, or would the fact that it is probably describing some native Chinese entity make such a "culturally transferrable" translation inappropriate versus the stricter translation she made, "Impartiality, Incorruptibility, For the People".

I should mention that one of the reasons I would rather not use "incorruptibility" is because the Chinese word use has a specific meaning, but the English "incorruptibility" brings other connotations that make it seam sub-optimal (e.g., what, is this thing perfect, then?). What do y'all think? And how about that 为民?

[jbradfor]

"Be fair, honest, and serve the people" ?

[Hugh]

I agree that it's important to be consistent across the translation, and generate an appropriate cultural response with your translation as well. I think you could actually focus more on producing an appropriate response than being accurate and faithful to the original when it comes to slogans. So, maybe go with something like 'co-operative', 'communal' or 'mutual'? These seem to be the sorts of words that end up in English slogans to try and get across that message. I prefer 'communal' out of those. But as I say, they're not very close to the meaning of 'for the people', just related.

[fanglu]

It depends on what the slogan is for. It sounds like a news organisation to me. What about 'accessible' as a translation for 为民? I can't think of any other word that a media organisation would use to express that it is 'for the people'.

[imron]

How about:

Justice, Integrity, Service

[TCcookie]

Thanks for the responses so far. These are some great ideas! I will follow up with my friend tonight and include the suggestions so far and any more that might come. I'll also ask about the context because that is quite critical, and it would me interesting to see how our evaluations change depending on what it is.

[Altair]

Given the ideas above, how about: "justice and integrity in the service of the people." Or a shorter version: "justice and integrity serving the people."

[Kenny同志]

It’s the slogan of the government. I think Imron has got its essence across quite well. The translation is undoubtedly professional.