I have lots of friends they lost job and feel very discouraged.

Hope next year things will become better

Jouni

I have to make a short notice on this one: I’ve heard this story a long time ago, but then I found out it’s not all true.

I’ll quote a Chinese language professor on this one: “The Chinese word weiji (危機 translated as “crisis”) is often said to be composed of the characters for “danger” and “opportunity”; the implication being that in Chinese culture, a crisis is regarded not merely as a danger, but also as an opportunity. This is a misconception or etymological fallacy. In fact, wei (危) does mean “danger, dangerous; endanger, jeopardize; perilous; precipitous, precarious; high; fear, afraid”, but the polysemous ji (機) means “machine, mechanical; airplane; suitable occasion; crucial point; pivot; incipient moment; opportune, opportunity; chance; key link; secret; cunning”. While the word jihui (機會) means “opportune, opportunity” in modern Chinese, its ji component has many meanings, of which “opportunity” is only one. In weiji (危機), ji means “crucial point”, not “opportunity””.

And now you wonder where did it all come from? It is believed that this translation of weiji first came from an anonymous editorial in a journal for missionaries in China, but it gained momentum when John F. Kennedy delivered a speech in Indianapolis on April 12, 1959: “When written in Chinese the word crisis is composed of two characters. One represents danger, and the other represents opportunity.”
The usage has been adopted by business consultants and motivational speakers and has gained great popularity in universities and in the popular press.