文艺青年 in English?

[tooironic]

Are there any equivalent translations for 文艺青年 in English?

I've seen it translated as "dilettante", a word which I must admit I had never heard of previously. OED defines it as: "a person who cultivates an area of interest, such as the arts, without real commitment or knowledge."

Does that come close to the real meaning of 文艺青年 though? Even if it did, I would hesitate to use such an uncommon word in English.

I've also heard the translations "artsy youth" and "pretentious youth".

Some have even translated it as "the indie scene" or "hipsters", but I think that's not exactly the same concept. It's like when you show a photo of a goth (a person of the sub-culture, not tribe) to a Chinese person, and they call him/her 非主流. Similar concept, sure, but not exactly the same.

[Ruben von Zwack]

I guess it depends on the context. In art context, dilettantism has indeed been trendy in the past few years. Like, someone studied drawing at the academy for years, but draws like (assumingly) a child or someone who holds a pencil for the first time would. And indeed it's sort of indie-hipsters - like, person with oversize glasses etc. - who cultivate that style of drawing (and painting and making assemblies).

I don't know if there is a connection but t reminds me of the way lots of young Chinese women, mainland and Taiwan, handwrite these days. It looks like they never had a writing training in school, or like when a right-handed person is trying to write with the left hand, but it's deliberate.

I had no idea it's not a common word in English, but in a lot of European languages like German and French, "dilettante" is an everyday word.

[roddy]

It is a common word in English - I mean, it's not top ten, but...

[gato]

A young person who's into the arts? A young art lover?

There is no single phrase for it in English.

[Guest realmayo]

Artsy?

[mtpastille]

I don't consider dilettante a rare word either, I've probably even used it myself a couple of times. The way I see it, dilettante means something like a dabbler, an amateur, someone who's interested in a field and perhaps more skilled in it than the layman, but who would never do it for pay.

The problem is that it's a Chinese social phenomenon that probably doesn't have a perfect equivalent in western cultures, and so there is no word that will do exactly what you want it to. Where I live, if you watch movies other than the blockbusters, wear skinny jeans, and listen to pop music that's not played on the radio, you're called indie if it's a compliment, or hipster if it's an insult. I think one of those is the best translation.

[gato]

Artsy or artsy-fartsy depending on if it's a compliment or insult.

[Lu]

The problem is that it's a Chinese social phenomenon that probably doesn't have a perfect equivalent in western cultures, and so there is no word that will do exactly what you want it to.

This is, I think, the answer (and the problem), and not only for this specific word. Sometimes the phenomenon becomes sufficiently well-known abroad that a translation for it is found, sometimes you pick a translation and use it consistently so that at least people who know what you're talking about recognise it, but often you just have to describe it or translate it as it fits the context.

And the other way around as well. Sometimes there are people here who ask how you say hipster/goth/stay calm and carry on/yes we can in Chinese, and the simple truth is that there is usually not one word for it and you have to make do.

This is also why learning languages is so great: you get not just more words to say the same thing, but also some extra words for things you couldn't say before.

[tooironic]

Exactly. And sometimes the question is more important than the answer. I love these kind of discussions. I've just posted asking about the translation of 跳槽, do take a look.

[Ruben von Zwack]

Can I ask, out of personal curiosity, what people or which phenomenon you (or the author, if it wasn't your text) were describing in that text you are translating?

[tooironic]

I didn't come across 文艺青年 in my translation work, it's a word that I just know in the language, and was interested if there happened to be an English equivalent for it. Same goes for 跳槽. Unfortunately the terms found in most professional translation work are nowhere near as interesting as these.

[Guest realmayo]

In that case, what's the most boring and tricky-to-translate term you've come across C->E translating...?

[Lu]

For me, that's 具体. Another one is 人道主义. For English, this is simply 'humanitarianism', but in Dutch that word doesn't really exist so I had to work around it.

[tooironic]

To be honest, if they're that laborious to translate I'll invariably forget them, as most likely I'll never encounter them again. A lot of the documents you're asked to translate in real-life are horribly written. Quite often the parts I don't understand native speakers don't get either. That's what high-level translation work is usually like. Sometimes you feel as if the author has decided to be obtuse on purpose. Either way, the difficulties that come with the job are more related to logic, phrasing, technical terms, etc. than interesting words per se. But if anything comes to mind I'll be sure to post here (as I usually do).

[szcube]

bascially, 文艺青年 is a indifferent or positive word...but 非主流 is compeletly negative..非主流 regard themselves as a very unique and superior group somehow..actually people think they are very naive...I suddenly find a term equilavent o 文艺青年 which is petty bourgeois..

[tooironic]

I assume you mean "petite bourgeoisie"? Isn't that 小资产阶级?

[gato]

Petty bourgeois is the adjective form of petite bourgeoisie.

It's used today in mainland China to mean something completely different from its original usage under Marxism, of course. Its meaning is close to "chichi" (which is another originally French word that's commonly used in English, at least in the US).

[szcube]

N

nowadays ,young people like to share their life with strangers online.Those who are regarded as a group of people who know how to enjoy life is defined as 文艺青年.it's a only a funny way to say so...People often compare it with 2B 青年（silly youngster），普通青年（ordinary youngsters）..hope that will help u..If u have any question.just ask me

[Demonic_Duck]

but 非主流 is compeletly negative..非主流 regard themselves as a very unique and superior group somehow..actually people think they are very naive...

Really? I never realised this. What is an equivalent word to 非主流 that does not carry the negative implication? If I want to say "alternative" or "non-mainstream" regarding music, fashion etc., how should I translate it? Is 亚文化 usable in some way here?

[szcube]

I think you should use the word 小众 .

for example ,小众音乐 means some music is only appreciated by a small group of people.

Now a lot of chinese pharases are redefined by the Internet culture like 非主流.So don't understand it literally