知心朋友

[rockytriton]

I'm trying to figure out what a good translation of this is (知心朋友). Babelfish says "Intimate friend", is this correct? I'm wondering if it means more like "a good friend" in english or more like "a lover".

Thanks!

[skylee]

A good friend, a friend who knows your heart.

[rockytriton]

thanks

[xiaoxiajenny]

知心朋友 is your close friend or your dearest friend, how know you very well. It can be one or more.

Try www.adsotrans.com next time if you are not sure what the Chinese characters mean in English. I personally think Babelfish is not good enough.

Cheers and good luck,

--Jenny

[rockytriton]

Thanks for the link, but when I enter the text "知心朋友" and hit "Adsolate", it just gives me a page that echos the same text back "知心朋友", nothing else.

EDIT: Sorry, after viewing the source of the page, I saw some javascript to tell you the meaning when you mouse over. Thanks again!

[xiaoxiajenny]

Here it is: http://www.adsotrans.com/adso/uniedit.pl?show_definition=&show_code=&search_pinyin=&search_flag=&search_english=&word=%D6%AA%D0%C4%C5%F3%D3%D1&word2=%D6%AA%D0%C4%C5%F3%D3%D1&show_pinyin=yes&show_english=yes&show_flag=yes&show_source=&show_examples=&table_pkey=136559&field=pinyin&existing_value=&text=zhi1xin1peng2you3

[xuechengfeng]

Can someone explain why there is no need for 的?

When is it proper to omit? I typically have learned something like:

很好的朋友

[Wukong]

to XUECHENGFENG：

People say 好朋友，很好的朋友，but they don't say 很好朋友。 There is a rule here. If you want to use an degree adverb before the adj in such a structure, remember to add “的“ in between.

The same is true with 知心朋友，很知心的朋友，非常知心的朋友。

[xuechengfeng]

ahh I c, so words that have 相當﹐很﹐真﹐非常 and the like all need a 的

thanks!

[koemoe18]

what do you think about "bosom friend" = 知己，契友

[xiaoxiajenny]

A bosom friend afar brings a distant land near.

海内存知己,天涯若比邻

[florazheng]

知心朋友=second self

the one in whom you confide in, share your happiness and sadness etc.

[Tsunku]

How about the word "confidant"? The word in English means a friend to whom you can tell anything, someone who knows all your secrets. Not quite an exact translation, but somewhat close.

[skylee]

知己、密友、心腹、親信