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超国籍者

English translation: nationality-scoffer?

05:10 May 17, 2002
Japanese to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary
Japanese term or phrase: 超国籍者
外国に住む「僕」の中に、あるいは他の日本人の中に、このような超国籍者であろうとするモーメンタムを僕は見てきた。．．．．超国籍者の誘惑に耽溺している人はいくらでもいる。日本でも外国でも。超国籍者の行きつくところは、せいぜい「JAPAN」人でしかないのだが。「国際人」や「国際化」というスローガンにも超国籍者の誘惑が潜んでいないだろうか、- カブールノート, 山本芳幸
Naomi Ota
Local time: 01:54
English translation:nationality-scoffer?
Explanation:
Just coining a term here... The paragraph strikes me as saying that nationality is still very important to identity and that the 超国籍者 seem to consider their nationality and others' nationalities to be somehow "beneath" them.

The "It doesn't matter where you're from, let's party anyway!" types who take a bunch of international friends to the disco without checking whether mixed dancing in sometimes scanty clothing is offensive in any of their cultures. The ones who disregard their history and respond to Asians still hurting from WWII memories with "Let's just forget about all that stuff."

Would this match your context?
Selected response from:

Rachel Burney (X)
Grading comment
I may go with this in this context. Thanks everyone! It was very intersting discussion.
2 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +3Transnationalist
Kaori Myatt
4ex-patriot
Roddy Stegemann
3 +1nationality-scoffer?
Rachel Burney (X)
4Trans-national person
Soonthon LUPKITARO(Ph.D.)
4 -1a supra-national
Roddy Stegemann
3Inter-communalist
Shinya Ono


Discussion entries: 2





  

Answers


12 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
Transnationalist


Explanation:
...as 超国籍 : transnational

Kaori Myatt
France
Local time: 17:54
Native speaker of: Native in JapaneseJapanese
PRO pts in pair: 168

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Indojin: I have to say u r right. I was more biased towards multi-national, but I found, that "多国籍" is translated as multinational）and "超国籍" as transnational. Just "tansnational" can also be used to refer to the person, depending on the sentence constructio
18 mins
agree  Norina (X): In this context, this seems to me the most appropriate answer.
2 hrs
agree  napiko
10 hrs
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22 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -1
a supra-national


Explanation:
The term '超国籍者' implies that someone is registered as a world citizen without allegiance to a specific country. Unfortunately, this category of world citizenship does not yet exist. Thus, one can only speak about 'supra-national citizenship' as conceptual goal.

A 'supra-national' would be someone who holds 'supra-national citizenship'.



--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-05-17 06:38:43 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Note to Kaori, Indojin, and others:

It is often the case that the same word is translated in different ways in different contexts with very different meanings. Thus, I find your reasoning poor in this context.

For example, I could argue that ¥'transnational¥' refers to firms that engage in intra-firm trade across national boundaries, and thus claim that your own use of the term ¥'transnational¥' is inappropriate in this context. I will not do this, however, for the same reason that I believe your own criticism of my translation is incorrect.

Supra-national is more than appropriate in this context, because it rises above (koeru) the whole notion of nationhood as a means of defining world citizenship. On the other hand, a transnational suggests someone who declares citizenship in one country, but has special permission to travel through all countries with a special international passport.






Roddy Stegemann
United States
Local time: 08:54
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 153

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Kaori Myatt: 　Supra national means 超国家的in Japanese. 国籍in this context dosen't have literal meaning.
23 mins
  -> I find your objection inappropriate. Please see my note above.
neutral  Indojin: Agree with Karoi san.
37 mins
  -> Please see my note above.
neutral  Shinya Ono: 超国家的usually means "ultra-national" or "super-national" which are in a different direction from Mr/Ms. Hamo's answer.
1 hr
  -> Yes, ultra-national generally connotates nationalist extremism. By the way Shinya, please do not call me Mr. or Ms. Hamo. Although it does occur, title is usually not placed before a nickname. Once again, thank you for your clarification. Hamo
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
Inter-communalist


Explanation:
When a person becomes committed to all the varied commmunities, while not mechanically renouncing "nation" or "citizenship," one becomes an inter-communalist. This was a term coined (or redefined) by the Black Panthers (George Jackson) around 1970 who realized the limitations and dangers of simple nationalism.
The term 超国籍者 (a newly coined term, I believe) as used here is not political as such, but it expresses an urge to be open, and to admit that everyone is a creole after all, even Japanese, and to share and support one another beyond the limits or privileges of citizenship.
I hope that the term "creole" (with a small c) becomes more used and accepted as well.

Shinya Ono
United States
Local time: 00:54
PRO pts in pair: 119
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4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
ex-patriot


Explanation:
After reading Otan's additional comment and rereading the passage in which the term 超国籍者 appears I would like to suggest 'ex-patrio' as an appropriate substitute for 超国籍者.

The idea of an ex-patriot is somewhat negative, in so far as the individual clings to his original cititzenship, but lives for extended periods overseas. He shows little or no allegiance to his host country, and his allegiance to his homeland is cast in doubt.

But then I wonder why the term 越国籍者 is not applied -- someone who as crossed the borders of his homeland.

Roddy Stegemann
United States
Local time: 08:54
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 153
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9 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
nationality-scoffer?


Explanation:
Just coining a term here... The paragraph strikes me as saying that nationality is still very important to identity and that the 超国籍者 seem to consider their nationality and others' nationalities to be somehow "beneath" them.

The "It doesn't matter where you're from, let's party anyway!" types who take a bunch of international friends to the disco without checking whether mixed dancing in sometimes scanty clothing is offensive in any of their cultures. The ones who disregard their history and respond to Asians still hurting from WWII memories with "Let's just forget about all that stuff."

Would this match your context?

Rachel Burney (X)
PRO pts in pair: 6
Grading comment
I may go with this in this context. Thanks everyone! It was very intersting discussion.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Roddy Stegemann: Or perhaps, "phony supra-nationalist" to push the spin in the opposite direction.
23 hrs
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1 day 23 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Trans-national person


Explanation:
xx

Soonthon LUPKITARO(Ph.D.)
Thailand
Local time: 22:54
Native speaker of: Thai
PRO pts in pair: 576
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