裴德思：中华文明的专属词汇应普及“天人合一”

裴德思：对我的同事们在翻译时几乎完全抛弃中文原意而采用外国表达的做法，我经常感到困惑不解。就当下而言，即使是最有教养的西方人都没有听说过“ren”（仁），“datong”（大同），“tianxia”（天下）和 “tian ren he yi”（天人合一）。[南方周末] [东西方二元法]

If you example Pattberg’s works, Pattberg will notice. (Slavoj Zizek, 16 May 2013)

No other than Slavoj Zizek, the "Elvis of Philosophy," whom I quoted in language imperialism, must have found my work. Respective articles on "Chinese philosophy" (a European misleading translation/invention) and the sovereignty over the definition of thought had been published in Japan, Korea, Singapore, China, the US, and Germany; circulated over 2 million times in print, but also online in the radical leftist Asia Times. Some articles: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

0:39:27

"For example, when we talk about “Chinese philosophy” it is clear that we are doing an eurocentricist operation, because “philosophy” as we know it emerged in Europe; and if we apply the same notion to Chinese thought, the Chinese thought is automatically in a disadvantage." --Slavoj Zizek [GO TO EXACT POSITION] [WATCH FULL CLIP]

Thorsten Pattberg with Gary Locke, Ambassador of the United States to China

Not the average party that is attended by the distinguished Ambassador of the United States to China, Gary Locke, and his very beautiful wife Mona Locke. The diplomatic relationship between Germany and the United States in China are thankfully as good as ever. We are living in exciting times. [BACK TO MAIN]

Thorsten Pattberg and Francis Xavier Clooney

The director of the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard University, Prof. Francis X. Clooney, today visited our IAHS. I remember well reading Prof. Clooney's masterpieces 'Divine Mother, Blessed Mother' during my formative years in Edinburgh, and his 'Comparative Theology' during my time at Harvard. [VISIT HIS TALK AT PKU] [BACK TO MAIN]

Philosopher’s Orgy

Doing philosophy leaves us little time for worldly affairs - apart from romping those hefty orgies with women that is.

Philosopher's Orgy

 P.S. Thanks, Louise, for reminding me again

Peking University - Rise of the junzi

Peking University - Rise of the junzi

PKU is the mother lode of Chinese education, and Confucianism (rujia) wants to cultivate the 'junzi' - the ideal scholar. At the Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies, Pattberg explains how an old tradition is on the march again. [BACK TO MAIN]

裴德思： 怎么翻译中华文明的核心词 （南方周末）

"对我的同事们在翻译时几乎完全抛弃中文愿意而采用外国表达的做法，我经常感到困惑不解。"[2013.6.6.]. 裴德思为德国人，现为北京大学高等人文研究院研究人员 [南方周末newspaper] [回到主页].

Professor Tu Weiming Master Confucianist Funny Magic Card

This rare Professor Tu Weiming Magic Card is adorable: Make the world a more humane place, or simply steamroll your opponent with an army of your Confucian Junzi creature tokens: 

Summon the legendary cottage The Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies. It let's your disciples fly:

Art Work sent in by MyaTold. [BACK TO MAIN].

How to Promote Chinese (or any other) Culture to the World

SOME LANGUAGES are weaker than others when it comes to adaption, survival, and - eventually - dominating others. [READ BLOG AT BIG THINK]

China is not the only modern nation that rose to become a superpower, but it is the first that doesn't have an alphabet.

The letters Chinauses for phonetic transcription today – called 'pinyin' – had been imported from the West. Originally, the Chinese characters' pronunciation had to be memorized from the go-get. There are some 45,000 of them!

So unless the world is switching into rote learning mode any time soon, which is unlikely because English with its 26 letters is so much more lucid, how could the Chinese language neverthelessinfluence the way people all over the world think (and act)?

The solution is simple but takes guts to implement: Stop translating Chinese key terminologies. Here's why: READ IT AT SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST.

Pattberg Cameo on Journey of Civilization, CCTV4

Journey of Civilization 文明之旅 （wenming zhi lv） is a weekly cultural program on CCTV4, moderated by famed TV anchor 刘芳菲 LIU Fangfei, that features various aspects of cultural China. It is broadcast in Chinese language, but nicely subtitled in English, and thus very popular with foreigners in China too. [Click here to watch]. [BACK TO MAIN].

 

[BACK TO MAIN].

Talking Jiangnan-Style: Thorsten Pattberg, Mariatu Kargbo, Nick Angiers (CNTV, China)

BEIJING - We had a great time on Liu Fangfei's show 'Journey of Civilization (文明之旅)' broadcast on CCTV-4. Guest of honor was Zhang Yongyi, historian of the Jiangnan region around the Yangtze River. In the picture: Thorsten Pattberg (裴德思), scholar at Peking University; Miss worldwinner, singer and artist Mariatu Kargbo (玛丽亚), and the very talented Nick Angiers (安仁良), program host and 'xiangsheng' performer. [This episode will be broadcasted on Monday 27, 2013, at 22:00.] [WATCH THIS EPISODE]. [BACK TO MAIN].

Michael Witzel with Thorsten Pattberg, Tokyo 2013

Professor Michael Witzel invited me to Harvard University back in 2010 so that I could use collections and library resources of the earliest European missionaries in China dating back to 1649. Although there was little funding for such an original project, it nevertheless proved to be very successful, cumulating into my works on translation history and, ultimately, the re-emergence of the shengren. See China Daily, Japan Times. The list goes on. [photo: Tokyo, May 24, 2013].

The Historiographical Institute (HI) The University of Tokyo

The Historiographical Institute (HI)The University of Tokyo – Top address for academic research on historical sources concerning Japan.

I was a Foreign Researcher here for two semesters in 2008/09 and have met great people and made wonderful friendships. The IH promotes international exchange and welcomes scholars from all over the world. Its current director is Ms KURUSHIMA Noriko. The HI doesn't offer stipends, but sometimes the government does [JSPS and Monbukagakusho].

The biggest obstacle for foreigners in Tokyo is the high cost of rent and living. I never quite had enough funding, those were "tough times;" so be prepared and plan ahead. [BACK TO MAIN].

T. Pattberg meets President of The Toho Gakkai

The Toho Gakkai (The Institute of Eastern Culture), founded in 1947, is a NGO that promotes Asian studies in Japan. It's current President is KOZEN Hiroshi. [May 24, 2013].

The Institute promotes cooperation among scholars of different nations. It currently has 1,464 members (March 2013). [BACK TO MAIN].

Nights In Osaka

TOKYO - The German East Asiatic Society (OAG) in Tokyo, of which I was a board member once, featured this exhibition by artist and visionary Joe Brockerhoff. [Check out his gallery].

The large backdrop in the above photo is entitled 'Nights in Osaka' during Japan's boom years in the 70' and 80.' Osaka has been for centuries the center for merchants and entertainment. There are elements of gamble, pomp, excess, yakuza, great wealth, but also exploitation, mixed with surreal architectures, transports, and bizarre city dwellers. Joe Brockerhoff's other paintings showed Japanese kami and oni (ghosts and demons), shogun and samurai spirits occupying a futuristic metropolis (Tokyo?). [Check out Joe's website here]. The Japanese boom years bear similarities, I think, to rapidly mechanizing Chinese megacities today. Good luck, Joe! [BACK TO MAIN]

The German East Asiatic Society (OAG) with seat in Minato-ku, Tokyo, is the oldest German society in East-Asia, dating back to 1873 and the German Empire. [About the OAG].

DEUTUNGSHOHEIT

Deutungshoheit is a German word meaning "having the sovereignty over the definition of thought," sometimes also called "the prerogative of final explanation." The German philosophers Immanuel Kant and Georg Hegel, for example, could easily promote 'The End of All Things' or 'The End of History' simply because they had written the history of all the world's people in German language, thus felt they owned world history. Seeing it this way, European dominance over the history of thought is a language trick. See two articles in Asia Times: Lost in translation I and Lost in translation II. [BACK TO MAIN]

END TRANSLATION & CREATE GLOBAL LANGUAGE

End Translation, instead adopt foreign key terminologies, and help to create a truly global language. [BACK TO MAIN].

LANGUAGE IMPERIALISM

What is 'Language Imperialism?'

Other than in linguistic imperialism, in which one language replaces another, in language imperialism certain terminologies are translated into familiar vocabulary of one's own language tradition. For example, the early European missionaries translated key words in the Confucian classics into biblical taxonomy, and claimed that China could easily become a Christian nation this way. [BACK TO MAIN]

Shanghai memories

Good memories from Shanghai in summer 2005. Had spent the academic years 2003/04 at Fudan University and 2004/05 at Peking University. Was about to return to Edinburgh in late August 2005. Experienced difficult times. Lost about 10 kg that year. But grateful and happy.
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Pattberg: Invitation to Iran

Video Footage from Iran tour in December 2012 re-emerged. Video at the CISSC Website Here. Visited five cultural centers and held talks at four key universities, in Tehran, Qom, Zahedan, and Kermanshah.

 "All cultures should compete for their terminologies like they compete for everything else."

 "We need a global language in order to communicate with each other; but that global language is not today's English. The future global language will have to adapt many more non-European concepts and vocabularies, words from China, Japan, India, and Iran."

"Most of the so-called dialogue among civilizations is in English language. What can foreign cultures do to contribute to global language?"