On a possibility of creating or translating Mathematics terminologies

Resumen

The purpose of this talk is to suggest a method of creating or translating mathematics terminologies. Nowadays, it seems that many peoples in non-industrialized area are trying to speak and write mathematics in their own languages to build up their own mathematics education. One of the difficulties in those trials may be that they occasionally don’t have exactly corresponding words to Western mathematics terminologies. Such a difficulty follows about any cultural exchanges generally. My suggestion to tide over such a difficulty is that we should refer to terminologies from various cultures. For, in my observation, Western mathematics terminologies are often inappropriate for beginners of mathematics learning even in the Western culture. In addition, some mathematics terminologies in non-Western cultures are better in the expression of their concepts than those of Western’s. For example, Chinese and East Asian people have their own words “triangle with two equal edges” or “weifen” corresponding to the words “isosceles triangle” or “differential,” respectively. It seems that the word “triangle with two equal edges” naturally represents its meaning in everyday language compared to the word “isosceles triangle.” Furthermore the word “weifen” decomposes its meaning into micro (wei) and division (fen). It’s a creation rather than a translation by Chinese people, and seems to express its concept more exactly than the original word “differential.” These seem to suggest the efficiency of peoples’ referring to those from various cultures in creating or translating mathematics terminologies fitting to their own culture. If the suggestion is welcomed, I wish to join in such works of new cultural exchange as a mathematician in East Asia.