These problems of philosophy and mathematics are personal riddles also
Chinese translation: 这些哲学和数学问题也是个人的难解之谜
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02:15 Jul 26, 2011
English to Chinese translations [PRO] Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature
English term or phrase:These problems of philosophy and mathematics are personal riddles also
I came across this sentence about one month ago, and failed to work out an ideal translation despite of many attempts.
Hope you can provide me with some insights.
Any help will be much appreciated.
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It’s difficult to know, in the wake of Heisenberg and Einstein, what is absolute, what relative, and why. Do we change as witnesses, or does that which we witness change, or both; does it alter because of the viewing, and is our estimate altered by the consciousness of sight? Think of a train track and moving train; does the world pass by while we sit still, or is it the reverse? ***These problems of philosophy and mathematics are personal riddles also;*** was it always just like this, and did we fail to notice?
J. H. Wang 指出的"個人",我非常贊同,
我在想作者所謂的"personal",大概沒有泛指人類全體的意思。
但是"個人"是很省事的譯法,一看中文就知道英文原來是怎麼寫的,
我原來的想法是讓這個"personal"意思更清楚些,
無論是"與個人息息相關",或"個人致力於探索的",
我都希望能讓"個人"不要淪為毫不起眼的配角。
另外,經過某人指點,我了解 "It's difficult to know..." 這句算是我會錯意了,
意思大抵上是:
在海森堡提出「不確定原理」和愛因斯坦提出「相對論」之後,人們對何謂絕對、何謂相對,產生了疑問。
Sorry, ChefZ. I didn't realize that you were expressing your personal ideas while I was trying so hard to clarify the writer's idea.
Anyway, I appreciate your own ideas and your critique of the text. Anyone holding ideas true to himself/herself is respectful.
Thanks.
***These problems of philosophy and mathematics are personal riddles also;*** was it always just like this, and did we fail to notice?
--》 not complete
“philosophy and mathematics” are man made, while, examples mentioned are physics -- Law of Nature. One can use philosophy to interpret physics and mathematics to model physics -- the creation of problems by oneself to oneself. Therefore, only the obsessed would suffer. Again, "was it always just like this, and did we fail to notice", the author made assumptions on his own perception but trying to involve everyone else who is/was reading. I would not definitely even consider "切身“ being close.
In my previous writeup, mocking the author was intended at certain places.
Of course, these are all from my personal point of view. I'm out on this one.
@ ChefZ: Did you notice that the original text is in present tense and when it comes to "was it always just like this, and did we fail to ....," it becomes past tense?
My interpretation of the sentence is that the stressed point is not unsolvable or not, but the "riddle" being aware of or not.
The question is, as asked, whether people was aware of it or not.
That's why I think to package the two clauses together in the translation as MXM showed might deviate from the original meaning.
MXM expressed that he's personally interested in the text, so I just wanted to make it clearer to him what his way of rendering the sentences might miss.
To me, both suggested answers for the part of "personal riddles" are quite sufficient and fall in the right track of what the writer is saying.
I think your translation is quite fluent, but it's a little off the mark. 《-- don't think so。
According to your translation, it means that those philosophical and math question are hard to understand (though they are closely related with personal issues.) 《-- they are difficult problems,even up to today。
In the original text, "it" doesn't refer to those questions, but the situation that "they are personal riddles. 《-- exactly
The situation is always there, but maybe we just are unable to notice that. NOT we do notice that but don't quite understand it.《-- the following text reads “*** was it always just like this, and did we fail to notice? 《-- we fail to notice phenomena aforementioned, also
”problems“ here are not solvable problems,they are difficult problems,even with relativity theory,present understanding is still at its infant stage。However,not everyone is an expert in these fields,only the obsessed。
I don't see “與人切身相關”,as an example,I can care less。
In the context, the author like to use we which just to bring readers into the scene but this also cause confusion because he definitely cannot speak for me。
Anyways,cannot dig too deep since there is no solution。
I think your translation is quite fluent, but it's a little off the mark.
According to your translation, it means that those philosophical and math question are hard to understand (though they are closely related with personal issues.)
In the original text, "it" doesn't refer to those questions, but the situation that "they are personal riddles.
The situation is always there, but maybe we just are unable to notice that. NOT we do notice that but don't quite understand it.
这些不仅是哲学和数学的问题,也是个人的谜题。
I think it is self-evident with the direct translation of the original text. The speaker is talking about the situation that even thought the most advanced scientific studies like physics and mathematics supposed to deal with objectivity have brought the core issue to the original point of subjectivity, the perceiving mind.
Those alluded examples are actually instances that the advanced theories of relativity and physics actually involve.
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Answers
56 mins confidence:
these problems of philosophy and mathematics are personal riddles also
這些哲學和數學上的難題,也是個人所致力探索的謎題
Explanation: 就文意上來說大概也就是這個意思。就像有些人就畢生之力探索自己所要知道答案的東西 -- personal riddle or obsession
ChefZ United States Native speaker of: Chinese, English