~感 (a sense of ...)

[82riceballs]

Hi all!!

I noticed there are a lot of words that end with 感 that mean, "a (natural) sense of":
美感 sense of aesthetics
語感 sense for language (good feel for language)
幽默感 sense of humor
正義感 sense of righteousness

I was wondering if there is anyway to say that someone has...
1. a natural feel for math? 數學感??
2. strong spatial reasoning skills? (e.g. someone who is good at reading maps) 空間感??
3. Natural feel for athletics? I think I've heard people say 很有運動精神??

Thanks in advance!!

 

[Skatinginbc]

數學感 (e.g., 國小數學感教育)
空間感 is ambiguous. It could mean "sense of space" (e.g., 空間感大 feel like a big space) or "spatial intelligence" 空間智能 (e.g., 空間感強). So yes, another thumbs-up .
We say 很有運動細胞 because athletic skills mostly rely on muscle memory or reflexes without conscious thought or "feels". You may use 感 to describe certain athletic skills that demand some sort of awareness (e.g., 平衡感 the "feel" of balance).
運動精神 "sportsmanship"

 

[SuperXW]

空间感 is a rather common word. Similarly there are 方向感, 距离感.

"运动感" I don't think we say this for "feel of athletic". It would be easily messed up with 动感, which means "feeling of motion".
E.g. 画面很有动感.
But we do say 运动细胞: 这个人很有运动细胞。

"数学感" I don't think I've heard it. If there is "数学感教育" in Taiwan, I think it is a regional difference.
Like 运动细胞, I may say 数学细胞: 他很有数学细胞。

Usually “...感" can describe either the ability of people, or the sense of something.
E.g.
这个人很有空间感。 means the person is good at telling directions and distances.
这个地方设计得很有空间感 means the place is designed well as the sufficient space makes us feel good.
"...细胞" is only for people's ability, and is a casual word.

Other examples I can think of:
历史感: for things
乐感: for people
质感: sense of "material quality". 这部手机很有质感 means the material it uses somehow delivers a good feeling.
手感: means "feels good when you touch it".

 

[brofeelgood]

Spatial reasoning = 空间推理. If someone is especially gifted in this area, we can say he has 非凡的空间推理意识.

For someone who is good at reading maps, we just say he has 方向感 (sense of direction), like SuperXW pointed out.