协作

• Pinyin: xié zuò
• Hanzi breakdown: 协 = 十 + 劦 (ten + triple force — joint effort); 作 = 亻+ 乍 (person + suddenly beginning — to do/make)

Meaning

Collaboration; cooperative work. Joint effort between individuals, teams, or organisations working together on a shared task or project.

Similar to 协同 but with a stronger emphasis on shared labour and division of tasks. 协作 is common in workplace, academic, and international contexts. It highlights mutual contribution rather than just coordination. Often appears in compound terms like 团队协作 (teamwork) and 国际协作 (international collaboration).

Examples

1. 团队协作能力是现代职场中最受雇主重视的核心素质之一，影响着组织的整体绩效。 Teamwork is one of the core qualities modern employers value most, and it affects an organization’s overall performance.
2. 这部纪录片由中日两国团队协作完成，双方在选题、拍摄和后期制作上均紧密配合。 This documentary was completed through collaboration between Chinese and Japanese teams, with both sides working closely on topic selection, filming, and post-production.
3. 科研项目往往需要多领域专家协作攻关，单打独斗已难以应对当今复杂的科学挑战。 Research projects often require experts from multiple fields to collaborate to tackle hard problems; going it alone is no longer enough for today’s complex scientific challenges.

Usage Guide

Context: workplace, research, international relations, project management

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 高效的团队协作不仅依赖于明确的分工，更需要成员之间建立起充分的信任和开放的沟通渠道。(Effective teamwork depends not only on a clear division of responsibilities but also on establishing sufficient trust and open channels of communication among members.)
• 两国科学家的长期协作结出了丰硕成果，联合发表的研究论文在国际期刊上引发了广泛引用与讨论。(The long-term collaboration between scientists from both countries has borne abundant fruit — their jointly published research papers have generated extensive citation and discussion in international journals.)

Don't Say

• 我协作做了这件事 — 协作 is typically used with a group subject or in compound nouns; for an individual saying 'I worked with someone', say 我与他合作完成了这件事

Origin & History

协 (joint/coordinate) + 作 (to do/work) — to work jointly; to collaborate on a task

Cultural Context

Era: Modern

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal