核心畫面

One way to picture it: someone stands in front of a task and is *adequate to it* — they have enough skill, enough knowledge, enough authority to meet what the task demands. Not brilliance, not genius: sufficiency. The person and the job fit each other.

一個人站在一件事情前面,而他「夠格」處理它——手上的技術、知識或權力,剛好足以應付這件事的要求。注意這不是「很厲害」更多收起一個人站在一件事情前面,而他「夠格」處理它——手上的技術、知識或權力,剛好足以應付這件事的要求。注意這不是「很厲害」的意思,而是「合得上、接得住」。competence 的拉丁字根 competere 有「相合、相稱」的味道,這個「相稱」的感覺一直留在字裡:不是誰比較優秀,而是這個人跟這件事對得上,交給他做不會出事。所以說某人有 competence,是說他做得來、可以放心交付,而不是說他做得特別出色。

From the word’s history

Via Middle French compétence from Late Latin competentia, from Latin competere "to be suitable, to be adequate to, to meet" (com- "together" + petere "to seek, to aim at"). The idea of two things meeting and being suitable to each other survives in the modern sense of being adequate to a task — and equally in the legal sense of a court being the suitable body to hear a case.

competence 來自晚期拉丁文 competentia,動詞 competere 原意是「相合、相稱、足以應付」(com- 一起 + petere 追求、朝向)。兩樣東西朝同一個方向而彼此相合——這個古老的「相稱」感,同時解釋了現代的兩個用法:一個人「相稱於」一份工作,就是有能力;一個法院「相稱於」一個案件,就是有管轄權。所以能力與管轄權不是兩個無關的意思,而是同一個「這件事該歸他、他接得住」的畫面,一個用在人身上,一個用在機關身上。

Wiktionary (competence, from Late Latin competentia < competere); consistent with Online Etymology Dictionary

Two branches

人做得來一件事

這一家直接就是核心畫面本身:人與事相稱。

ability to do something well · noun · C1

The ability to do something well, especially work that needs skill or knowledge.

能力

機關管得到一件事

同樣是「相稱」,只是主角從人換成了機關,因此另立一家。

legal jurisdiction · noun · C1

The legal power of a court to hear and judge a case, or of a government to do a certain kind of official work.

管轄權

原始詞典資料6 筆記錄

以下是外部詞典記錄的用法,原文照列,我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的;有些用法可能上面已經講過了。

competencenoun/ˈkɒm.pə.təns/

  • 1

    The quality or state of being competent, i.e. able or suitable for a general role.

    • Teachers are now required to teach intercultural communicative competence.
  • 2

    The quality or state of being able or suitable for a particular task; the quality or state of being competent for a particular task or skill.

  • 3

    human-scienceslinguisticssciencesThe system of linguistic knowledge possessed by native speakers of a language, as opposed to its actual use in concrete situations (performance), cf. linguistic competence.

  • 4

    datedA sustainable income.

    • Reason's whole pleasure, all the joys of sense, / Lie in three words — health, peace, and competence.
    • “money can only give happiness where there is nothing else to give it. Beyond a competence, it can afford no real satisfaction, as far as mere self is concerned.”
  • 5

    governmentlawpoliticsthe legal authority to deal with a matter.

    • The bill was denied royal assent because the Scottish Parliament does not have legislative competence on the bill's matter.
    • K C Wheare's definition of federalism requires that two governments be independent and co-ordinate within their own spheres, generally set out by the division of competences codified in a constitution, which is supreme.
  • 6

    geographygeologynatural-sciencesThe degree to which a rock is resistant to deformation or flow.

資料來源:英文維基詞典 English WiktionaryCC BY-SA 4.0)。 原文照列,未經改寫。