TomRodgers62 Posted February 4, 2015 at 03:08 AM Report Posted February 4, 2015 at 03:08 AM Hello everyone,I'm trying to translate the following sentence in English, but I'm not sure what words to use for "flake" or "bite" in Chinese. What would be a good idea?"The snow had started to flake and the frost began to bite."雪已经开始____ 和霜冻开始_____For "flake", I get words like 剥落, which isn't accurate at all. Although 结晶 seems too scientific for the phrase. I'm wondering if 花 would fit - but can it be used as a verb?I'm wondering the same thing for "bite" - because it's not the physical action of "biting" that's being done with frostbite.Thoughts? Quote
Demonic_Duck Posted February 4, 2015 at 09:57 AM Report Posted February 4, 2015 at 09:57 AM To be honest, I have no idea what “the snow had started to flake” means. Does it mean snowflakes had started to fall? Quote
maomao2014 Posted February 4, 2015 at 01:22 PM Report Posted February 4, 2015 at 01:22 PM "The snow had started to flake and the frost began to bite."could you use plain words to explain the sentence? Does it mean it starts to snow and covers with frost? Could you give the whole paragraph? Maybe it is not necessary to do the word for word translation 1 Quote
Demonic_Duck Posted February 4, 2015 at 01:54 PM Report Posted February 4, 2015 at 01:54 PM Yeah actually, now I think about it, "the frost began to bite" doesn't really collocate well either (normally it would be "the cold began to bite"). Maybe the writer is making puns out of "snowflake" and "frostbite"? In which case, it's really a nonsense sentence, designed more to evoke a mood than to convey a specific situation. 3 Quote
TomRodgers62 Posted February 4, 2015 at 06:35 PM Author Report Posted February 4, 2015 at 06:35 PM Yes, it is in the context of a children's book and so it is more of a play on words with "snowflake" and "frostbite" as Demonic_Duck suggests. With this goal in mind, are there any words in Chinese that carry similar meaning and could be split up in order to create the same mood of nonsense? I thought 花 would work as saying "The snow began to bloom" might be as nonsensical - but it takes inspiration from 雪花? Quote
edelweis Posted February 5, 2015 at 04:04 AM Report Posted February 5, 2015 at 04:04 AM Assuming you find words to fill in the blanks, I am perplexed about the use of 和 here. Shouldn't you use 并且 or 也 instead? Quote
maomao2014 Posted February 5, 2015 at 11:37 AM Report Posted February 5, 2015 at 11:37 AM 雪花开了，寒霜冻了 how do you think? 1 Quote
Demonic_Duck Posted February 6, 2015 at 12:04 PM Report Posted February 6, 2015 at 12:04 PM ^ I like it, although I don't think “霜冻” refers to frostbite, doesn't it refer to frost damage of plants? Quote
maomao2014 Posted February 6, 2015 at 03:17 PM Report Posted February 6, 2015 at 03:17 PM 寒霜is one word means frost, 冻 is a verb here, means froze 1 Quote
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