Can anyone give a sound Chinese translation to this sentence?

[Han-tiger]

You can give without loving, but you can't love unless give.

[muyongshi]

给予不一定要发自内心，但是爱肯定要给予

给予并不代表爱，但是爱的表征就是给予

Okay so I know there is a lot of incorrect usage in there especially with 给予 but hoping it's a start and then maybe you or others could just pop in the slightly more appropriate word...

[muyongshi]

Okay here is a bit better one: 没有爱也可以奉献，但只有在奉献中才能学会如何去爱

[gato]

花钱不用爱，但爱不能不花钱。哈哈！

[Han-tiger]

Thanks for the replies. Do you guys think a post of this kind is something like a stone kills two birds? You westerners learn Chinese, while we Chinese learn English?

[muyongshi]

Well I guess since I'm going to correct you so in that sense I guess it does turn out to be killing two birds with one stone

[Han-tiger]

OKOKOK. muyongshi, thank you for your correction.

BTW, your Chinese is pretty good, better than my English.

[xiaocai]

奉献不需要爱，但不奉献就不叫爱？

总觉得有点绕口，不知道为什么。

[fireball9261]

奉献不需要爱，但不奉献就不叫爱？

总觉得有点绕口，不知道为什么。

Too much 爱 and 奉献.

I like "花钱不用爱，但爱不能不花钱" best, but not as the best translation.

[gato]

I like "花钱不用爱，但爱不能不花钱" best, but not as the best translation.

That's more a joke than a translation.

[self-taught-mba]

花钱不用爱，但爱不能不花钱

bwahahahahah!

Classic. So true.

Side story about that need to spend money: Got in trouble recently. A girl who came back in town invites me to eat. She says "I invite you but you pay". I say "no way. You invited me. Chinese customs" (didn't really want to see her anyway after the way she acted before she left,. But was willing to consider it as friends.) She says I should adhere to the Chinese way, in China the males pay for everything. "Anzhao Chinese customs." To which I responded that that if we're following Chinese customs, a girl should be a virgin until marriage, only then can I consider such traditional treatment. She's on bf #5. She wasn't happy. (this is a girl who I didn't want to talk to, was completely rude to me before leaving and I couldn't believe she had the gall to try and get a free dinner out of me when she came back for awhile. Would never say it to a lady. But I didn't want to ever talk to her again.)

[fireball9261]

gato, I know it's a joke and appreciated it very much. I was a bit afraid someone else might not know.

self-taught-mba, great story and great responses. Some people are just shameless. When I was dating my husband, we paid for our own food unless one of us said, "It's my treat." We pretty much did it equally. I didn't want to have free food from my boyfriend because it would make it harder for me to dump him if we didn't match after I knew him better. Btw, I am a Chinese woman, so I hope you wouldn't think all Chinese women are like that girl.

[Han-tiger]

This is a very interesting sentence. Its logic might have a broader application, like in the “sex-love” situation.

You can have sex without loving, but you can't love unless have sex.

[self-taught-mba]

so I hope you wouldn't think all Chinese women are like that girl.

don't worry, I don't:)

[muyongshi]

You can have sex without loving, but you can't love unless have sex.

Not trying to get weird or gross here but that sentence is DEFINITELY NOT true.....and if you can't figure out what I'm talking about...well I just don't want to get into that...but I just want to point out that's it's not a definitive statement.

[self-taught-mba]

muyongshi:

I agree. In fact many young people confuse sex with love. Better get it right because when you're old and already had a hip replacement there better be more than just that.

But I think he was trying to be funny. I did laugh.

[SimonZhang]

但有施而不爱，未有爱而不施。

[skylee]

#17 is good.

[elina]

I like No. 17's translation very much.

[Han-tiger]

But I think he was trying to be funny. I did laugh.

Right. We are discussing a topic on language study, and I just tried to make some fun.

Of course different people (and the same one at his different time of life) and different religions have different understanding of love. I didn't want to talk about it in this thread.