“佛系青年”的英文怎么说？
在后台收到一个问题：
您好，可以请教一下最近网上出现的“佛系”"道系"怎么翻译比较确切吗？谢谢
“佛系” “道系”是流行文化中的新词，在收到这个问题之前我并没有听说过它。通过搜索我了解到：
“佛系”一词首先出现在日本non-no杂志，把“佛系男”的特点总结为：1. 依照自己的步调行动；2. 嫌恋爱麻烦 3. 不特别顾虑他人 4. 喜欢独处 5. 和女生相处会觉得特别累。
公众号「新世相」于2017年12月11日发表了《第一批90后已经出家了》，在文章中讨论了90后的“佛系”生活状态。文章中把“佛系”定义为：“有也行，没有也行，不争不抢，不求输赢”， 并且说“把佛祖无欲无求的概念偷换到自己身上，其实就是丧文化的一种表现。我不把这理解为真正的自我放弃，而是压力和焦虑下，年轻人的自我消解。”
尤瓦尔•赫拉利在《人类简史》中说人类最强的本领是“无中生有”，通过编故事来创造共同想象。了解到“佛性”在流行文化中的定义后，我们知道这个词是新编的概念，历史上可能有类似的社会状态，但是都无法准确的表述当下的情形。
这时候我们需要用描述的方式来解释这个词。就像是The beat generation（垮掉的一代）, the lost generation（迷茫的一代），如果不了解背景的话，我们无法准确的解读他们到底是什么。
来源 en.people.cn/n3/2017/1214/c90000-9304484.html
人民网的英文版把“佛性青年”翻译为“Buddha-like youngsters”，用于具体说明的关键字是casual and calm mindset：
By using the phrase "Buddha-like youngsters" (佛系青年), it claimed that some of the post-90s generations, who were born between 1990 and 1992, have"seen through the vanity of life" and kept a casual and calm mindset toward career and life.
专门报道中国新闻的supchina把“佛性青年”译为“Buddhist Youths”。Buddhist除了表示“佛教徒”外，还可以用作形容词表示“佛教的”。
来源 supchina.com/2017/12/13/peoples-daily-buddhist-youths-stop-being-so-chill-about-everything/
这篇文章的作者是Jiayun Feng, 本科就读于复旦大学，后在纽约大学新闻系读研究生。文章写得不错，如果你不知道该如何用英文表达“佛系青年”的话，可以参考、背诵下面这段话：
Not long after well-off middle-aged Chinese men found themselves labeled “greasy” (油腻 yóunì) by millions of internet users, China’s post-1990s generation has discovered its own social identity as “Buddhist youths” (佛系青年). But don’t be fooled by the name. The term doesn’t actually mean young people are converting to Buddhism — it’s closer in meaning to “slacker,” and describes life attitudes such as having no desires, no needs, and no expectations. People who identify as Buddhist youths yearn to be free of strong feelings. They avoid conflict, and try not to take anyone or anything too seriously. These attitudes in some ways resemble Buddhism thinking.
在描述“佛系”文化时，她用到了close to "slacker", have no desires, no needs, and no expectations, yearn to be free of strong feelings, not to take anyone or anything too seriously. 后面她还用到了breezy来表示《人民日报》的评论语“云淡风轻”。
她也翻译了「新世相」中的几个例子，我们也可以参考：
Xin Shixiang 新世相, a popular WeChat public account, provided a few examples of how Buddhist youths apply their philosophy to everyday life:
Hailing a ride: “You can just stay wherever you are. I will walk over.”
In a relationship: “You decide. I’m fine with anything.”
Ordering food: “I have no idea what to eat. Maybe just order the same food I had yesterday.”
Child rearing: “Not many children can be successful people when they grow up, so I want my kid just to have a happy childhood.”
At work: “I desire nothing more than to arrive at my office safely and to leave my office quietly.”
通过这篇文章，我们也了解到了翻译的基本套路：先清楚我们要翻译的东西，然后用描述+例子的方式把它表述出来即可。甚至把“佛系”直接用拼音“foxi”表示也没问题的，加以说明即可。我们来看一下《经济学人》是如何介绍有中国特色的文化的：
弟子规：Children sit with straight backs chanting in loud voices from the Dizi Gui, a classic Chinese text about obedience.
拉面：Japanese ramen restaurants are all the rage in London and New York, but the noodles are Chinese: lamian, meaning pulled noodles.
人情：The rural poor continue to give even when they cannot afford it, says Mr Yan, because of a powerful imperative of renqing, or personal feelings.
白酒：Their glasses may have contained a special blend of Moutai, an expensive brand of baijiu, a liquor distilled from sorghum.
读完这篇文章后你可以学到：
1. 有关文化的翻译，我们可以自信一点，不需要一定要找一个英语词汇来表示。白酒就是baijiu，饺子就是jiaozi，翻译成什么都不如原汁原味准确。
2. “佛系”可以用"Buddha-like" "Buddist"表示，不过这是一个新词，我们需要对它加以描述解释。描述“佛系”生活态度时，我们可以用到这样几个词：casual, calm, breezy, close to "slacker", have no desires, no needs, and no expectations, yearn to be free of strong feelings, not to take anyone or anything too seriously. 描述后还可以补充一个例子进行说明。
“佛系”说完了，
“道系”该怎么翻译和描述呢？
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