Please Help With Phrase Translation..

[Eru]

I've decided to go for a tattoo in chinese. I love the style of the characters, really elegant.

Was thinking about 'strength from the heart' or 'strengh of heart'.

All I've done so far is start stringing together characters that apparently mean 'strength' and 'heart' :

Strength

Heart

I've no idea if those would make sense put together!

Ideally I want something that can run vertically, around 3 or so characters in length. Appreciate any advice and ideas from anyone here ;)

[yingxiaxin]

“心的力量” means "strength of the heart" or "strength from the heart" and that make sense. If you have some new ideas, I can help you to correct the phrase. I'm a native speaker

[Eru]

Thankyou yingxiaxin. Can I ask what the new character means or how it alters the others? Also noticed I have the order backwards :rolleyes: Should it be read right to left? If the tattoo is vertical should it be read from bottom to top.

Is there an image (similar to those I posted for Strength and Heart) for the new character - I'm struggling to find it or it's meaning from the font used in this board.

[zening]

If the tattoo is horizontal, you should read from left to right; If the tattoo is vertical, you should read from top to bottom. Actually I suggest you 心力(xin li), it is the short form of 心的力量 (xin de li liang), actually they both can be explained as strength of heart or strength from heart in Chinese, but this one is shorter than the previous one.

[Eru]

Thanks. I do want more than 2 characters though really , 3 or 4 is ideal.

Any images of that additional character you added at first?

[jbradfor]

Thankyou yingxiaxin. Can I ask what the new character means or how it alters the others?

You mean 的? It's used in Chinese as the possessive. Rather than English's "X's Y", Chinese does "Y 的 X".

Interestingly enough, most Romance languages uses the same grammar order as does Chinese. And, in fact, 的 is pronounced very similar to "de", the same word used in Spanish for this. Weird, huh?

[889]

"Interestingly enough, most Romance languages uses the same grammar order as does Chinese."

No, the possessive order is reversed in Romance languages.

It's possessed de possessor in Spanish, French, etc., versus possessor de possessed in Chinese.

[jbradfor]

DOH! Of course it is, sorry for the brain fart.

[Eru]

Guys can any of you provide that character 的 in the same style as the ones I first posted (eg http://www.chinatownconnection.com/chinese-symbol-for-strength.htm)