A few days ago, a classmate transferred me an article, the point is that the "inner volume" is a bad translation, let me evaluate the evaluation:
Chinese originally there was no "inner volume", the more people used it became a hot word, and even became a stem, and the first sentence of many people's meeting was: Today, have you rolled it inside?
I believe many people know the original English word for "inner volume", called involution.
To explore its history, it goes back to 1963, when the American cultural anthropologist Clifford Geertz published a book called "The Involution of Agriculture: The Process of Ecological Change in Indonesia."
For the first time, the concept of involution was introduced into the realm of social life.
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Let's first look at the lexical method of involution.
in means "inward" (inverse: ex-, "outward"), while the original meaning of voltution is "whirlpool", "spiral", that is, "volume".
Therefore, the "inner volume" is a completely literal combination of in (inner) and voltution (volume), which makes it impossible to understand its connotation at once.
Therefore, some people think that the "inner volume" has a strong "translation cavity" and "academic exclusivity", and it is deliberately incomprehensible for the layman.
I partially agree with this view, but as long as you understand the original meaning and connotation of involution, you will still find that the word "inner volume" is quite well translated.
As mentioned earlier, in means "inward", volution means "whirlpool", and the literal understanding of involution is indeed "inward volume", but what does it mean?
The breakthrough is the root of the word voltution --
The superficial meaning is "rotation", but the connotation is "change".
For example, evolution, have you learned it? To mean "evolve" is to defeat (change) competitors and strengthen oneself.
Let's look at "revolution", more familiar, right? It means "revolution", re-means "again", volution means "change", and revolution means "change again".
So involution is to "change inward", to treat yourself as an opponent, and to constantly consume internally, which is the concept of inner volume.
Let you feel that your energy is constantly being consumed, and the ability level cognition is not as good as the day, you are "involution" (inner volume).
In fact, not only an individual, an organization, a society, a group, a country, if there is no development, only internal friction, is also a kind of involution.
Evolution describes a process of continuous expansion, development, and outward stretching; while evolution describes a reverse process, that is, contraction, internal friction, and continuous curling inward, which is called "inner volume".
Therefore, the "inner volume" cannot be regarded as a bad translation, at most it is a "unclear" translation, but after figuring out the connotation, you will find that it is a very powerful translation.
But some of the translations in our lives are really bad, resulting in widespread use and complete deviation from the essence of the original text.
For example, talk show is translated as "talk show".
Talk show actually refers to the chat between the host and the guests, such as the "Oprah show", "Conan show" and "Allen show" in the United States, which is a typical talk show.
However, after being translated as "talk show", the public is not sure of the meaning of the original text, and mistakenly understands it as "stand-up comedy", that is, a person standing on the platform.
In fact, "stand-up comedy" is another phrase in English: stand-up comedy.
So talk show should be translated as "talk show"? How do you think it should be turned over?
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(Source: WeChat public account "Kan English" Editor: yaning)
Source: WeChat public account "Kan English"