translating

[pokeyzilla89]

I've tried to take a crack at translating some children's stories, but even with children's stories, I bump into grammar I haven't seen before. For example, I've seen this pattern a few times in a story: 去 (e.g., 飞上天去). I also bump into things like 憨厚老实, which to me looks like "honest honest." And 欢欢喜喜, which doesn't make sense to me. It seems like there's lots of phrases that are complete mysteries to me.

I was wondering if anyone can offer some pointers on translating. How did you get started? What resources do you use? How do you solve the mysteries of the language?

[muyongshi]

Honestly, you should do some searches here about verbs of direction, repeated/duplicated adjectives and the like.

All of the examples you have run into are functions of the language itself, or characteristics that are VERY very common. So, it's not so much about translating in that sense as getting to know the language better and understanding how it operates.

[skylee]

You should spend more time to study Chinese first.

[Lu]

Translating can be useful to get a better idea for the language, which parts you didn't know yet, where the difficulties are for you. I'd recommend studying more Chinese, and also reading more, to get a feel for the language.

In case of translating to bring foreign texts to an audience that otherwise couldn't read it: don't be afraid to not translate literally, word by word. 'Honest honest' can become just 'honest' or 'very honest' or whatever looks right for the story.

[pokeyzilla89]

去 = to ?

来 = away from ?

憨厚老实 = very honest?

欢欢喜喜 = very pleased?

I'm going to buy http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Mandarin-Chinese-Grammar-Grammars/dp/0415700108.

[muyongshi]

What part of search did not get?

I can understand your desire to just find out what those translations are but seriously, what Skylee and everyone else is saying is the most important. Go learn a bit more about the FEATURES of the language, it's grammar, etc and then you won't have a problem with any of this.

Short answer- yes, Chinese will duplicate or "repeat" itself often, it's used for emphasis so you could translate that as very.

Another short answer- a verb used at the end of the sentence {specifically 来/去} is used to indicate the direction of the action. 买东西去了- went to buy things. Or in your example 飞上天去. He flew to the sky. We don't translate the 去 in this case, it's implied, but you REALLY need to learn this structure.

These are ALL basic structures that are addressed in or should be addressed in beginner/early intermediate books and have been discussed here multiple times. We are very willing to help you, but you really should try and following the policy of this forum of doing everything to answer your own question first. Because in this case I guarantee your questions are answerable without us. Then if there is still confusion ask.

[katyjo]

We have read lots of Chinese childrens books. My background is heritage Cantonese with only 2 semester of Mandarin. At first the Chinese structure seemed odd, but we have read so many books, that we have gotten used to the structure. A grammar book may not have exactly what you are looking for. This summer my older kid started seeing a tutor from Taiwan. She has helped my child get through Harry Potter book and the tutor has answered questions that I couldn't easily find in a book. I've personally have learned some Chinese by writing in notes in Chinese Magic Tree House books (for my 2nd grader). Kids are too young to look up characters themselves. We have books 1-37, You see the similar characters and structures over and over.