Chinese equivalents to an English sentence

[semantic nuance]

Hi,

I'd like to ask if this sentence-"If you live it up, you won't live it down." -- any aimilar to Chinese 樂極生悲? Any ideas?

Thanks!

[Xjian0104]

Hi~

I don't understand of "If you live it up, you won't live it down."

May I ask what's the meaning of "live it up“ and "live it down"?

樂極生悲 can be said in English like this:

Extreme joy begets sorrow

[semantic nuance]

Xjian0104,

Thanks for your reply.

live it up

live down

Hope it helps!

[semantic nuance]

Hello?

[Daan]

I can't say "If you live it up, you won't live it down" is an idiom I would expect to come across frequently, but as translations of idiomatic expressions go, I suppose 樂極生悲 would be as close as you could get. Although it's not exactly the same. The English idiom means roughly that if you are successful in life, you will always manage to cause offence, embarrassment or hurt that will never be forgotten.

[semantic nuance]

Thanks, Daan, so live it up means successful in life, does it also mean live in extravagance, always engage in exciting social activity? What did you mean by 'successful in life'?

From your interpretation, I thought of another phrase--樹大招風, wondering if that fits.

[GaoLao888]

The definition above of "Live it up" is correct: to have an exciting and very enjoyable time with parties, good food and drink.

"you won't live it down" means people that were with you while partying, drinking, etc will never let you forget if you do anything stupid. They will always remind you of the embarassing event.

[Daan]

The Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary says:

live it up

informal

to have an exciting and very enjoyable time with parties, good food and drink

He's alive and well and living it up in the Bahamas.

Idioms are not my forte, but I suppose your 樹大招風 would be a much better fit than the 樂極生悲, since from what I gather 樹大招風 expresses the idea that well-known people will always attract criticism, right? And in my understanding, 樂極生悲 implies the inevitable downfall of the successful, which is not the case with the English idiom.

[semantic nuance]

Thanks, all of you. That English sentence, as GaoLao888 said, seems to say you'll reap what you sow. If you lead a life in that way, it'll probably boomerang on you. Am I understanding it right? If so, that's why I had a take on 樂極生悲. To me, 樹大招風 , a bit like 人紅是非多, the people with fame or having a successful life are not necessarily the type of persons who will live in extravagance. They may not do anything improper but still incur criticism. Any other ideas? Thanks in advance.

[GaoLao888]

semantic,

"You'll reap what you sow" is a little bit different. It means if you go around doing good things, then good things will happen to you. If you go around doing bad things, then bad things will happen to you. Just like the boomerang you mentioned.

樂極生悲 translates (on MDBG) to "Don't celebrate too soon, things could still go wrong! "

meaning you could end up looking foolish for over-celebrating.

樹大招風"a tall tree catches the wind" means like you said: if you stand out for some reason you will attract attention, whether good or bad...

[semantic nuance]

樂極生悲 translates (on MDBG) to "Don't celebrate too soon, things could still go wrong! "

That translation from MDBG sounds to me 不要高興得太早, which is a bit different to 樂極生悲.

[Shi Tong]

Why dont you just describe the saying in English instead of making it into a Chinese saying?/ find a Chinese saying that's the same..

IMO, you're trying to say "if you go too crazy because you're trying to have fun, you will do something stupid and regret it".. 你玩到太快乐的话, 你有可能做笨事情, 借过后悔了

Is this what you're looking for? (I know what you're really looking for is a chengyu which fits in Chinese, but this might be a better way to circumlecute)

[semantic nuance]

Why dont you just describe the saying in English instead of making it into a Chinese saying?

I do not use it to describe to anyone. It's just my habit to think of language equivalents among languages I have been learning. You may think I'm a bit picky about the translation, but hey! that's what my ID is for, though what I've been done are not always satisfactory.

你玩到太快乐的话, 你有可能做笨事情, 借过后悔了

I guess it a typo: 結果.