Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness

[atariboy]

I found another phrase I liked

Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness

Translated it seems to come out as

改善点燃一个蜡烛比诅咒黑暗

Does this seem correct

many thanks

[isela]

I would translate it as:

燃起一颗蜡烛(总)好过(无尽地)诅咒黑暗.

Or,

与其无休止地诅咒这黑暗,为什么不燃起一颗蜡烛呢?

I think the second sentence sounds more Chinese.

[atariboy]

Thanks....what are the symbols in brackets?

[roddy]

Why do you actually need these phrases?

[atariboy]

I was going to either get an engraving or a tattoo

[roddy]

An engraving will take longer to heal.

If you're going to do it, find a list of Chinese idioms with an English translation and choose one you like rather than working backwards from English.

[studentyoung]

Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness

炳烛强于嗔夜暗？

炳烛　　

bǐng zhú

　　点燃蜡烛。《说苑·建本》载：师旷劝晋平公学习，并说：“老而好学，如炳烛之明；炳烛之明，孰与昧行乎?”后以“炳烛”比喻好学不倦。

http://baike.baidu.com/view/817999.htm

Cheers!

Edited July 7, 2009 at 08:15 AM by studentyoung

[isela]

Hey, atariboy,

Sorry for my late reply. In the brackets are those characters you need to add into the translated sentense for it to make sense (something not found in origin).

It's be tooooo long for your tatoo I'm afraid...

[atariboy]

Yes you are right but I am having problems finding idioms that equate to the same

[Lu]

Borrowing most of the sentence from Isela: maybe 诅咒黑暗不如燃起一颗蜡烛?

But don't tattoo this. It's an English saying literally translated to Chinese, not a Chinese saying. Perhaps you can find a nice picture of a lit candle and tattoo that?

[gato]

Perhaps you can find a nice picture of a lit candle and tattoo that?

Good idea. Maybe this one.

[HashiriKata]

Good idea. Maybe this one.

I'm not sure, as it doesn't say anything about the cursing part. Maybe adding a photo of someone cursing to it would probably help?

[leeyah]

Baidu gives:

与其诅咒黑暗,不如燃起蜡烛

& I think it actually means:

It's better to cherish the love, than poison your heart with hate i.e. 比喻: The light of love is stronger than the darkness of hate

[atariboy]

Still searching at the moment.

I was reading about the legend of the chinese pheonix (Fenghuang) . It has a 500 to 1,000 year life-cycle, near the end of which it builds itself a nest of myrrh twigs that then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix or phoenix egg arises, reborn anew to live again.

What would be a good idiom for this?

[leeyah]

Oh uh looks like a sect of some kind is forming of non-Chinese speakers wearing Chinese tattoos... I mean, you don't speak Chinese but still you want a Chinese tattoo? What for? Have you searched the forums for other tattoo threads? You may find useful advice there. Anyway, judging by the way you can't make up your mind on what you want to express through your tattoo, I guess you're a teenager or just out of teens, so there's no point in telling you what to do But just think about it: most of us here who are serious about Chinese don't wear Chinese tattoos. What does it tell you?

Ok, let's teach you some Chinese: 鳳凰再生 fèng huáng zài shēng is 'Rebirth of the Phoenix' or 鳳凰涅盤 fèng huáng niè pán 'Nirvana of the Phoenix'. Now, another thing to bear in mind that the word 鳳凰 is composed of two characters, one is male (鳳) the other female (凰) = a pair of phoenix birds, so most Chinese proverbs (chengyu) that have them are about matrimonial harmony and not rebirth. 鳳 alone also refers to the Chinese Emperors or exquisite elegance & beauty. Do you realize now how misleading words can be? Think about it

[atariboy]

hi leeyah, well in the nicest possible way, you are wrong on most counts...but 10 out of 10 ofr effort. Your are right about one thing...I dont speak chinese. I am not just out of school. I am in my 40's. I have been thinking about having a tattoo in the form of an Idiom for while now and really need some advice as I need to get it right.

I am english but lived abroad in many countries as a child including Singapore, Malaya and Hong Kong and several arab counties. I suffered many mishaps during my time in the far east, including snake bites, malaria and tropical dysentery. I have just come through a second failed marriage and decided to have a tattoo which basically says to be positive, learn from experiences and move on. Having spent many years in the far east, I do quite like the idea of Idioms, fables and Chengyu.

The right tattoo is important to me as I have bounced back so many times from mishap and bad fortune. I have sourced a reputable tattooist and being thinking about this for 18 months now so I havent rushed in to it.

Many thanks for all your advice and yes having done lots of research I do see how a word can change when you put another word against it.

All the help you can give is very much appreciated

Edited July 31, 2009 at 07:14 PM by atariboy

[leeyah]

Glad that I can help & sorry I rushed into conclusions, but I guess we all remain children at heart, no matter what difficulties we've been through

Edited August 9, 2009 at 09:23 AM by leeyah

[atariboy]

Yes that fine, I do appreciate that you just get loads of queries from people that just want a chinese tattoo because its the 'in thing'. For me its more personal as I spent so much time in the far east. I have researched carefully as I dont wish to make errors and thats why I came to you guys.

I have read lots and lots about idioms,. fables and Chengyu but havent really found anything I thought would be appropiate except the possibility of the legendary pheonix

[atariboy]

I did read up about fèng huáng zài shēng and understand that 鳳鳳 represents both male and female. And I read about the story about Nirvana but it didnt seem quite appropiate.

If I use some form of idiom about the pheonix, I need to ensure that it refers to the Phoenix rising to become stronger. The chinese phoenix legend may not be as appropiate as the arabian pheonix but chinese idioms really is the way I want to take this.

[leeyah]

I think phoenix as 凤凰再生 is connected to Chinese Buddhism, it does mean new life but perhaps rather as a new incarnation.

Don't know if you've heard of 天无绝人路 (from 人有逆天之时,天无绝人之路 by 冯梦龙, Ming dynasty) It can be translated as 'heaven always leaves an open road for man' & in the West it is translated as 'God never closes one door without opening the other', it's genuinely Chinese & optimistic