makes sense in chinese, but not when translated to english??

[viet_la_amour]

as i try to improve my chinese, i realize that it's going to be really hard. the main reason is that once you get past the "ni hao" and "wo jiao..." and basics like that, the sentences get complicated... for example: (i took this from one of the drama series that i was watching with english subtitles.)

閃亮亮超級美少女

the way i broke it down was...:

閃亮【shǎnliàng】 brilliant; shiny; flare; glisten; twinkle.

亮【liàng】 bright; light.

超級【chāojí】 super.

美【měi】 beautiful; pretty

少女【shàonǚ】 maiden; girl.

and the english subtitles magically translated to something like:

閃亮亮超級美少女 = an extremely pretty teenager.

well, that sentence wasn't that hard. but you get what i mean right? they have all these characters that mean the same thing and they put it together and it makes sense, but when i translate it, it confuses me.

does anyone else have this problem? how do i learn stuff like this?

[Quest]

闪亮亮 sparkling [metaphor]

超级 super [meaningless catchy adjective]

美少女 pretty girl

[zhuzhu]

i think u dont have to translate it word by word

just translate the meaning:)

[viet_la_amour]

huh?? how do I "just translate the meaning"?? what goes into that?

[zhuzhu]

oh, i mean

they put 閃亮&亮together for emphasis

閃亮=shining

閃亮+亮=extreme shining

so i think"extreme pretty girl"is a good translation, u got what the sentence mean, and translate it in ur own words

[studentyoung]

閃亮亮超級美少女 = an extremely pretty teenager.

How about “an extremely dazzling pretty girl

闪亮亮here means the girl has a dazzling face.

well, that sentence wasn't that hard. but you get what i mean right? they have all these characters that mean the same thing and they put it together and it makes sense, but when i translate it, it confuses me.

does anyone else have this problem?

It is a very common phenomenon in translation, and how well you can handle with it is one of important criterions for others to judge your translation skills. For example, there is a phrase in Chinese called “精神文明”, which Chinese people know its meaning very well. It might confuses other, it is translated as “spiritual civilization”, because the meaning of “spiritual” in English quite vague with some religious connotation. If it is translated as “cultural civilization”, it might make more sense to foreigners, and the meaning is even closer to its Chinese original. Here is one more example for you. One western translator once had trouble with one Deng Xiao Ping 邓小平’s famous word, “发展才是硬道理”. As an old China hand himself, he did understand the meaning, but he had no idea how to translate “硬道理”, because “hard reason” makes no sense. Then one of his Chinese friends told him, “Hey, how about ‘no innovation, no survival’?”

how do i learn stuff like this?

First, you must understand both languages very well, so that you can read between lines.

Second, pay attention to the meaning deep in contexts, not just the literal meaning, during translation.

Third, read more materials in both languages, and practice more in translation.

Thanks!

[gougou]

It works the other way too:

What is Chinese for "Pussyfoot"?

[HashiriKata]

makes sense in chinese, but not when translated to english??

If the Chinese we see makes sense in Chinese, then this is good enough; and whether it makes sense or not when translated into English depends heavily on our competence as a translater.

[viet_la_amour]

studentyoung, that was very helpful!! thanks lots.

does anyone else have any other tips? =D

[DrZero]

Hardly anything in Chinese makes sense when translated word-for-word in English. Even 你好 is weird if translated directly as "you good." Best just to accept it.

I'm sure this is true for any two languages to an extent, but I think you get more correspondence with something like Spanish and English, where the languages are substantially closer on the family tree. With two utterly unrelated languages like English and Chinese, why would there be any similarities at all?

And yet, on my last trip to China, by which time I was understanding Chinese better than on previous trips and could actually participate in a little conversation, I noticed a funny thing. People were saying pretty much the same things that folks said back home! I guess people are people. Mandarin had always sounded so mysterious and baffling, I guess a part of me had subconsciously believed they must actually be saying something mysterious and baffling. Nope!