what ability do you have to survive?

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GoodTaste

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In a recent interview with Chinese college students in South China's Hainan Province.


Reporter: If you graduate tomorrow, what ability do you have to survive?
Student: I might starve to death.

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Is "what ability do you have to survive?" natural in English? It sounds unnatural to me. I guess a native speaker would simply ask "What would you do for a living?" or "How to survive?" or "What to do for your survival?" I am not sure.

What would a native speaker ask?
 

jutfrank

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Well, it seems quite appropriate to me. We must imagine that that's exactly what the speaker intended to say unless we have a reason not to. We'd need to see much more context to know for sure.
 

jutfrank

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I think I might ask "What survival skills will you have (acquired)?"

I can only assume that the speaker intended to use the phrase ability to survive, which sounds fine to me.

GoodTaste—please give us more context and tell us whether this utterance was made by a native speaker.
 

Charlie Bernstein

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I love the student's answer, but the reporter's question is highly unnatural.

1. There shouldn't be any if about graduating tomorrow. Next year, sure, but tomorrow? You can't not know whether you're graduating tomorrow.

2. And the second part is wordy and awkward. A more likely question might be: How will you survive?


But it depends on context. Jutfrank is right: We need to know more.
 

teechar

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If the reporter is presupposing or implying that the student might struggle to survive independently, then a more natural question might be:
How will you survive after you graduate?

Otherwise, they may ask:
What will you do for a living after you graduate?
 

Charlie Bernstein

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GoodTaste, it looks like you translated a dialogue directly from Chinese to English, keeping the idioms intact. You suggested several possible other translations:

"What will you do for a living?" is natural.

"How
will you survive?" is correct grammar but not natural. Better: "How will you make a living?"

"What
will you do to survive?" is correct grammar but not natural. Better: "What will you do for work?"

The verb survive suggests a life-or-death situation, like climbing the Himalayas or hiking across a desert or living through a volcano eruption or going to war.
 
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GoodTaste

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The dialogue between the reporter and student is all what the piece of the video offered with Chinese text counterpart.

The reporter intended to solve a myth: If these cheerful Chinese collage/university students have to graduate tomorrow, can they independently make a living?

It is long said in China that Chinese students are good at dealing with countless examinations, while Western students are good at solving practical problems about the life and the society. So the reporter has had a preoccupation: If W students have to graduate tomorrow, they will be okay to make a living; but if C students have to graduate tomorrow, their survival will be a great challenge for them.
 

teechar

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I would also add this correction.
while Western students are good at solving practical problems about [STRIKE]the[/STRIKE] life and [STRIKE]the[/STRIKE] society.
 

Tdol

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How about:

If you graduate tomorrow, what skills do you have to earn/make a living?
 

Charlie Bernstein

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The dialogue between the reporter and student is all what the piece of the video offered with Chinese text counterpart.

The reporter intended to solve a myth: If these cheerful Chinese collage/university students have to graduate tomorrow, can they independently make a living?

It is long said in China that Chinese students are good at dealing with countless examinations, while Western students are good at solving practical problems about the life and the society. So the reporter has had a preoccupation: If W students have to graduate tomorrow, they will be okay to make a living; but if C students have to graduate tomorrow, their survival will be a great challenge for them.
That's interesting, but I do think it's a myth. It seems to me that people everywhere do what they can to get by. Some are better at it than others in every culture.
 

GoodTaste

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That's interesting, but I do think it's a myth. It seems to me that people everywhere do what they can to get by. Some are better at it than others in every culture.

Yes, people will do whatever to survive rather than waiting to starve to death. That is an evolutionary instinct: Survival is everything.

The idea of the reporter is: Can you honor yourself and honor your family and live independently without help from others if you have to graduate tomorrow?

The success of the United States (and the UK before the coronavirus pandemic) deeply impressed Chinese people that they come to appreciate American values - one of them is how Americans raise their children: American parents have the right to refuse to raise their children again when they have already grown up (18 years old?). Yet in China when children become young adults, their parents will still have to spend lots of money to buy them houses, prepare their weddings ect. - that is, young Chinese adults are still not independent. The reporter sees it as an embarrassmet and asks the college students whether they can live without help from their parents if they have to graduate tomorrow. "I might starve to death" is the typical answer from these honored college students.
 

Tdol

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That's interesting, but I do think it's a myth. It seems to me that people everywhere do what they can to get by. Some are better at it than others in every culture.

And might they not be equipped to get on in their cultural system and economy?
 
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