Pan Zhongming (asker) Apr 26, 2008:

Further reflections and thanks for your help. There may be no perfect translation. "give a charitable translation" is part of English common language, but 給一個仁慈的诠议, the closest literal rendering into Chinese is not part of common chinese. (Google both, and you'll see what I mean.) the reason for this is that in english, the Christian ideal of charity, close to 仁慈 was extended to speak of 'charitable constructions of a person's intentions or actions" (OED), but this usage is not found in Chinese. So we can try for the closest word for word translation, 給一個仁慈的诠议, but this phrase won't have the same, if even any clear meaning, in Chinese. We would need to supplement it with an explanation. The alternative route would be to try to find a way to translate that corresponds to the English usage and drop the attempt for a word for word "literal" translation. The alternatives to 給一個仁慈的诠议 seem pretty good, but I might wish for somewhat different emphases. I still think that the notion f interpretive charity is pretty close to "giving the benefit of the doubt" which means that it really concerns giving a "fair" or "just" interpretation. So my latest idea, after reading all of your really good suggestions, is the following: 給一個公允的解釋. This is pretty close to the English, and you can also find it if you Google it.