Idioms and such

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ShadowZeroHeart
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Idioms and such

Post by ShadowZeroHeart »

干柴烈火 - dry wood with fierce flames?
杯觥交錯
呆若木雞 - dumbstruck
再接再厲
排山倒海- shifting mountains moving the seas? zzz...(new addition)
鑽牛角尖- (another new addition... see why i hate SnS?)
鼓掌叫好 - clap hands and cheer
理所當然- ??? as if it is only natural? i need more translations of this please >"<

More will be added when i come across them
God!!
You need not forgive me.
For those I love,
The violence brought about by sinful men
Shall now be used once more.
If you were created to save this world,
If there is a single shred of hope left for the future of mankind,
I am very sorry, but, please begone!
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Zyzzyva165
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Re: Idioms and such

Post by Zyzzyva165 »

Shadow, if you are asking for equivalent English idioms, I doubt it’ll be easy. It is hard to translate a Chinese idiom into an English idiom when you encounter one, because Chinese is very seriously littered with 4-letter idioms. I feel that sometimes it would be enough to translate it into proper English terms/phrases. If you can translate them into English verbs/phrases whilst retaining their full meanings at the same time, hats off to you. That’s something even I struggle to do.

Take any English novel for example. If you read Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings/Sidney Sheldon/others, how often did you come across an English idiom? In my humble opinion, once in a few pages. Instead, English focuses more on expressions. For instance, check this phrase out (I just translated it this morning):

充满自信

What would you translate it into? Filled with self-confidence?

Well, though that is fine, I translated it into ‘brimming with self-confidence’.

This is what I meant by expressions. English is more about this. We cannot expect the author to write 充满至差点流出来 (very unlikely) before you translate it into ‘brimming’. It is…common expressions, or should I say (frasa-frasa menarik) [interesting phrases]

You can also concentrate on using phrasal verbs -a verb combined with an adverb or preposition to give a new meaning. For example:

pull up: (of a vehicle or driver) to stop

Though some are actually quite common, like:

turn (sb/sth) down: to reject or refuse proposal, offer…

Though the most crucial would still be to find word(s) exact (/close to) the words in the original text, like the ‘ovation’ word below.

A little compensation I did was to insert one or two English idioms at places where idioms did not exist in the original text, though I did very few only.

I do not know idioms, but I can help with some ideas.

呆若木雞- dumbstruck (sounds fine to me); dumbfounded/thunderstruck/stunned/with mouth agape/open-mouthed…

再接再厲- (I am stumped as well, strive harder?)

鼓掌叫好- maybe, ‘…to the standing ovation of the crowd.’?

理所當然- common sense/obvious/palpable……

Anyway, just do what you can. If not, type the original word in (or use hide tag) and let the editors do the job. [I know what you are going through, since I had also translated a part of SnS. XD man! 再接再厲.]
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Re: Idioms and such

Post by elkin »

I agree with Zyzz :) Don't be afraid to deviate from exact translations!

干柴烈火 - intense passion, arduant fervour, etc.
Taken from Baidu: Describes the desire between men and women, often used for inappropriate relationships. Can also describe intense feelings
形容男女之间强烈情欲要求,多用于不正当的男女关系。也形容情绪高涨。

杯觥交錯 - celebratory cheer?
Describes the happiness of sharing wine with close friends.

再接再厲 - keep trying, don't get down, don't let that faze you


排山倒海 - monumental effort, enormous energy

鑽牛角尖 - Baidu: take unnecessary pains to study an insignificant or insoluble problem; split hairs

鼓掌叫好 - applaud and cheer
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Kanziell
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Re: Idioms and such

Post by Kanziell »

妻乃夫之克星是也? Help me translate. Cheers~ :D
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Re: Idioms and such

Post by pudding321 »

Kanziell wrote:妻乃夫之克星是也? Help me translate. Cheers~ :D
I'll not translate this word by word, so don't be picky. And you'll need context and background knowledge for this. Don't expect to bring sentences of translations together and hope they will make sense.

"Wives are the jinxes of their husbands." - speaking generally

"His wife was his jinx." - speaking of one person
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Mystes
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Re: Idioms and such

Post by Mystes »

BTW. 是也 is a suffix for the Japanese form of -nano, iirc.
Kira0802

#campione at rizon for some #campione discussions~~ And other stuffs.
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Re: Idioms and such

Post by pudding321 »

Kira0802 wrote:BTW. 是也 is a suffix for the Japanese form of -nano, iirc.
Isn't it for desu?

是也 may be used in old chinese, but not now. It isn't a very good expression. Facts do not need iteration that it is a fact at the end.
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Re: Idioms and such

Post by cloudii »

Yo~ Reviving this thread for cloud's self-study purposes.

A little bit of back-story:
I was in Chinatown the other day wandering bookstores, 'cause well... I was in Kinokuniya and really sad they didn't have Chinese material at my location. It's sad to translate light novels but not have any physical copies I can read... so I challenged myself to find Chinese light novels~!

So after exploring about 3-4 bookstores, I walked out with one light novel I've never heard of and a thick picture book on Chengyu (4-word idioms).

Why was this so difficult? Well... first of all, I don't read traditional chinese. Pretty much all novels you pick up are in traditional chinese. Second, I'm illiterate. XD When dealing with simplified mainland chinese, I can probably only read 80% of characters on any given random page. That's not very good at all... (when I translate, I abuse pinyin generators and put pinyin over everything).

So. Anyways. One of the reasons I started translating light novels was because I actually wanted to become literate in Chinese. Coincidentally, cloud is also an otaku, and Chinese translators have a motherload of manga and light novels on the internet... naturally it made sense to go down this route, y'know? Unfortunately, because I cheat during translating (using pinyin generators), I'm not improving as much as I'd like... so I decided I'll do some more honest self-studying!

Basically, I'll be forum-translating this entire book on Chengyu's. Yeah. q_____q Idioms galore. I'll be doing it without pinyin-generators and using an old-fashioned paper dictionary. Hopefully it'll be useful on two fronts 'cause it's impossible to get good at idioms without studying them. Middle school students in China memorize them, as far as I know. On the other front, I get to practice my pinyin-free translating!

Anyways, good luck to myself... @_____@;

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1). 暗箭伤人 (暗箭傷人)
(Literally: Dark-Arrow-Wounds-Man)

Interpretation: To fire an arrow in the dark and wound a man.

Moral: Figuratively, to utilize a scheming plot to harm another individual from the dark.

Story: During the Spring and Autumn Era, the State of Song invaded another country. Sir Yingkao was often made the flag-bearer for the State of Song, and his horse was always the first to assault the walls during a siege. The youth, Linggong, watched Yingkao do these acts and felt extremely envious since he also wanted to perform great feats. Thus, he sneakily hid in the dark, and fired an arrow at Yingkao's back. This kind behavior is known as "stabbing behind one's back.

(Cloud's Equivalent Idiom): "To stab behind one's back."

2). 按图索骥 (按圖索驥)
(Literally: Check-Painting-Seek-Thoroughbred)

Interpretation: To refer to a drawing and seek a fine horse. A thoroughbred, meaning, fine horse.

Moral: Figuratively, to work mechanically and rigidly without the sense to be flexible. Also a metaphor for chasing after an object on the basis of a certain clue.

Story: In the old days, there was a skilled horse-appraiser known as Bole who depended on his own horse-appraising experiences to write a book called, "The Art of Horse-Appraising". His son also wanted to become a professional horse-appraiser, so he even used the book's depiction of a Qianlima and searched everywhere for it. In the end, however, all he came back with was a mottled toad.

(Cloud's Equivalent Idiom): "To go by the guidebook."

(Translator's Note): The Qianlima (literally, thousand-mile-horse), is a mythical horse said to be able to run a thousand miles in one day. In some depictions, it is a winged horse, and it is also alternatively known as a Chollima or Senrima.
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Re: Idioms and such

Post by pudding321 »

cloud wrote: Unfortunately, because I cheat during translating (using pinyin generators), I'm not
As a matter of fact, sadly, and quite opposed to your situation, I find it easier to translate Japanese with more kanji. :cry: :cry:
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Re: Idioms and such

Post by cloudii »

pudding321 wrote:
cloud wrote: Unfortunately, because I cheat during translating (using pinyin generators), I'm not
As a matter of fact, sadly, and quite opposed to your situation, I find it easier to translate Japanese with more kanji. :cry: :cry:
XD Lol, I look at Japanese kanji and think, hey, I know what that means! No clue how to say it though......... xD I picked up a hiragana book the other day too, cause I was thinking maybe I'd be able to do sfx more accurately if I learned hiragana and katakana and just grabbed the sound effects from the raw.

But yeah, from a Chinese->English translating perspective, it's even better to go from traditional chinese than simplified. Traditional Chinese = Kanji. Simplified Chinese = ...(?). XD If I need to translate a name, I have to take the simplified, use a generator to convert it into traditional, and then use a kanji->romanji generator. xD

3). 安步当车 (安步當車)
(Literally: Calmly-Walk-Like-Carriage)

Interpretation: To walk slowly, as if one were riding on a carriage. Calmly, meaning, neither rushed nor hurried.

Moral: Figuratively, calm and unhurried, neither rushed nor hurried

Story: During the Warring States Era, King Qixuan summoned the great scholar Yanchu. When Yanchu arrived however, he stopped his footsteps right in front of the palace hall and made King Qixuan come out in person to greet him. He explained: "If your majesty comes out in person, you'll convey to everyone your great felicity. That way, other great prodigies will also come to the State of Qi." King Qixuan then tried to get Yanchu to stay in his country offering banquets and carriages, but Yanchu responded: "I love my life in the countryside. Walking slowly and steadily down the road is sufficient enough of a carriage for me." When he finished his words, he took his leave and left.

(Cloud's Equivalent Idiom): "To take one's time."
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Re: Idioms and such

Post by elkin »

cloud wrote: XD Lol, I look at Japanese kanji and think, hey, I know what that means! No clue how to say it though......... xD I picked up a hiragana book the other day too, cause I was thinking maybe I'd be able to do sfx more accurately if I learned hiragana and katakana and just grabbed the sound effects from the raw.

But yeah, from a Chinese->English translating perspective, it's even better to go from traditional chinese than simplified. Traditional Chinese = Kanji. Simplified Chinese = ...(?). XD If I need to translate a name, I have to take the simplified, use a generator to convert it into traditional, and then use a kanji->romanji generator. xD
Instead of converting the simplified Chinese into traditional, why not just use Google pinyin and select traditional input? This way, you get to use pinyin and arrive at the traditional Chinese instead of going through a converter...

Hate idioms too, but thankfully it doesn't come up in everyday conversations that much.
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