| Japanese term or phrase: 生物学・生命科学・バイオサイエンス・バイオ・biology・life science・bioscience・(bio?) | 生物学・生命科学・バイオサイエンス・バイオ・biology・life science・bioscience・(bio?)
What do these words really mean?
According to dictionaries and the opinions of experts, biology, life science and bioscience have the same meaning in English. They all include any field that deals with life, including industries such as medicine and agriculture.
According to Japanese-English dictionaries, 生物学 means “biology,” 生命科学 means “life science,” バイオサイエンス of course means “bioscience,” and バイオ is just the prefix “bio.” Since the first three English terms have the same meaning, the corresponding Japanese terms should also have the same meaning, but they don’t. Also, バイオ should just be a prefix, but it isn’t. There are major contradictions between the dictionary definitions and actual usage.
According to Japanese-English dictionaries, 生物学 means “biology." According to 広辞苑, 生物学 includes 生理学、生化学、分子生物学 and 遺伝学. According to Japanese Wikipedia, 生物学in the broad sense includes the fields of medicine and agriculture.
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/生物学
In actual usage however, Japanese people apparently think that 生物学 and “biology” refer only to a high school subject about animals, plants, microorganisms, etc, and do not include professional fields such as medicine or pharmacy. Many Japanese people think I am not qualified to translate medical documents dealing with subjects such as genetics, immunology or microbiology even though I took courses in those very subjects, because my degree is in biology and not medicine. They don’t see any connection between my biology education and these fields of medicine . These people are surprised when I tell them that premedical students were in my university classes in genetics, molecular biology, microbiology and physiology.
I’m not sure what 生命科学 means in Japanese. Japanese-English dictionaries say it means “life science,” which supposedly has exactly the same meaning as “biology” in English. But 広辞苑 says 生物の多様性よりも共通性に注目し、遺伝・発生・免疫など基本的生命現象を解明する科学. Also, a popular textbook titled 生命科学 and used by the University of Tokyo contains the following sentence:
これは単に生命科学を直接扱う生物学、医学、薬学、農各などの分野だけを指した言葉ではない。
“This refers to more than just biology, medicine, pharmacy, agriculture and other fields that deal directly with life science.”
This sentence says that biology (生物学) is a field that deals directly with life science (生命科学). It also says that medicine is a field that deals directly with life science. But Japanese people tell me that 生命科学 does not include the professional field of medicine.
I’ve never heard Japanese people use the word バイオサイエンス, but I often hear them use バイオ, not as a prefix, but as a word. I wonder if バイオ and バイオサイエンス have the same meaning? But again, all of the English words supposedly have the same meaning. Japanese seem to use the word バイオ to describe fields such as biotechnology, genomic analysis, etc. Therefore, I have the impression that バイオ is closer to medicine than 生物学 or 生命科学 are. I sometimes have the following conversation with recruiters:
Me: 翻訳する分野は生物学です。
Recruiter: …? 生物学って…?
Me: 例えば、遺伝学、分子生物学、免疫学、生科学…つまり、バイオ…
Recruiter: ああ、バイオ！ なるほど！
I regrettably made the mistake of printing 生物学 as my translation field on my business cards. Acquaintances, recruiters and potential clients don’t understand it and think it is strange. They don’t relate it to medicine. I translate in academic fields such as molecular biology, genetics, biochemistry, immunology, and physiology, and in industries such as biotechnology, pharmaceutical science, medicine, fisheries, agriculture and environmental science. Maybe I should write バイオ on the Japanese side of my business card and “life sciences” on the English side?
My questions are:
1) What should I write on the Japanese and English sides of my business card? Perhaps バイオand “life sciences”?
2) What do生物学, 生命科学, バイオサイエンス andバイオ actually mean in common usage? |
| Eric LarsonKudoZ activityQuestions: 61 (none open) ( 2 without valid answers) ( 1 closed without grading) Answers: 4
United States
| | Local time: 10:12
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| English translation:Bio-related science (fields) | Explanation:
My guess, which is based on your quote:
Me: 例えば、遺伝学、分子生物学、免疫学、生科学…つまり、バイオ…
Recruiter: ああ、バイオ！ なるほど！
"Bio" appears to be all encompassing, versatile usage in both language environments. So putting it this way (especially on limited space of biz card) may go a long way.
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Note added at 9 hrs (2009-07-23 23:53:12 GMT)
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Then バイオ科学関連分野 on Japanese side of your biz card.
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Note added at 12 hrs (2009-07-24 03:07:20 GMT)
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Hi Eric, yes you need some modification in English side as you pointed out that bio- is a prefix. But I think バイオ would be OK in Japanese side as your quotation points out.
Yes I stand corrected ...... 生科学 should be 生化学 which is biochemistry. So correct word for the forme could be, collectively, 生物科学.
One of the options for you, therefore could be "Specializing the Life-related Science Field". |
| Selected response from:
humbird
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