translation of 狂話

[Kenny同志]

狂話 is 狂妄的話. If I say 钱鍾书的學問算什麽，我的學問比他好一萬倍, I am saying 狂話. If I say 雖然我現在剛學會二十六個字母，但只要給我三個月，我就能精通英文, I am also saying 狂話.

So how would you get the idea of 狂話 across in English?

PS: 林語堂 provided "crazy talk" as a possible translation but I don't think it captures the meaning of the word well enough.

[Kenny同志]

Any idea, guys?

[tooironic]

"Crazy talk" indeed is not a fantastic translation. For me, it has a kind of flippant connotation. "That's just crazy talk" to me sounds a bit unusual, like something you'd hear in an American sitcom, not in real life. Anyway, it doesn't capture the arrogance that 狂話 suggests.

The first translation that comes to my mind is "toot one's own horn" (自吹自擂). But of course that's not really the same thing as 狂話.

I think one of the reasons it's so tricky to translate is a profound difference between the two languages. In Chinese it is common to categorise different forms of 話. Some, like 閑話 ("gossip"), 廢話 ("nonsense"), 神話 ("myth"), 粗話 ("coarse language"), 二話 ("objection"), 反話 ("irony; sarcasm"), 行話 ("jargon"), etc. are easy to translate as they have equivalents in English. Others are translateable but may sound a bit Chinglish-y, like 空話/白話 ("empty talk"), 公道話 ("reasonable words"), etc. Some others, like 風涼話 ("snide remarks"), 夢話 ("words spoken in one's sleep" or "fabrications"), 氣話 ("words spoken in anger"), etc. require some research to translate well.

The second translation that comes to my mind is "big talk". According to its Wiktionary entry, it can refer to "statements which are boastful or exaggerated".

That's all I can think of for now. Perhaps someone else may have some other suggestions.

PS. Oh I just thought of one more translation. In English we often say "that's just his/her ego talking". Could be considered an interesting translation, depending on the context.

[imron]

Braggadocio is one word that comes to mind, but this word is not that frequently used.

[Kenny同志]

Thank you very much Too Ironic and Imron. I think the translations you suggested would work in certain contexts. I wonder, however, if we can get closer to the meaning of the word.

Both of your Chinese is excellent yet still I’d like to mention that 狂話 and 牛皮 are different in that while 狂話 will definitely come across as being 狂妄 to the listener, often 牛皮 doesn’t make people feel that way.

[tooironic]

Hmm. I also came across "braggadocio" in my research but I decided not to mention it since it's pretty archaic.

Wenlin offers "bombast" as a translation for 狂話. Oxford defines "bombast" as "high-sounding language with little meaning, used to impress people." But even if we can somehow agree that it comes close to the meaning of the Chinese word, it's only marginally more well-known than the obscure "braggadocio".

In light of this, I still think "big talk" is the best translation we've heard for 狂話 so far (albeit I was the one who offered it).

[Kenny同志]

Thanks for further commenting on this. Your comments are very useful. What do you think of "arrogant big talk"?

[tooironic]

Big talk is arrogant, so it would be redundant to translate it thus.

[Kenny同志]

Yes, that's right! Thanks.

[li3wei1]

Can I just clarify:

狂話 is saying something that isn't true, rather than bragging about something that is true.

狂話 is about what you can or are going to do, rather than something you've already done.

狂話 has a bit of aggression or competitiveness to it.

I'm asking rather than saying, so if you can tell me if the above are true or false, I'd understand better.

[Kenny同志]

Whether something is 狂話 or 牛皮 depends on how the listener views it.

狂話 isn’t necessarily untrue, but it may come across as being so or doubtful to the listener.

狂話 can already be a fact. For example, I can claim that I write better English than many Chinese English teachers do. Again, this can be true, but may sound otherwise and 狂妄 to the listener.

I agree with you on the third point.

To sum it all up, 狂話 is 狂妄的话; 牛皮 is something that you say exaggerating your abilities, power, background, or advantages. They put emphasis on different things yet they are hardly distinguishable sometimes. For example, the above claim in italics can be perceived as 狂話, as well as 牛皮.

總而言之，狂話是狂妄的話；牛皮是誇大個人能力、條件或優勢的話。兩者所側重者各異，但有時很難分清，例如，上文裏的斜體字之論既可視為狂話，亦可視為牛皮。

[DespikableMi]

I have rarely seen kuánghuà (狂话) in the written language, instead I have seen kuángyán (狂言) and yìyǔ (呓语) more often. In the informal spoken language, vocabulary such as "胡说、瞎扯、废话" are common. For kuángyán, there are translations such as ravings, delirious utterances, nonsense, or crazy talk. However, translating word by word does not have an exact formula because there are many possible translations depending on the context. For example, translating kuángyán to "bullsh-t" in a very informal context would be less out of place than translating it to ravings or delirious utterances.

[陳德聰]

He talks big, but he'll never go through with it.

He talks a lot of smack, but he can't back it up.

He has gotten really good at trolling lately.

I am finding it tough to separate 牛皮 and 狂話 too, but I too think that it is a fruitless effort to try to translate word-to-word.