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Reader question:

How to say "高姿態(tài)" in English? Is "high posture" a good translation?

My comments:

"High posture" smacks of Chinglish. A literary translation like that probably won't work. "High posture" sounds more like a physical positioning of the body, limbs and torso, i.e. high postures players take in fencing, as against low postures they assume in receiving a volleyball service.

By 高姿態(tài), on the other hand, what is being attempted at is the idea that someone shows a sense of decorum in choosing a course of action, that is, without being merely concerned with his own selfish interests. In face of hurtful and unfair criticism against us (all criticisms against us are unfair, aren't they?), for example, a few people demonstrate 高姿態(tài) by not answering back – whereas most others would have gone berserk by now hurtling the same (hurtful and often equally unfair) criticisms plus insults in retaliation.

In English, there is one phrase that might fit the bill here and that is the idiom "the high road", usually used in the phrase "take the high road".

The high road is the main road in British English. By taking the high road (American English), one does the moral thing. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, 4th edition, "the high road" is "the most positive, diplomatic, or ethical course" to take.

When you take the high road, you choose to be rational, ethical, upright rather than emotional, selfish and downright dirty. The phrase, according to phrases.org.uk, "became popular in the (American) presidential campaign of 1948, when Republican Thomas E. Dewey selected 'the high road' and let voters draw their own conclusions as to what road President Harry Truman was trudging." We may infer that Dewey did not stoop so low as to engage in personal mudslinging that is so commonplace in US election campaigns today.

In short, don't force-translate Chinese ideas into English and don't put store by literary translations. The trick, in fact, is to quit thinking in Chinese. So long as we keep thinking in terms of Chinese, we'll keep ending up sounding Chinglish.

Think English. Let the words (that fit the situation) come to you.

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: [email protected], or raise a question for potential use in a future column.