Can you understand the Olympic slogan?

Are you making a political point about China being a dictatorship, where human rights do not exist? If so, I agree!

You misunderstood me
I am afraid I cannot agree with you. I just wanted to know what does this adjective "humanistic" mean in Western culture.

Humanistic Olympics doesn't fly for me.

Humanistic Olympics is an oxymoron. The olympics is and always has been a way of figuratively compare penis size and has nothing to do with any of the ideals humanists stand for.

Re: You misunderstood me


1: of or pertaining to a philosophy asserting human dignity and man's capacity for fulfillment through reason and scientific method and often rejecting religion

2: of or pertaining to Renaissance humanism; "the humanistic revival of learning"

3: pertaining to or concerned with the humanities; "humanistic studies"; "a humane education"

4: marked by humanistic values and devotion to human welfare;

(4) is particularly ironic when one thinks about the cruelty with which dissidents are treated in China, and how China executes so many people, and how China raped Tibet.

China is a shameful dictatorship.

You can go and have a look at this, http://www.c2008.org/english.asp

"Humanistic Olympics" has an odd ring to it and is mystifying to me. The word "humanistic" is most often found in the areas of religion and philosophy, academic studies, and history. To apply this word to the Olympics, it seems to me, produces a result that sounds like an awkward styling by someone who knows some English, but not enough to be considered fluent in that language.

Could "Humanistic" be a high-falutin' way of translating "The People's Olympics"?

Were these words all translated from Chinese? It sounds that way, like exam papers I remember getting in high school that were translated from Afrikaans, but that's off topic. Words and phrases ofcourse lose a certain je ne sais quol when translated from another language. Maybe it isn't a faithful translation.

I find thge "Green" part most troubling. Maye if theyd state "lead and melamine free-Olympics"
or
"Our food isnt as poisonous as its reported to be"

You just say that because your figurative penis is really small.

Re: Can you understand the Olympic slogan?


I can understand that it doesn't make sense in English.

fansy,

If the Olympics organizers persist in using the term "Humanistic Olympics", there could be some unfortunate consequences:
1. There would have to be a great amount of explanation about what meaning the term "Humanistic Olympics" is intended to convey. Slogans about the Olympics should be self-explanatory, but Humanistic Olympics is not.
2. The word "humanistic" is not appropriately used with "Olympics". I think Noddy24 probably has the right idea - that perhaps it is tended to convey the idea of The People's Olympics. Even that would not be a wise slogan, as "the people" implies the entire range of human beings, whereas the Olympics at its fundamental level is directed toward a tiny number of athletes, those who are superbly accomplished in their sports.
3. Among native speakers of English, I do not believe the majority of them would even know the definitions of "humanistic". It is not a word that is commonly understood or used.
4. The word "Humanistic" is closely related to "humane" (simply defined, kindness toward animals and other human beings), and that connection would invite politically motivated criticism of human rights issues. (The U.S. is too often guilty of violating human rights, but in this case it would be China that would be the focus of attention.)
5. The term "Humanistic Olympics" sounds bizarre, or at the very least, mystifying. It would invite ridicule, and China would stand to lose face.
6. It is my assumption that the planners of the Olympics did not consult with a native speaker of English, one with an excellent command of the language, and get approval before placing the label "Humanistic Olympics" on that event. That omission would imply that the planners are incompetent - or at the very least, insensitive to an extremely important issue.

Knowing the definition(s) of a word is important, but it is also essential to know the *usage* of that word. Although some of the definitions of "humanistic" seem technically appropriate, the combination of "Humanistic" and "Olympics" is bad judgment.

The word "humanistic" has another closely related word -- "Humanist" -- which refers mostly to atheists (and agnostics and others who focus on human beings as the center of existence). There are Humanist Societies which are somewhat similar to church groups, except that these Humanists do not believe in God. This word association would be very negative to people who are theistic (God-believing) in their beliefs. Many religious people have bigoted opinions about other people who are atheistic.

The only situation I can imagine where "Humanistic Olympics" might be appropriate would be an intellectual contest in which competing participants were quizzed about their knowledge of the Humanism philosophy in European history (especially the Renaissance)

Thanks
Thank you very much for your lengthy answer. I even wonder if those people who conceived of this slogan understood the meaning of the Chinese slogan per se at all. Translators only added to the confusion. Some teachers suggested the use of Cultural Olympics which did not conform to the Chinese phrase. I do not know what to do or what version we should use.

This is mostly a tempest in a teacup. One can insist that an onion be called a rose, but the change in label doesn't change the thing itself. Labeling is one of those wonderful advertising techniques to persuade us that a product is desirable and essential to our well-being and happiness. I guess it works for some folks, or we wouldn't be bombarded with nostrum ads.

The success of the Olympics isn't dependent upon what the host country calls them, but upon the athletic mastery of the competitors. Hitler tried to turn the Berlin Olympics into a showcase for the Nazi cause, and it backfired on him, and that is a cautionary tale for the PRC. Folks will remember the outcomes in their favorite events, but the logo will be pretty much forgotten. If things don't go well (remember the Berlin Olympics?), and people get sick, or injured, harassed by authorities, etc., that will be remembered. I expect that the PRC will be unable to clean up the pollution to the point where it isn't a nasty reminder of the event. The PRC athletes will perform in an outstanding fashion, just as they have in the past ... and we'll remember that.

On the other hand, we all remember the Greek Olympics and they set a high standard for nationalistic display. The PRC is certain to be competing in that category, and I expect they will put on a memorable display. The difficulties, I expect, will lie outside of those areas where the PRC is able to completely control the situation, so we can expect some pretty heavy handed efforts to control the appearance of Beijing and its environs. I also expect that the movements of visitors and athletes will be "subtly" restricted, perhaps "for their own protection and comfort". Oh well ....

"Green Olympics, Sci-tech Olympics and Humanistic Olympics" is certainly a cumbersome slogan. It really looks like some propaganda is creeping in. Anyway, I don't see why a slogan or tag line is used in the first place. It's the Olympics - nothing more; nothing less.

We call "Humanistic Oplimpics" "ren wen ao yun" in China. What does the two-character phrase "ren wen" acurrately refer to? Actually we Chinese don't know ourselves. That's too complex and abstract.

So here we have the same problem in understanding the slogan. The difference is that we don't care. All we believe is that this slogan must imply the holding of a most splendid oplimpics.

I'm sure the Chinese people will do all they can to make the 2008 Olympic Games most splendid and entertaining.

Sincere thanks
Thanks. That's what we want to do.