Unleashing 発揮 (はっき, hakki)
発揮 (hakki) is about exerting, and applying, and leveraging, and wielding. I love this word. It’s just so so muscular and proactive. No wonder I see it more and more in business documents and presentations. It combines 発 (hatsu), with its dynamic nuances of shooting and launching, and 揮 (ki), with its vivid overtones of brandishing and waving and shaking.
Quick, what’s the kun-yomi (native Japanese reading) of 揮? That would be ふるう (furuu), with meanings ranging from waving something around or wielding a sword, to being successful at something or prospering (some with different preferred kanji). One account of the derivation of this character claims that it depicts a hand (the left-side radical) waving a flag to urge on an army (the right side).
There are so many things in this world we can 発揮:
力 (“chikara”, strength or power)
能力 (“nōryoku”, capability or skill)
リーダーシップ (leadership)
個性 (“kosei”, individuality)
可能性 (“kanōsei”, potential)
性能 (“seinō”, performance)
効果 (“kōka”, impact), and 統合効果 (“tōgō kōka”, synergy)
強み (“tsuyomi”, strengths)
実力 (“jitsuryoku”, competence)
腕 (“ude”, arm/skill), also スキル (skill)
創造力 (“sōzōryoku”, creativity)
作用 (“sayō”, effect)
威力 (“iryoku”, might)
The common thread here: all of these things are positive characteristics which are being—here goes—shown, demonstrated, highlighted, unveiled, leveraged, exerted, exercised, applied, performed, manifested, flaunted, exhibited, wielded, brought to bear, used or employed, or—my favorite—unleashed.
And those, fellow Japanese nerds and translators, are all the ways for you should translate this. It’s one of the words I see mistranslated (or translated unimaginatively) most often in my review and proofreading work!.
Notice the glosses of “showing” and “displaying”. Those are also the translations given for 発揮 in many dictionaries. The important thing is to realize that the showing here refers to actually demonstrating the strength or asset involved in practice.
But why does 発揮 have this meaning?
It refers to some internal, perhaps not normally visible characteristic or capability which is emitted or initiated (発) in such a way as to bring it to bear on the outside world, with (metaphorically) some waving-like movement of the hands (揮), so as to bring out some positive outcome.
The characteristic or capability in question is often internal to a person, but could just as easily be something like machine, as in the expression 優れた性能を発揮する (masareta seinō wo hakki suru), referring to a car, for example, demonstrating excellent performance.
As translators, of course, one option we always consider is to not translate some word at all, if it adds little new meaning. For example, when referring to “demonstrating excellent performance”, we might also choose to simply say “has excellent performance” or “performs excellently”. We might also branch out from words close to “display” or “exercise” and go with something like “her talents really shone” for 腕を発揮した. When translating, please 創造性を発揮して (give free rein to your creativity)!
It’s worth noting how often we see the expression 十分に発揮する. This post is not about our old friend 十分 or 充分, but suffice it to say that here at least it does not mean “enough” or “adequate”, but rather “fully” or “amply”, of course. Another adjective often used with 発揮 is 大いに (“ooi-ni”, greatly).
One specific expression we see sometimes is 本領を発揮 (honryō wo hakki). What is 本領? Originally, this referred to land historically owned by one’s own family, as opposed to land awarded to one by the shogun. Now it refers to someone’s main claim to fame in terms of expertise or ability. Perhaps we could try “strut your stuff”?
Please go forth and “exercise” your newfound knowledge of the word 発揮/hakki!