# 与社会脱节



## panzerfaust0

Hello.  I was just talking to a fried, and she mentioned "ripping a CD".  I didn't know what it was, and I had to ask her.  On this other forum I used to go to, people were saying "hash tag", which I also didn't know anything about.  Today I went to a workshop at a local library, and people were talking about "apps".  I also didn't know what this was.

"我觉得我与社会脱节了".  Can someone translate this sentence to English for me please?  Thanks.


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## Skatinginbc

It seems that you want to say: "I feel disconnected from society."


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## StargazerT3

fyi,

"ripping a CD" => Ripping - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"hastag" => Hashtag - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"apps" => abbreviation for "applications"

Also, I wonder if "I feel that I just can't keep with the society" make any sense. But I agree with #2 on "disconnected".


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## Skatinginbc

I feel out of touch.


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## brofeelgood

[...] Skater beat me to it: *feel out of touch*.


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## CWings60

disconnected肯定不对，这个是失去联系的意思，
比如我们可以说，那架飞机失联（失去联系）了，就指的是我们现在完全没有任何那架飞机的消息，也无法联系上那上面的人。
"我觉得我与社会脱节了"这种讲法没错，它指的是我觉得我过时了，而且是很明显的过时，跟不上社会节奏了。
就像一个上个世纪来的不会用电脑的人到了现在，那他明显就会是一个与社会脱节的人。
希望能帮到你。


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## brofeelgood

In your example "那架飞机失联（失去联系）了", 失去联系 clearly means* to lose contact*.
= We have lost contact with flight XX123. 
≠ We have disconnected from flight XXX. 

In a scenario without given context, 我觉得我与社会脱节了
= I feel I'm disconnected from society. 
= I feel I've become decoupled from society. 
= I feel I have lost contact with society.  (it leaves too much room for ambiguity)

In the situation described by panzerfaust0, I prefer Skatinginbc's second proposal: *out of touch*, as in "out of touch with technology".


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## CWings60

你确定吗？Disconnected是断开的意思，它常用于具体的物体，比如断开网络接口。
在英语里你们会说我和社会断开了吗？我在中文里肯定不会这样说，第一社会是个抽象名词，第二我是人，不是物体。


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## brofeelgood

英语归英语. 中文归中文. 不是所有的英语词汇都只一个释义. 相反地,"加油"也不可能直接翻译成"Add oil"吧?

看看牛津字典的解释 (项目1.1): disconnected


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## Lifespark

"Out of touch" is the best definition .


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## coolfool

Lifespark said:


> "Out of touch" is the best definition .


I doubt it. To be more specific, _out of touch_ with what and/or whom?


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## Lifespark

Dude, we are discussing the meaning about "脱节",  'out of touch' is the best definition now. Don't think panzerfaust0 can't understand the meaning of “社会”. Give us a better definition if you doubt it.


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## coolfool

I'm afraid we're under the roof of 与社会脱节. Please see the title of the column. If talking about something else, one's supposed to make it clear. Am I all wet? Probably.


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## Skatinginbc

The *literal* translation of 与社会脱节 was given in #2, which however fails to capture the gist of that Chinese expression in this case.  So I gave another translation in #4, which is what I think a native English speaker would actually say in that scenario--simply "_out of touch_" without "_with the society_" because the notion of "with what" has been implied by the context.  You may say "out of touch with the society", but that seems 畫蛇添足 in this case.

There are such things as "cohesive devices" that link elements of a discourse together.  Those devices include omissions (e.g., ellipsis) and pro-forms (e.g., pronoun).  By not spelling out "with the society", the listener is forced to trace back to the information previously discussed in order to solve the question of "with what", and that is called "cohesive"--linking it to the previous discourse elements.  If you spell out everything in every sentence, you will get a choppy feeling--Every sentence is independent from each other.


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