难者不会 会者不难?

[chavalit]

I think the meaning is something like "Difficult things --- can't do. Things that can be done --- not difficult." Is this correct? The phrase sounds strangely obvious I'm not sure how it is used. Comments would be appreciated.

[muyongshi]

It would better translate as something like "for those that can't, it is difficult; for those than can it is not difficult"

[skylee]

I don't think I've come across this saying before.

I think it means, "Those who find it difficult are those who don't understand/can't do it. For those who understand/can do it, it is not difficult".

[HashiriKata]

A slightly different interpretation: Those who think it's difficult won't be able to do it, those who think it can be done won't find it difficult.

I guess this saying has something along the line of "where there is a will, there is a way".

[imron]

I've heard this saying quite a few times, usually in a situation where someone is making fun of someone else who complains that something is too hard to do/learn. Then the person who can do it will say: 难者不会 会者不难.

[Annaliu]

难者不会，会者不难

From words only:

难is difficult, 者 is empty word, 不会 is unable.

会 is able, 者 is empty word, 不难 is not difficult or easy.

It means it is unable because it is difficult and if it is easy, then it is able.

From meaning:

认为困难的人是因为他不会做这件事，而会做这件事的人则认为它不难。

If you think sth is difficult because you can not do it, the same thing, if you are able to do it, then you will think it is easy.

In fact, this sentence is from archaic Chinese(文言文).

The first 难 is adj in modern Chinese, but here(archaic Chinese) it is verb meaning 认为难 think it is difficult.

者 means 的人，some person

The first 会 is verb, means can, able

The second 会 is 认为会，think it is able.

The second 难 is adj, means difficult.

[Si5DOGG82]

I agree with imron. This is something a teacher or parent would say to a student or child . . . cool little saying. i

[jade-]

难者不会 会者不难 literally means “to those who feel difficult to do, they are not capable of doing it; to those who are capable of doing it, it is not difficult.” It implies something may look difficult to do, but once you have learned the skills, you can do it. The phrase is not only used by parent/teacher to student/kid, it can be used among grown-ups, especially when someone is doing something you consider very difficult to do and this person can easily finish it, you can say this phrase to him/her. It actually is a nice thing to say for admiring his/her capability.

[Lili 「麗麗」]

To translate it more literally it's like "difficult not able";"able not difficult".

[Quest]

Even though understandable, it's such a poorly constructed phrase. 难者 and 会者 don't even match grammatically.

[Hanyu'sWay]

The emphasis is on the second part, 会者不难　－ it is easy for those who has the knowhow.

One scenario: You struggled for a whole day to install a faucet in the kitchen and eventually gave up and called a plumber. It took all of 15 minutes for the plumber to finish the job. You then commented to your wife : "真是会者不难啊！＂．

Or it could be : "这就叫　难者不会，　会者不难．＂

Or "这就是所谓　难者不会，　会者不难．＂

[chinskycraze]

I don't think at all that it's a lousily constructed phrase. In fact, it's pretty brilliant, because it may appear a platitude on the surface only. The phrase is actually a play on words, becaue the characters 难 and 会 are used each time in a different meaning (see Annaliu's contribution).

There is nothing doggy about the gramamr. You do have to, however, have a basic grasp of Classical Chinese and the peculiarities of its grammar to appreciate that. Then you know that 难 and 会 used with 者 are used as state verbs, meaing "able" or "not so able" (as in "he's a very able person"). In Classical Chinese 者 was a very productive particle used after verbs to convert them to nouns, and this meaning has still survived in Modern Chinese in certain words, c.f. 记者 （lit. the one who records = journalist)， 作者 （the one who produces/makes = author), 前者 （the one which is at the front = the former) 后者 （the one which is at the back = the latter), etc.

The 会 in 难者不会 is a modal verb, meaing 'to be able to', the 难 however, is a intrasitive verb in transitive usage (i.e. an adjective, or to be more precise, a state verb with a direct object). In Classical Chinese, whenever an intransitive state verb takes an object, its meaning changes slightly from descriptive to putative or optative. Putative means that rather than describe a quality of a thing (e.g. 山高 means "The mountain is high"), it is used to describe how the subject of the sentence views the object, e.g. 孔子高山 means "Konfuzius sees the mountain as large". Optative means that the object is manipulated so as to aquire the quality the adjective describes. Here, 难 could be understood in either putative or optative sense, meaning that the unable people find things difficult, or that unable people make (easy things) difficult (to achieve). In any case, either sense has little impact on the meaning of the phrase as a whole.

One thing more, if you're interested in the grammar part. Normally, the intransitive verb in its transitive usage MUST be clearly marked as such by being immediately followed by an object, be it as a full noun or in the form of 之 (third person ojbect pronoun). However, in our saying, there is the negation 不 which often results in 之 being dropped. The full version of the second phrase would sound then 会者不之难, (with 之 preceding the verb rather than following it, to comply with the inversion rules of negative sentences) which would mark the verb unmistakeably as transitive, but would destroy the symmetry of the structure.

[The World of Chinese]

Perhaps kind of a side note, but is this expression meant as a play on 知者不言,言者不知 or is that just a common structure in classical Chinese?