Saturday, January 06, 2007

New Year's Competition!

How can "traditionalism" best be translated into Arabic?

This question has come up twice in the last fortnight, and there is no really satisfactory answer that I know of, so I am offering a small prize for the best suggestion.

Small print: I have no idea what the prize will be yet--it will depend on the quality and quantity of entries. At the very least, a certificate!

4 comments:

Mark Sedgwick said...

The competition is now closed. Given the lack of response, I will have to award the prize to myself.

It has always struck me that the absence of any decent Arabic translation for "Traditionalism" is significant....

Anonymous said...

I know the Chinese translation 传统主义

Mark Sedgwick said...

Interesting! Can you tell us anything about 传统主义 in China--or anywhere else where Chinese is used?

Mark Sedgwick said...

I have learned that "anonymous" was supplying a literal translation, not a term commonly used to describe Guénonian Traditionalism! Of course, Traditionalism is found in Japan and Malaysia, so perhaps China--or, more realistically, Singapore--may discover it one day. But not yet, it seems.