Can someone explain difference between these two idioms?

[Artie]

Hi! I am going to get a tattoo and I read a lot about not getting one because of bad translations but I picked a Chinese idiom that I really like and want to get, first one is the original idiom(from what I read on many sources) and second one is supposedly by Tang Poet which I found on some website that sells calligraphy but i am not sure which one would be better and actually mean what I want - Practice makes perfect.

1. 熟能生巧 here is link, I want it written in calligraphy or this kind of font: http://www.chinesetattootranslation.com/2013/05/22/practice-makes-perfect/

2. This is the one by a Tang Poet.

 http://www.chinesecalligraphyonsale.com/Four-Words/Chinese-calligraphy-framed-artwork-of--practice-makes-perfect-the-horizontal-one-c17975.html

 

Can someone explain the meaning of each character of the second one and advice which one is better to pick for my tattoo?

Thanks a lot!

[Artie]

Anybody?

[陳德聰]

業精於勤 <- it's read from right to left in your lovely li'l scroll there.

 

業 - 學業 "one's studies'"

精 - 精通 "proficiency"

於 - 在於 "lies in"

勤 - 勤奮 "diligence"

[Artie]

Thank you very much! Could you explain how come you wrote what each symbol means and then next to it you put down two symbols? 

Also I know it is hard to say but would the idiom make more sense or the quote that is displayed on a scroll?

Again thank you very much!

[skylee]

For meaning of each character, copy and paste them here -> http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=chardict

(1) is usually used on skills like sewing, cycling, driving, cooking, etc. (2) is used on grander things, like academic studies.

I think (1) is closer to "Practice makes perfect". IMO it is not good for a tattoo, though.

[Artie]

Skylee, thank you. I was looking for something more like #2. I want this to be inspirational tattoo for me to remind me that in order to achieve things you have to keep working and not give up and with enough work everything will happen. So I think second one would be suitable for me? I don't want people to laugh at me if someone sees it or get something that is unrelated to what I want

Thank you for that website helped a lot!

[Shelley]

I suggest you read this "sticky" post about tattoos here http://www.chinese-f...-chinese-works/

 

It is not usually a good idea to try and translate an English idea into Chinese, a lot gets lost in translation.

 

Remember it doesn't impart any kind of magic or special meaning written in Chinese characters. If you don't live in a predominantly Chinese place, no one will be able to read it and your "message to the world" will go unnoticed.

 

Pick a nice font in your own language, choose a nice colour or picture to go with it and it will look good and be understandable.

 

Even if you get an accurate translation you can't be sure the tattoo artist is skilled in writing characters (its not something you can do easily from a picture) it could be a horrible font or it could be done upside down and a whole lot more terrible mistakes.

 

The style you are asking for is very difficult to do even if you are a skilled calligrapher,

 

Go look at the website Hanzi smatters here http://hanzismatter.blogspot.co.uk/

 

As with all tattoos think before you ink and think again and again.

[skylee]

(2) is ok as a tattoo, provided that the tattoo artist (a) knows what s/he is doing (no upside down, wrong word order, mirror image, etc); and (b) does it in the traditional script and gets every stroke and the proportion right; and (c ) does it in good calligraphy or at least a nice font.

[li3wei1]

If you want a tattoo that will remind you of something, and you're afraid of people not understanding it, I suggest that the tattoo should be in your own language, which will probably also be the language of most people seeing the tattoo. Just a suggestion.

[Artie]

Thank you all for replies! I spent a lot of time researching Chinese idioms and finding a great artist who will be able to do it in that style so no worries there. I have seen many posts about wrong symbols and bad designs so I did my homework. 

I am not doing it to please other people so I don't care if they can't read it or don't think it's right. My only concerned was to get something that is what I think it is, which I confirmed. Getting in done today, thanks again everyone!

[imron]

and finding a great artist who will be able to do it in that style so no worries there

Can the artist write Chinese (e.g. on paper and not just tattoos)?  If not, there are very many worries there.  There's a very good chance strokes will be missed, proportions will be incorrect and so on.

[skylee]

Have you got it done already? Show us.