Quick translation

[yonoid]

Hi, what's the best way of saying "The river is concerned (or worried)" in traditional chinese? Thanks.

[hanxue]

Umm, what?

[tooironic]

A context, as always, would help...

[yonoid]

It's supposed to be a title to a story called "The River is Worried" or "The River is Concerned" translated into traditional Chinese. What else do I need to be clear about?

[skylee]

Like how a river can feel "worried" or "concerned"? And what is the river worried or concerned about?

[yonoid]

It's an abstract title. It doesn't have to "make sense". Why can't you just translate it how it is? Are there any conceptual or grammatical impracticalities holding it back from being tenable?

[imron]

The problem is, for abstract things like this, there is very rarely a direct mapping from one language to another. In order to be able to provide a decent translation then it's important that it makes sense to the translator, otherwise you'll not get a good translation.

This is especially so for titles of stories, where you'll often find that translated titles are not a direct translation of the original title, but rather a new title in the target language that also embodies the story, but is more appropriate than a direct translation.

[yonoid]

I don't know what the river is concerned about. It's just concerned. JUST MAKE THE RIVER CONCERNED!!! If I was speaking to you in Chinese and I wanted to tell you that some woman standing next me is upset, couldn't I just express to you the simple idea: "that woman there is upset" ? Does Chinese not have the idea river in its language? Does it not have categories similiar to nouns, verbs, and adjectives within its morphology? Can one simple object like 'river' not have a simple attribute like 'being concerned'?

[dalaowai]

For example, the majority of Chinese movie titles are different in meaning when translated to English. Translating it to Chinese wouldn't make any sense and seem very bizarre to Chinese people. This is done because in one language it sounds good, while the other it doesn't.

我的母亲父亲 - is literally translated to "My mother and father", however the english movie title is translated to "The Road Home".

无间道 - is literally translated to "in between hell and earth", however the english movie title is translated to "Infernal Affairs".

Finally to answer your question, although it sounds weird and people would feel strange and not understand, The river is concerned (or worried)" would be translated to 那條河很緊張。

Now if you give us more context, we can definitely help you translate it properly.

[yonoid]

And yet, I have no problem with the literal translations "My Mother and Father" and "In Between Hell and Earth". In fact, I think they sound better poetically than "The Road Home" or "Infernal Affairs". If that's the kind of bizarre you're talking about, then that's fine with me.

And what if some Chinese poet was wanting to express that thought or concept of "a river being worried or concerned", couldn't he or she do that? It's not like it's some impossibility like "green" being "colorless".

[imron]

The problem is, there are several different ways of translating it depending on what it is that you want to express. They are not all the same, and some will be more appropriate in different contexts than others. For example, the suggestion dalaowai gave 那條河很緊張, kind of fits the meaning you asked for, but could also be interpreted as "that river is nervous", or "that river is tense", which may or may not be the meaning you're trying to convey. There are multiple different words that could be used to express concern, depending on what it is concerned about.

One of the other difficulties here is that Chinese doesn't have a word for "the", which then has an impact on how the translator decides to convey the concept of which river it is that is concerned. Does the translator choose to say "that river", as Dalaowai did, or do they choose a word that describes all rivers in general, or if the story is about a specific river with a name do they choose a word referring to that specific river etc.

As you can see, there are many different options, and to choose the most appropriate one, context is important, which is why everyone here who has be willing to help you, has asked for it.

The other thing you should realise when asking for help for free from strangers on the Internet, is that if you get upset with them for trying to find out more information so that they can provide you with a better answer, you might find that they are less willing to help.

[hanxue]

If you want a direct translation of that, you could also say: 河流相當操心。

[leeyah]

And what if some Chinese poet was wanting to express that thought or concept of "a river being worried or concerned", couldn't he or she do that?

Yeah, it's possible, of course ...In which case I suppose " 愁江 " would probably be the optimal solution for your "worried river" as far as traditional Chinese is concerned (vs. all the colloquial 紧张 & 操心s)

[roddy]

Couldn't you have an angry river. There's an Angry River (怒江) in the southwest of China.

Roddy

PS I know it's not really angry. But then again, all those dams would be annoying.

[adrianlondon]

Damn dams. Maybe the river is concerned about the environment.

[leeyah]

Maybe the river is concerned about the environment.

Right!

哈! So much for the context, yonoid, so there you go - all the mystery solved at last! 高兴不高兴?

[imron]

Anyway who remembers the Jinghua hostel in Beijing will also remember the 臭江 that was right next door. That was certainly something to be concerned about!

[dalaowai]

As no context was given and the sense of urgency displayed by the poster, along with the unwillingness to provide additional info, I thought that the right thing to do was imagine a possible scenario. I pictured a hot summer day, where all the local children jumped in for a swim. The river was worried about a rather obese child swimming about and cringing at the thought that he might leave behind a "warm spot" in the water. A Daoist monk walked by and felt that the river was worried and proclaimed 那条河很紧张。

[leeyah]

The river was worried about a rather obese child swimming about and cringing at the thought that he might leave behind a "warm spot" in the water. A Daoist monk walked by and felt that the river was worried and proclaimed 那条河很紧张。

How about a poet instead?

看透那胖孩的心思，愁河为此更发愁了好一阵子。有位诗人过之曰：江水几多愁？

[dalaowai]

haha, even better Leeyah. That was so touching. ;)