Cleome Posted August 26, 2011 at 12:32 AM Report Share Posted August 26, 2011 at 12:32 AM I've been studying conversational Mandarin Chinese for the better part of a year, and have gotten a fairly solid vocabulary (at least for the relatively short period of time I've been learning). That said, I haven't started working on hànzì and can only read a tiny bit, mostly just numbers and common pronouns. The problem is, I'm looking to get a fairly large, very personal, tattoo with the proverb "One joy scatters a hundred griefs" as a border. I don't want that in English, because the tattoo itself will be very ambiguous and almost upbeat, so that quote would probably bring a lot of questions that I don't want. If it's in a language that very few people around me will be able to understand, it would feel like I was keeping a bit more privacy. I've never seen or heard this actually in Chinese, I've just come to understand that that's the origin. 一个喜悦驱散百年忧患 is the closest translation I could find. Is this correct? If not, what would be the best way to put this? The pinyin translation spoken aloud doesn't sound quite right to me, but I don't have nearly enough experience with the language to really guess. I'm meeting with my Chinese tutor in a couple weeks and I'll be asking her about this, too. I'd really love to see some other opinions though. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylee Posted August 26, 2011 at 01:03 PM Report Share Posted August 26, 2011 at 01:03 PM Consider 一笑解千愁. . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbradfor Posted August 26, 2011 at 02:42 PM Report Share Posted August 26, 2011 at 02:42 PM Is that a classical saying, or just a common phrasing? I tried searching, and either my google-fu is lacking, or it's not from a classical source. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xiaocai Posted August 26, 2011 at 03:50 PM Report Share Posted August 26, 2011 at 03:50 PM Maybe it is not classical then. I can only remember 一醉解千愁. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleome Posted August 27, 2011 at 03:14 PM Author Report Share Posted August 27, 2011 at 03:14 PM Thanks guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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