Need help with a birthday message for my mum

[milhouse]

It's my mum's birthday in a few days, and unfortunately I'm not fluent enough in Chinese to write an eloquent card for her. I've written out what I want to say in English, but would love a translation in Traditional Chinese so she can understand what I wrote.

 

I've tried to write out some parts with the help of Google translate, but my Chinese is really really bad, so it's really pathetic...

Anyway, here is what I would like to say:

 

Dear Mum,

媽媽,

 

Thank you for all the care and support you have given me every day of my life.

謝謝你所有給我的關心和支持....

I’m sorry for all the trouble I have caused you over the years, thank you for always forgiving me regardless of how thoughtless I could be.

對不起..., 謝謝你總是原...

I know that it isn’t easy being a mum, and I hope that you know how much your love means to not only me, but our whole family.

我知道...母親不容易... 我希望你知道

You are the glue that keeps the family together, and without you I’m not sure how any of us would be able to function.

 

Happy 57^th Birthday, I hope that you have a wonderful day.

祝你57歲生日快樂. 我希望你有一個美好的一天。

 

From your loving daughter,

(name).

 

 

I'm unsure about the last part. When writing a letter to your parents is it better to sign off with your full name, or just refer to youtself as daughter?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

 

[浅浅兔]

亲爱的妈妈：

谢谢您在我的生命里对我的支持和关心。

很抱歉，这些年我给您带来了很多烦恼，而您总是原谅我。

我知道作为一个母亲并不容易，我希望您知道您的爱不仅仅是对我，还包括我们整个家庭。

您是家中的调和剂，没有您我们家中的每个人都不能发挥作用。

祝您57岁生日快乐！我希望您拥有美好的一天。

您亲爱的女儿：name

 

sorry my poor translate I hope I can help you.

[Lu]

浅浅兔's translation looks good, although I think s/he misunderstood a few sentences in the English.

I think 我希望您知道您的爱不仅仅是对我，还包括我们整个家庭 should perhaps be more like 希望您知道您的爱对我，也对我们整个家族有多么的重要。

And for 没有您我们家中的每个人都不能发挥作用。 I would perhaps use something like ...每个人真过不了日子。

我希望您拥有美好的一天。 sounds rather like translatese to me, doesn't this read like 'that you own a wonderful day'? I think the OP intends his mom to 过 or perhaps 享受 a good day.

Do wait for confirmation from a native speaker, because my translations have problems as well.

[milhouse]

Hello, thanks a lot to the both of you! I'm so glad I don't have to google translate the whole thing, lol.

I have used 浅浅兔's translation as the template with the suggestions from Lu.

 

 

As Lu stated though should, should I leave the "我希望你有一個美好的一天。" or would it be better to change it?

[milhouse]

Sorry for the double post, I can't seem to find an edit button.

 

It sounds pretty natural in English to add "I love you!" so that it's "Happy 57^th Birthday! I love you! I hope that you have a wonderful day," but would that be strange in Chinese to add it?

Especially given that I have already signed off with "您亲爱的女儿:"

[Lu]

Perhaps consider 祝你美好的一天 'I wish you a wonderful day'. But if you can, do wait for confirmation from a native speaker.

[fanglu]

Also, note that none of those are in traditional characters. You can convert at http://www.chinese-tools.com/tools/converter-simptrad.html

[浅浅兔]

I‘m a Chinese..I just translated what you said..and...my poor English..just can do that..

 

And yes,the 3 and 4 lines was confused me a little.

 

If I write to my mon,I won't say," I hope that you have a wonderful day.",I will say"祝您万事如意！长命百岁！”   

We often use like"身体健康，万事如意，心想事成”and so on to wish people.“长命百岁”“福如东海，寿比南山” wish older people birthday.

[Shelley]

@ milhouse edit button is available if you use the full editor available from the "more reply options" button at the bottom right of the reply box.

[Su Haifeng]

Dear Mum,

親愛的媽媽,

 

Thank you for all the care and support you have given me every day of my life.

感謝您在每天的生活中對我的支持和關心

I’m sorry for all the trouble I have caused you over the years, thank you for always forgiving me regardless of how thoughtless I could be.

抱歉這些年來給您添了那麼多麻煩。不管我多麼無知，您總是一如既往地原諒我，非常感謝！

I know that it isn’t easy being a mum, and I hope that you know how much your love means to not only me, but our whole family.

我深知，做母親很不容易。女兒希望您知道您的愛對我和我們的整個家庭是多麼重要！

You are the glue that keeps the family together, and without you I’m not sure how any of us would be able to function.

您是整個家庭的調和劑，沒有您，我們不知道應該如何生活下去。

Happy 57^th Birthday, I hope that you have a wonderful day.

祝您57歲生日快樂！祝您過得開心！

 

From your loving daughter,

深愛著您的女兒

(name).

[milhouse]

Thanks for all the advice, links, and translations! Very happy to be able to give my mum a card she understand for the first time.

I'm planning on studying abroad in China next year, so I'll definitely frequent here to improve my Chinese (long overdue).

 

Thanks again for all the help!