Chinese words with no English equivalent

[shaolin89]

What about "门当户对"? (For marriage)

[lingo-ling]

I've found this one defies translation into English:

業者

[Hwong_DsiKiem]

I have come across this word when explaining Chinese concepts to a friend, and I have realized that this, along with some other terms, don't really have an English equivalent!

"Randomness" would make sense when put into the same context "亂" is put into most of the time, though the character does not really mean randomness per se. Chaoticness might be a slightly better translation if getting the idea is what you are after, but it would be strange to fit into contexts where the word is from.

Another term I have come across is 勉強. The best I could say is that it refers to something you do not want to do, but have to do. Because it kind have three senses: forcing sb to do something, being forced to do something, and doing a job sloppily because it is hard to accomplish, as in "勉強 stuffing the things into the bag."

[陳德聰]

Maybe you could post those here: http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/127-chinese-words-with-no-english-equivalent/page-5

[imron]

Merged

[lingo-ling]

勉強: (to do something) grudgingly; to do something you don't want to do but have to do

緣份: karma; karmic bond. Though "fate", "destiny" or "kismet" may suffice in certain contexts

無奈 is a tough one. A sense of helplessness or grudging resignation

[Hwong_DsiKiem]

She does not want to go. Let us not 勉強 her.

He does not want want to complete the homework, so he 勉強 does it.

I 勉強 stuff the things into the bag.

 

"Grudgingly" just isn't what they are trying to convey.

[smartmandarin]

I think there are so many Chinese words are not equivalent to English.

Such as,

 

麻烦

关系

慢走

麻烦你了

缘分

无奈

 

These are what I think which has no English equivalents.

(Maybe other people can come up with an equivalent, but I can't of of the apporate one)

So I usually give tons of examples of how to use those words.

 

 

[lingo-ling]

She does not want to go. Let us not 勉強 her.

He does not want want to complete the homework, so he 勉強 does it.

I 勉強 stuff the things into the bag.

force; force yourself to do something, maybe.

"Grudgingly" just isn't what they are trying to convey

I get the feeling that 勉強 is a sense of really really not wanting to do something, but holding your nose and forcing yourself to do it anyway. I call this feeling "doing something grudgingly"; what do you call it?

Interesting that 勉強する (benkyo-suru) means "to study" in Japanese...

[tysond]

麻烦 isn't really so different to trouble is it?  Trouble can be used in a few different ways in English, it's a tiny bit old fashioned and a tiny bit formal in some cases (as a verb in particular) but perfectly acceptable.  

 

"My dog sure is a lot of trouble (to look after)"  （麻烦）

"Can I trouble you to photocopy this for me?" （麻烦你）

"Sorry to trouble you, but can I ask a few questions about your products?" （麻烦你）

"Does applying a 'label' to veterans seeking help add to their troubles?"   （添麻烦）

"Don't you go looking for trouble, boy!" or "If you do that you are just asking for trouble"（找麻烦）

 

I have seen all of these usages in Chinese, but maybe I am missing some that are harder to translate?

[Lu]

I have the feeling that 麻烦 is subtly different from 'trouble', but yes usually it works as a translation. Although I would probably translate more freely, the second one for example I would just say 'Can you copy this for me' or 'Could you please copy this for me'. There's also 麻烦你 that you say after you ask someone to help you and someone has agreed, I don't think that has an exact equivalent, but that's mainly because there are different ways to be polite in different languages.

 

Recently came across another one: 心疼. A Chinese woman told me she used to say this to her Chinese boyfriend when they were not in the same place. She later got a foreign boyfriend (after things ended with the Chinese guy) and kept wanting to say this and not finding the right translation. It's not quite the same as 'miss' or 'love'.

[tooironic]

I suppose she meant 心疼 in the sense of 捨不得 (literally, "to hate to part with"), another expression that is hard to translate into idiomatic English.

 

麻煩 can sometimes be translated as "hassle", e.g. 很麻煩, "it's a hassle".

[lingo-ling]

心疼 can be translated in expressions like "I ache for you", but it's hard to render in an idiomatic way.

 

To "pine", perhaps? "That parrot's not dead; he's pining for the fjords!" Or "yearn"?

[smartmandarin]

There are just so many ways to translate the word "麻烦" as it depends on the context, not a single word can express the meaning of 麻烦.

This is my opinion

[Lu]

似有似无 seems to be one. The book I keep seeing it in uses it for the sound of crickets in the evening, how you hear it and then don't hear it and then hear it again, wave-like. Or in describing snoring (似有似无的鼾声). I know exactly what she means, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to say it, so perhaps it's not me but just something that is not in the language.

[Demonic_Duck]

麻烦

麻烦 - pain in the arse

有点麻烦 - a bit of a pain in the arse

太麻烦了 - too pain-in-the-arsey

麻烦您 - may I presume to be a pain in your arse for a second?

麻烦死了 - pain in the arse to death

 

Yep, this translation is undoubtedly suitable for all occasions. Petition to have the translation updated accordingly in all C-E dictionaries.

 

似有似无 seems to be one. The book I keep seeing it in uses it for the sound of crickets in the evening, how you hear it and then don't hear it and then hear it again, wave-like. Or in describing snoring (似有似无的鼾声). I know exactly what she means, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to say it, so perhaps it's not me but just something that is not in the language.

Maybe "half-heard"? I haven't seen that one "in the wild" myself, though.

 

Two I've come across recently, both of which I previously posted in other threads:

 

万人迷 wànrénmí - a person who makes others infatuated with them (could have various different translations in different contexts)

窜鼻子 cuān bízi - to experience the feeling in one's nose of having just eaten too much wasabi/mustard/horseradish.

[Lu]

Maybe "half-heard"? I haven't seen that one "in the wild" myself, though.

As I understand the word and its use, it's not so much that you don't hear it well, but that it's only there half the time. Someone snoring, for example, is not one continuous sound but sometimes a sound and sometimes not.

 

窜鼻子 is a fantastic word, sorely missed in the other languages I know.

[skylee]

似有似無… it is ok, you can tell what it means , but I would use 若有若無 or 似有還無 instead. I have no idea how to translate it.

 

PS - Pleco's entry -

 

若有若無[---无]

ruòyǒuruòwú

• indistinct

• faintly discernable

[Hwong_DsiKiem]

Has 加油 been mentioned?

[linguaholic]

Well I would not say that there is no English equivalent for it, however the translation of it is very difficult and according to the context, this word can have very different translations/meanings. I am speaking about the character 道 (Daoism). This is one of those words (characters), which can be left untranslated by translators, so often it is better to just leave it as it is instead of searching for an appropriate translation. There are some other words/concepts/characters in the Chinese language that are very hard (or even impossible) to translate in an accurate way. I will share some more later on.

 

regards