English translation for 精神文明?

[tooironic]

Anyone know an accurate and fluent translation into English for 精神文明? I know it is commonly translated as "spiritual civilisation" but that sounds so weird to me, are there any better translations available? The best I can come up with is "working towards a more civilised/enlightened society", but I'm not sure if that's wholly accurate.

Nciku suggests "intellectual and ideological development" while Wenlin says "intellectual/spiritual civilization", but I'm not very happy with either.

What, indeed, constitutes 精神文明 anyway?

[gato]

An idiomatic English translation would probably vary with the context in which it's used. Maybe you can list out some example sentences, and we can give it a shot at translating them.

[imron]

Pleco's Guifan dictionary defines it as:

人类在社会实践中创造的精神财富的总和，包括思想、道德、科学、教育等（跟“物质文明”相区别）。

So maybe: [civilization's] cultural achievements?

[hbuchtel]

I like imron's approach - start with a clear definition, and the translation will come naturally.

Does the way that 精神文明 is used in the context you have seen it match the Guifan definition above?

[daofeishi]

[civilization's] cultural achievements?

Wouldn't that also include material objects like sculptures and paintings and architecture, and therefore include 物质文明? To me, nciku's "intellectual development" doesn't sound too bad. Or maybe something like "intellectual achievements"?

[imron]

Wouldn't that also include material objects like sculptures and paintings and architecture, and therefore include 物质文明?

It could, so I think it depends a lot on the context of what you were translating. Unless you were trying to differentiate between the two I don't think it's going to be that important. I also think there is overlap to some degree in that physical objects can become part of a given culture's identity influencing in part the 精神 side of things.

I don't like 'development' in this case as I feel it emphasizes the process rather than the actual things, however 'developments' might work.

Intellectual achievements could work also, but reading this in isolation to me seems more fitting to describe an individual rather than society as a whole. I suppose the same could be said for cultural achievements, but I don't think the feeling is as strong.

In any case, I agree with Gato that a good idiomatic translation is likely to depend a lot on context.

[tooironic]

I was hesitant to give the original context, as I originally encountered it in a complicated academic text.

I like the Chinese-Chinese definition Imron provided. Considering it can include 思想、道德、科学、教育 it's pretty broad!

In the context I found it I translated it as "moral sense" as that was what they were specifically referring to in that situation. Basically they were arguing that the Chinese people's sense of morality has been eroded in the wake of economic development.

Still, it seems the phrase can be used to mean whatever concept the author wishes to emphasise at any given time...

[hbuchtel]

Often in a Chinese medicine context 精神 is translated character by character as 'essence and spirit', which might work here: 'the essence and spirit of a culture' or 'the essence and spirit of the Chinese people' (中华精神文明).

'Essence and spirit' is sufficiently vague that it could cover all the usages above.

I was just thinking of 非物质遗产, which is used to refer to traditional skills like martial arts, embroidery, culinary arts, etc. There is definitely some overlap between all of these terms!

[tooironic]

On the contrary, 'essence and spirit' is too vague IMO. At least in the context I was looking at, there was a definite emphasis on morality and "building" a more civilised country. *Sigh*, the intricacies of translation.