# 下意识



## Nadae

Hi guys,

I met one simple yet troublesome sentence recently

他下意识地看了看表

The dictionary tells me that the literal expression for "下意识" is "*subconciously*"; however, frankly speaking, the word really does not quite fit the situaton here.

Is there an equivalent for "下意识" in English?

Thank you in advance for your help


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## nichec

Nadae said:


> Hi guys,
> 
> I met one simple yet troublesome sentence recently
> 
> 他下意识地看了看表
> 
> The dictionary tells me that the literal expression for "下意识" is "*subconciously*"; however, frankly speaking, the word really does not quite fit the situaton here.
> 
> Is there an equivalent for "下意识" in English?
> 
> Thank you in advance for your help


 
This is how I would translate it:

He took a look at his watch *without being aware of it*.

I am sorry there are more than one word.


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## Nadae

I appreciate your help.


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## samanthalee

I would say "He glanced down at his watch out of habit". Things done out of habit are done subconsciously.


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## Nadae

Thanks, samanthalee


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## jedediah

Sorry my pet peeve nerves are acting up: "out of habit“ for "subconsciously" is just one step too far in my point of view. Things done subconsciously are not all out of habit. I would suggest "without thinking of it."


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## stephent74

我最近看书的时候,发现2个英文表达方式, 都可以用来表示这个意思. 

without knowing it.  ---- this is very close to the phrase by jedediah and nichec. 

Another one is just one single adverb: automatically. 

Automatically, he takes a look at his watch.

Interesting, huh?


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## desertrat

stephent74 said:


> 我最近看书的时候,发现2个英文表达方式, 都可以用来表示这个意思.
> 
> without knowing it.  ---- this is very close to the phrase by jedediah and nichec.
> 
> Another one is just one single adverb: automatically.
> 
> Automatically, he takes a look at his watch.
> 
> Interesting, huh?




Hi all,

Nadae doesn't say exactly what the situation was. If the situation were that he looked at his watch without really thinking about it because his mind was occupied with other thoughts, then I'd like to suggest "absentmindedly" - "He absentmindedly looked at his watch".  This would be similar in meaning to what Nichec suggested with "without being aware of it".


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## jedediah

I disagree. "下意识" is "subconscious" period.  I don't see why "absentmindedly" is necessarily better than subconsciously given that much information we have. 
In subconscious, he looked at his watch. or
He looked at his watch, in subconscious. 
That's what the original sentence says. 
And "without being aware of it" is not subconscious. Subconscious refers to a "hidden" level of awareness. Does that guy know that he looked at his watch after the act of looking has happened? yes, he does. Does that guy know WHY he looked at his watch? Almost certainly not.


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## desertrat

jedediah said:


> I disagree. "下意识" is "subconscious" period.  I don't see why "absentmindedly" is necessarily better than subconsciously given that much information we have.
> In subconscious, he looked at his watch. or
> He looked at his watch, in subconscious.
> That's what the original sentence says.
> And "without being aware of it" is not subconscious. Subconscious refers to a "hidden" level of awareness. Does that guy know that he looked at his watch after the act of looking has happened? yes, he does. Does that guy know WHY he looked at his watch? Almost certainly not.



I guess my reasoning is that in English we often use the term "absent-mindedly" to refer to things that we do (physically) out of habit without thinking about what we are doing. "Subconscious", in my experience, usually refers to things that go on in the mind only, of which a person is completely unaware.  I'm certainly no linguist and as jedediah notes there is precious little context. Yet, I'm still of the opinion that "He absent-mindedly looked at his watch" sounds more "natural" than "He subconsciously looked at his watch."


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## Sylvia_scj

I think the word "involuntarily" would be OK.


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## oooodavidoooo

it can be translated by ''without knowing it'' 
''他下意识地看了看表'' means that he wanted to know the time, so he did it without knowing it, automatically.


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## eliasdaniel

I vote for automatically.


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## Guayaba

I think many valid options for additional English translations for 下意识 have been mentioned.  "Subconsciously", "absentmindedly", "automatically", and "without even thinking about it" could all be valid (though I completely agree with desertrat's explanation regarding "subconciously" versus "absentmindedly").  In essence, I believe more context is required to determine which translation is the best fit.


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