Accurate translation of "apparently" in Chinese?

[tooironic]

How do you accurately translate "apparently" into Chinese?

It seems Chinese-English dictionaries and Chinese speakers of English alike seem to be under the impression that "apparently" means the same thing as "obviously". So they translate both as 明显（地） or 显然.

But any native speaker of English knows that can't be right. While "obviously" means "clearly" or "easily understood", "apparently" means "it seems" or "as far as one knows or can see". In other words, you use "apparently" when you think you know what's going on, and "obviously" when you are very confident that you know what's going on.

With that mind, is there any equivalent for "apparently" in Chinese?

Or perhaps you disagree with my conclusions. I'd be happy to hear any other views on this. Thanks.

[semantic nuance]

Here's the usage of 'apparent' quoted from the free dictionary:

 

 

 

Usage Note: Used before a noun, apparent means "seeming": For all his apparent wealth, Pat had no money to pay the rent. Used after a form of the verb be, however, apparent can mean either "seeming" (as in His virtues are only apparent) or "obvious" (as in The effects of the drought are apparent to anyone who sees the parched fields). One should take care that the intended meaning is clear from the context.

 

From this usage note, it seems that sometimes 'apparent' can mean 'obvious'. I am not native speaker of English, so I just post what I read. Maybe native speakers of English can shed a light upon it.

[renzhe]

There is a difference between "apparent" and "apparently", though. The latter implies that something appears to be true.

tooironic, how about something based on 看起来?

[Guest realmayo]

似乎

据说

[tooironic]

Indeed. "Apparent" is different to "apparently".

Wiktionary does a good job splitting the senses of "apparently". It gives three senses with different Chinese translations:

1) Plainly; clearly; manifestly; evidently. Translated as 明明；显然.

2) Seemingly; in appearance only. Translated as 看来；似乎.

3) According to what the speaker has read or been told. Translated as 据说.

In my experience, senses #2 and #3 are more common in modern English. If a native speaker wants to mean the first sense, s/he'll probably use the word "clearly" or "evidently" (or "obviously").

[Guest realmayo]

2 out of 3 ain't bad

[Demonic_Duck]

I'm so glad you made this thread! I was wondering the same thing a while back, for meanings 2 and 3 of the Wikipedia entry. I tried to explain it to multiple Chinese people and they all just kept on insisting that it should be 明显地, despite my protestations to the contrary.

 

One other thing about meanings 2 and 3 is that they're both commonly used with an air of sarcasm about them, e.g. "apparently it was too much trouble for him to come", or "apparently the dog ate it". Can 看来/似乎/好像 or 据说 be used like this? If so, how would one mark that the exclamation was 讽刺?

[Allen Zhang]

I refered to Cambridge Dictionaries Online, it also gave 3 definitions:

 

1. used to say you have read or been told something although you are not certain it is true: translated as 据说，听说
Apparently it's going to rain today.
Apparently he's had enough of England and is going back to Australia.

 

2.used when the real situation is different from what you thought it was: translated as事实上却是
You know I told you Alice's party was on the 13th? Well I saw her last night and apparently it's on the 14th.
She looks about ten but apparently she's 14.
I thought they were married but apparently not (= they are not married). 

 

3.used to say that something seems to be true, although it is not certain: translated as似乎，看起来
An 80-year-old woman was badly hurt in what the police describe as an apparently motiveless attack (= an attack with no obvious purpose).
 

[roddy]

Tooironic, is that actually a good job? Isn't the 1st one

"1) Plainly; clearly; manifestly; evidently. Translated as 明明；显然"

Actually a definition of apparent? If someone says "This is apparently the plan" they're not saying this is clearly the plan, they're saying something along the lines that this is, to the best of their knowledge but not definitively, the plan.

 

Or am I getting confused myself?

[Michaelyus]

Sense #1 of "apparently" is not common in modern English, having been replaced by "evidently" or "obviously", as tooironic has pointed out.

[li3wei1]

In the modern spoken English I'm hearing in England, "obviously" means almost nothing at all, and is used as an alternative to "um".

[Guest realmayo]

I think it's often used as a softener (this statement isn't anything special, I'm not making big claims) or consensus-builder (as we know).

 

Speaking of which, is there a Chinese word that Chinese students have in mind when they start an essay "As we know, ... [Westerners are very open etc]"?

[roddy]

Michael - is it used at all? Where? I'd see it as plain wrong, and the fact that neither of my style guides cover it make me think it isn't even being used wrongly that often. I'd delete sense 1), or if it was used historically (was it) add a note to that effect.

[Michaelyus]

Indeed, although it is historical. 

 

From the OED:

 

1651   T. Hobbes Philos. Rudim. xvi. §11. 273   The Prophets..who saw not God apparently like unto Moyses.

1852   H. Rogers Eclipse of Faith 138   The malady, which is but too apparent, is also as apparently without a remedy. 

 

Also, Numbers XII.8 in the Authorised Version:

[8] With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?

 

For what it's worth, I certainly haven't heard this sense in contemporary spoken British English nor professional non-quoted contemporary English of any sort.

[Guest realmayo]

definition #1 is not just uncommon in contemporary British English, it's blatantly incorrect, so yes Wiktionary is misleading by not pointing that out. 

[Michaelyus]

 

 

Speaking of which, is there a Chinese word that Chinese students have in mind when they start an essay "As we know, ... [Westerners are very open etc]"?

 

Apart from 大家知道, which I use a little more frequently in my spoken Chinese than "as we all know" in English, there's 众所周知.

[Pingfa]

I noticed this too, it seems 'apparently' in this context is most always translated wrongly in Chinese. Recently I was playing a game in which the English voice actor replied to something sarcastically "apparently you're not a coffee drinker", the Chinese subtitles said 你明明不喝咖啡。I'm thinking 你不喝咖啡吧 would suffice.

 

As Demonic Duck said, 'apparently' is very often sarcastic, and the usual Chinese translation of it doesn't express this. Using 明显 for  "apparently it was too much trouble for him to come", or "apparently the dog ate it" conveys the opposite of what one wants to express.

I find this to be a common issue with English-Chinese translation in general, they are often too literal to the point that they convey the opposite of what was intended.

[tooironic]

An interesting example there Pingfa, thanks for sharing.

 

Roddy, Wiktionary aims to cover every sense of a word, even including ones that are not used in modern times anymore. In this way it is a descriptive dictionary, rather than a prescriptive one. Sometimes "archaic" tags are added if editors can remember to do so, but I guess in this case they haven't.

[Nathan Mao]

I would use 好像 for "apparently" in many cases. Maybe even most cases, but I haven't taken the time to think through multiple scenarios.