Words used more frequently in Chinese than English

[lingo-ling]

One job of a translator is to strive to prevent the translation from sounding like it was translated. In C->E translation, directly translating words that are used much more frequently in the Chinese than in English can make the translation sound too "Chinese".

 

Here are some words that in my experience are used far more frequently in Chinese than in English:

 

相關 relevant, related, pertinent

主動 to take the initiative, to take it upon oneself, proactive(ly). (In English, instead of saying "He took the initiative to ask questions in class" we will more likely say "He asked questions in class").

創新 innovation

 

負責 to be responsible for, to be in charge of... in English, we usually just come out and say it (Instead of "He is responsible for selling widgets" we'll say "He sells widgets.")

 

And the Chinese love their linking adverbials:
此外 besides this

另外 in addition
除了 ... 之外 besides..., ...; in addition to ..., ...
不但 ... 也 not only ... but also

另一方面 often inappropriately translated as "on the other hand"

 

Any others you can think of?

[li3wei1]

Are you looking at everyday conversation, or business contexts? I think I've heard some of these things being overused in English, particularly 'proactively', 'innovation', and 'responsible for'. I don't think a business report containing lots of these words would necessarily sound Chinese. However, if a friend said "I proactively cut the grass today", or "I am responsible for cleaning out the birdcage every week" it might sound strange.

[roddy]

发展's a popular one. 

[lingo-ling]

To answer li3wei1, I'm mainly talking about written Chinese.

[Touchstone57]

而且 - Moreover. I find using the word too much in English sounds a little strange to my ears, which Chinese tend to do. I'd much more likely just use 'also' or 'in addition'

[Guest realmayo]

其实

[tooironic]

Now this is a topic I have a profound interest in.

 

Off the top of my head:

 

和諧社會、被社會淘汰、報復社會等等: I posted about these and more common "society" concepts in Chinese on my blog here.

 

帶來快樂、帶來影響、帶來壓力等等: I posted about these Chinglish and more on my blog as well, here.

 

網民: netizens; I prefer Internet users

 

必不可少: indispensable; I prefer essential

 

豐富

 

普及

 

And a million others. As it happens I am writing a book on the subject.

[Lu]

Ah yes 网民. 'Netizen' just never made it as a word in English (or Dutch). Also n, as in 第n次 and such. The other day someone (who doesn't speak Chinese) used it in English and I was a bit surprised that he wasn't surprised that I knew the term.

And in the book I'm currently translating, the various terms of endearment. The main character spends time with family friends and it's all so-and-so姐, this-and-this哥哥.

[lingo-ling]

陸續

紛紛

肯定

從........ 到最後的....

And in titles of books, articles, etc.: XX之美 It's so frequent that the translation "The Beauty of XX" is boring and trite.

[歐博思]

出去玩

 

edit: yes it was for 玩

[lingo-ling]

出去玩? I think we say "go out" quite often in English....

[anonymoose]

I guess he was refering to 玩. As in 我喜欢跟妹妹玩.

[lingo-ling]

積極

Like 她積極參與各種活動

[lingo-ling]

尤其

[lingo-ling]

Oh, and how could I forget 認真負責?? If I had a nickel for every time I saw someone describe someone as 認真負責, I would be as rich as Croesus.

[歐博思]

I hear 'netizen' quite a lot actually, and I don't work in a specialized technical field. It's just everyday usage for me.

[lingo-ling]

The Taiwanese seem to be in love with using 讓 as a causative verb. They use it over and over again.

[lingo-ling]

And let us not forget 令人印象深刻 and other permutations of 印象 and 深刻.

And why is it that Chinese journalists can't seem to use any words besides 指出 or 表示 when describing what someone is saying?