持续 vs. 继续 vs. 延续

[DrWatson]

After learning about the differences in 具有 and 有, I am now trying to better understand the differences between the following:

延续

(动) 持续下去

(verb) go on

继续

(动) 延续下去；不间断地进行

(verb) continue

持续

(动) 保持并延续不断

(verb) go on

(source is nciku)

The English definitions don't really help much, and even the Chinese definitions seem to use one of the other words to describe the meaning. Are these interchangeable in writing, or does each have a slightly different meaning?

[歐博思]

跟"继续"不同。指事物的发展过程或人的活动没有间断或停顿。

-taken from NCIKU's 持续 page

[Altair]

I have a book called 1700 [对近义词语用法对比] 1700 Groups of Frequently Used Chinese Synonyms. It has an entry for 持续 and 继续 that includes the following:

“持续“ 和 ”继续“ 虽然意思相近， 但是， ”持续“ 强週的多是客观 情况， 非人为的， ”继续“ 则表示人为的情况， 它们不能相互替换。

Examples where only one or the other is listed as acceptable are:

1. 大雨持续了三天三夜。

2. 我明年还继续在这儿学习。

3. 持续的高温天气， 使医院的病号剧增。

4. 我们两国的文化交流持续了一千多年了。

5. 他离开后， 我又继续工作到深夜。

6. 无论有多难， 我们 也要把这项研究工作继续 搞下去。

7. 为了保证国民经济的可持续发展， 必须采用高科技， 同时要加大对环境保护的投入。

[qodobop]

I feel 持续 has a meaning of "last" ; 继续 is mostly like "to continue to do..."

[Jose]

I agree with qodobop. In a sentence like "the party went on for 5 days" you can also say "the party lasted for 5 days", so this is the sort of situation where you would use 持续. And in cases like "after my holidays I will continue learning Chinese", where there is no sense of duration, you have to use 继续.

As for 延续, I think it has a nuance of "prolonging" or "extending", making something last more than was originally expected.

[LaoJian]

Altair's explanation between '持续' and ‘继续’ is perfect.

I just want to add up my understanding on '延续'， very similar as ‘继续’， means keep on doing sth to finish it from interruption or another task

you know what, I would like to make this thread more complex, do you guys know about other 2 words

'陆续' - adv, means 'one by one', 'one after another'; sample - 同学们陆续回来了

‘连续’ - I think this word are focus on describing continuous state or repeat action, means one thing or process is always keeping same status or same cycle. sample - Mike 在工作中连续出现错误