花痴 神仙姐姐 in English

[Kenny同志]

他跟段誉一样，是个花痴，见到个美女就叫“神仙姐姐”。

How do you say that？

[Daan]

I had no clue who 段誉 was, so I looked him up. According to the Wikipedia page on 段誉, it's his father 段正淳 who has some trouble with...how shall we put this, the concept of monogamy. In a nice turn of phrase, Wikipedia calls him a "notorious libertine". So I'm not sure which one is correct? I am inclined to trust you over Wikipedia, but any clarification you could offer would be appreciated.

Anyway, it would probably be difficult to express this in English, as the listener is unlikely to have an idea who 段誉 (or 段正淳) is. Let me think about it. Exactly how exaggerated is 神仙姐姐? Does it sound terribly romantic/poetic, or does it sound a bit crude?

[anonymoose]

I'd say something like:

He's a ladies' man just like Duan Yu. Any pretty girl he sees he calls "goddess".

[imron]

Instead of Duan Yu though, you could use something like Don Juan, depending on whether you were going for a name that conveyed some of the same meaning, rather than a literal translation.

[Kenny同志]

You can go to 百度百科

http://baike.baidu.com/view/39527.htm#6

for more information about Duan Yu. Here I’ve quoted part of the content that you may find useful to better know the man.

　　许多论者以为金大侠写《天龙八部》之初时，心中想着一部《红楼梦》，所以段誉出场有些像贾宝玉，笔者对此甚有同感。

　　段誉和贾宝玉都是富贵公子，天生情种，不通世务，对美貌女子都当神仙般地尊敬仰慕。

　　《红楼梦》中有太虚幻境，《天龙八部》中就有“琅嬛福地”；

　　《红楼梦》中有警幻仙姑，《天龙八部》中又有“神仙姐姐”。

　　痴既难解，孽即随之。

　　段誉又是金庸武侠小说中第一天生情种。

　　段誉的情种看来比贾宝玉还要胜过一筹，不仅对小婢也是姐姐长姐姐短的叫，要带蜜饯果子给人家吃，甚至连马儿因名黑玫瑰必是雌马，也要口称“玫瑰小姐”作过一揖。

　　此绝非矫情，而是段誉也信奉宝玉的“女儿的骨头是水做的”哲学，天生就是见了女儿就清爽。

　　对女性由衷的赞美和敬慕，在段誉这里已上升到世界观方法论的高度，毫无做作之处。

　　所以段誉一得知有人要暗害木婉清，立即不顾个人安危，要去通风报信。

　　段誉被无量剑抓到关起来，束手无策之际，又有了闲心来“遵照神仙姐姐嘱咐”，修炼“北冥神功”。

　　“北冥神功”中，最对段誉胃口的却是逃跑保命的绝妙武功——“凌波微步”。“此乃逃命之妙法，非害人之本领也，练之有百利而无一害”，兴趣来了，段誉是一练即有小成。

在尘俗世界中，段誉历来最讲人道和平等的思想，他的方法是企图以身作则建立一种完美的人道主义伦理观，以思想观念的力量去改变世界。如果每一个都能具有段誉这样的道德水准，那么世界亦几近于“大同”了吧！

Anonymoose, great job. But the word “goddess” seems to me, kind of overused . 神仙姐姐 sounds extremely romantic and poetic to me, a wonderful word. As a nonnative speaker of English, “goddess” seems a little bit too serious to me, however I can’t think of a better word at the moment; it may be the best one. Thank you both.

or fairy sister? I don't know.

sister goddess?

and also the 花痴 issue. "lady's man" doesn't fully convey the connotation of it.

Check 花痴 at Handian: http://www.zdic.net/cd/ci/7/ZdicE8Zdic8AZdicB1202509.htm

and at 百度百科：http://baike.baidu.com/view/10407.htm

The word is used in an exaggerated way in my original post.

Edited December 18, 2009 at 09:45 AM by kenny2006woo

[studentyoung]

But the word “goddess” seems to me, kind of overused . 神仙姐姐 sounds extremely romantic and poetic to me, a wonderful word.

or fairy sister? I don't know.

sister goddess?

How about "Venus"?

Cheers!

[Kenny同志]

In the word 花痴, "花“ implies beautiful women (or handsome men) and "花痴” refers to a person who spends too much time thinking about attractive women or men, or a person who 丢了魂（I don’t know how do you say this in English）at the sight of an attractive opposite-sex.

it should be noted that the word is just a humorous way to address such a person, not degrading in most instances.

Edited December 18, 2009 at 10:50 AM by kenny2006woo

[anonymoose]

and also the 花痴 issue. "lady's man" doesn't fully convey the connotation of it.

I can't think of a better word at present. But the Baidu link you provided translates it as "sex-mad". If my understanding isn't wrong, then I don't think "sex-mad" is appropriate either.

[Kenny同志]

I absolutely agree with you, "sex-mad" is a terrible translation.

[rob07]

I had no clue who 段誉 was, so I looked him up.

We watched the story of 段誉 in the Grand First Episode Project, it was quite popular:

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/18139-first-episode-22-%e5%a4%a9%e9%be%99%e5%85%ab%e9%83%a8-demi-gods-and-semi-devils

Interesting to see the 贾宝玉 parallels in Kenny's quote.

As a nonnative speaker of English, “goddess” seems a little bit too serious to me,

"Goddess" is quite a common non-serious way to refer to a beautiful woman. I don't think 姐姐 should be literally translated. IMHO, Anonymoose's translation of 神仙姐姐 as goddess is just right.

But the Baidu link you provided translates it as "sex-mad".

www.nciku.com (which is normally pretty good) gives:

花痴 [huā chī]

1. [Psychology] erotic psychiatric patients

Perhaps this was originally a technical medical term and the humorous slang usage derives from this?

[Kenny同志]

Perhaps this was originally a technical medical term and the humorous slang usage derives from this?

I guess so. so there is only the 花痴 issue left to be sloved.

[skylee]

This discussion reminds me of Daiyu's poem - 儂今葬花人笑痴，他年葬儂知是誰.

花痴 [huā chī]

1. [Psychology] erotic psychiatric patients

Perhaps this was originally a technical medical term and the humorous slang usage derives from this?

According to my understanding this is not what 段譽 is. He is better than this.

[skylee]

How about, "Like Duan Yu, he becomes an idiot when he meets beautiful women. Everytime he meets one he calls her "dear goddess"."

[Kenny同志]

nice try, skylee. But "idiot" doesn't seem so vivid as 花痴. I was wondering if in English there is a perfect match for 丢了魂, if there is, I think the phrase would be the closest to 花痴.

In my mind, a 花痴 like Prince Duan Yu is one who 丢了魂 at the sight of a beautiful woman.

[anonymoose]

Like Duan Yu, he loses his mind whenever he meets pretty women. He calls them "goddesses".

Like Duan Yu, he has a penchant for pretty women. Whenever he meets one, he calls her a "goddess".

[HashiriKata]

In my mind, a 花痴 like Prince Duan Yu is one who 丢了魂[/color'] at the sight of a beautiful woman.

What about the following:

In my mind, a 花痴 like Prince Duan Yu is one who goes nuts at the sight of a beautiful woman.

[Kenny同志]

maybe "lose his mind" is a better choice over " go nuts"(see its definition at the free dictionary； http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/go+nuts)

go nuts: to become crazy, disoriented, or frustrated. It is so busy here that I think I will go crazy. Bob went nuts because his car got a flat tire.

thank you both:D. Thanks especially go to anonymoose who has made tireless efforts to give a better translation.

Edited December 19, 2009 at 01:44 AM by kenny2006woo

[Daan]

Haha, as promised, I spent my evening thinking about this, so why not throw in my suggestion, even though the ones posted above are already very good. As a liberal translation, how about "he drools over all the beautiful women he meets and praises them to the sky"?

(I am very much tempted to suggest "and talks sweet talk his dentist wouldn't approve of", but let's not go there)

[studentyoung]

praises them to the sky

Well, 段誉 calls beautiful girls he meets as 神仙姐姐 doesn't mean he wants to praise them to the sky, but shows that beautiful girls in his mind are the avatar of Venus in the world, so beautiful that is only worth his worship and respect. That's why his loses his mind in front of them.

Cheers!

[Kenny同志]

Anyway, thanks, Daan. not bad

thank you too, student young. your post makes sense.