2013年5月14日 星期二

親情 (Family Love)

#2013-0514

"Family love (親情) is a traditional virtue in Chinese and other Asian cultures. It is basically the love within a family among the parents and children." This is the best definition of the Chinese phrase "親情" that I've ever found on the Internet.

If you asked me to translate 友情 (or 友誼) into English, I would say "friendship"; if you wanted to know what 手足之情 (or 兄弟情) means, I would use the English word "brotherhood" as an equivalent. However, just as some English words have no Chinese equivalents, I believe that it is impossible to find an English term that means exactly the same as qinqing (親情) -- Well, the English word kinship means the relationship between members of the same family. That is, kinship is 親屬關係. But kinship is not equal to 親情.

What, then, do we think of qinqing (親情) in Asian cultures? Maybe it can be simply translated as "family love" or, in its original literal sense, interpreted as "the affection or love between members of the same family." Anyway, we should be happy and proud that people in Taiwan [and those in other places] still treasure this unique form of "family love."














沒有留言: