Respect!

[danqi]

How would you translate "respect" into modern spoken Chinese. Not "respect" in general, but as in "when you give props to someone"?

BTW, how would you translate "props"?

[cutty]

respect, 尊重.

[danqi]

Isn't that a verb?

Sorry I did not make myself clear. The context I meant is when you e.g. meet a friend of yours on the street, talk a little and then tell him goodby by sayig "respect !" instead of "see you" or something else. Or don't you do that in the U.S.?

Would you still use 尊重 in that context?

[CBC]

珍重 may be closer translation，I think.

Many Chinese nouns can used as verbs, and vice versa.

[Bob Dylan Thomas]

The context I meant is when you e.g. meet a friend of yours on the street, talk a little and then tell him goodby by sayig "respect !" instead of "see you" or something else.

Language / translation doesn't function as a word-for-word code. Chinese won't necessarily contain an equivalent cheesy phrase to correspond to the precise meaning of "respect" that you're talking about (in other words, this is a fairly daft topic). Are you basically asking for a colloquial way of expressing "goodbye"?

[danqi]

I am aware of what you're saying. But I am actually kinda searching for a cheasy translation of it. I came up with this, because of a friend of mine who uses phrases like that very frequently (he is involved in a lot of things hiphop). He asked me how you would say that in Chinese. I did not know and it got me interested. I thought I'd just toss it on here and see what comes up, so you see it's not so serious.

But, since where now so deeply involved in this topic and since I now got really interested in it, let me rephrase my question to a slightly more meaningful one:

What would the real world equivalent to "props!" or "respect!" in its meaningless all-around sense be in modern spoken Chinese?

Add-on:

Is there a "street language" equivalent to "whack!" in modern spoken Chinese?

[yonglan]

talk a little and then tell him goodby by sayig "respect !" instead of "see you" or something else. Or don't you do that in the U.S.?

No. Never heard this once in my life. Can't imagine hearing it.

What is "props"? Never heard this before (except as a noun for items in a scene in a movie/play or for yoga pillows).

[danqi]

Well, could be that the whole respect thing is a localized thing. Even though we do use the english word. But I am pretty sure that you can "give props to someone" in the US, too. :-)

"Props, dude!" would according to my understanding mean "I acknowledge your accomplishment, my friend!"

Actually, I just checked urbandictionary:

"Props:

respect, recognition

Gotta give that girl props for her web site..."

And here is the one for respect:

"Respect:

An exclamation used to indicate your admiration/respect for someone.

"I was banging dumb bitches last night." _ Person 1

"Respect." - Person 2"

That should make it clear.

[yonglan]

Sorry, maybe I misunderstood.

If you're happy with those words, fine.

If there is some ultraslangy usage somewhere in the US utilizing those usages or if teenagers or whoever like to say those things, well anything is possible with words.

All I meant to say is that the usages you are asking about are absolutely not part of standard American English. I've never heard either and they honestly make absolutely no sense to me.

Hope I've been helpful

[Jose]

I think those expressions, at least the 'respect' one, were popularised by the Ali G TV series in Britain. They may have become quite widespread among British teenagers, but they are hardly standard English. I wonder if anyone will use or remember them in a few years' time.

The late Queen Mother was apparently among those who learned the expression from Ali G. When she died last year, some newspapers carried the story that she would occasionally do an Ali G impersonation in front of her great-grandchildren, saying "respect" and all. Read the story on BBC News:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1915592.stm

For those of you who cannot access the BBC site, here's the relevant extract:

There's widespread coverage of what the Sunday Telegraph calls the "delightful insight" provided by Prince William and Prince Harry into their great-grandmother's sense of humour.

According to the Observer, their recollection of her mimicking the spoof rapper, Ali G, paints a picture of the Queen Mother entirely at odds with her formal public image.

The Independent on Sunday relates the story, two Christmases ago, at Sandringham.

The Queen Mother stood up after a festive meal and said to her daughter, the Queen, "Darling, lunch was marvellous - respec", then clicked her fingers in Ali G fashion.

Now I agree that finding a translation for such slang idioms is pretty hard, to say the least. How could you possibly find an expression in Chinese with the same British urban rebellious teenager sound to it?

[danqi]

I would assume that Ali G just adopted that stuff from popular youth culture, but who knows. I remember his R E S T E C P A sketch:

"R E S T E C P A!"

"Do you even know what you just spelled?"

"Yeah, man, restecpa!"

Ehm, whatever.

"How could you possibly find an expression in Chinese with the same British urban rebellious teenager sound to it?"

What would be a comparable expression with a Chinese urban rebellious teenager sound to it?

[yonglan]

Danqi, I believe the answer lies in Jose's post. You think it is US English, but maybe you are looking for slang terms that are specific to British English. Go ask a Briton

[danqi]

Actually, I am looking for Chinese slang terms. Let's just concentrate on that and forget about how to translate western slang terms.

[xuechengfeng]

"Props" and "respect" is American hip-hop slang, but sorry, my Chinese is so limited that I wouldn't have the slightest idea as to how to translate that.

I guess I'd say 很好

[BeijingSlacker]

牛逼 ？

[yonglan]

Are 牛逼 and 牛屄 the same?

[xuechengfeng]

牛逼 ？

這是甚麼意思﹖

[danqi]

這是甚麼意思﹖

ditto

[marcopolo79]

Here, have a look at these reworked Naughty by Nature lyrics

(ol' skool, but effective):

OP屄 how can I explain it

I'll take you frame by frame it

To have y'all jumpin' shall we singin' it

O is for Other P is for People scratchin' temple

The last屄 ...well...that's not that simple

It's sorta like another way to call a cat a kitten

It's five little letters that are missin' here

You get on occassion at the other party

As a game 'n it seems I gotta start to explainin'

Bust it

You ever had a girl and met her on a nice hello

You get her name and number and then you feelin' real mellow

You get home, wait a day, she's what you wanna know about

Then you call up and it's her girlfriend or her cousin's house

It's not a front, F to the R to the O to the N to the T

It's just her boyfriend's at her house (Boy, that's what is scary)

It's OP屄, time other people's what you get it

There's no room for relationship there's just room to hit it

How many brothers out there know just what I'm gettin' at

Who thinks it's wrong 'cos I'm splittin' and co-hittin' at

Well if you do, that's OP屄 and you're not down with it

But if you don't, here's your membership

Chorus:

You down with OP屄 (Yeah you know me) 3X

Who's down with OP屄 (Every last homie)

You down with OP屄 (Yeah you know me) 3X

Who's down with OP屄 (All the homies)

[danqi]

Now, that's what I call an effective way to teach language.

To get back to Yonglan's post:

Are 牛逼 and 牛屄 the same?