Why is the word 很 sometimes not translated?

[BanZhiYun]

在谓语形容词经常用副词 ”很“ 充当壮语，一般不表示程度，如果不用“很”，经常有比较的意思，经常表达程度副词有："真，太，最，更，比较，十分，相当，特别，非常“。

他很高。
副词“很”不表示程度。

他高。
不用“很”有比较的意思。

他特别高。
副词“特别”表示程度。

I hope you would be more academic about your opinions.

[Guest realmayo]

Really? You think it's a bad idea to ask people what they actually mean when they say something, rather than just make assumptions?

 

It's not a bad idea per se but putting your trust in native speakers' own analysis of their natural speech -- things they say without ever thinking about -- is risky. I'm a native speaker of English, I got an English degree years ago, but I've often found myself into trouble trying to explain nuances of everyday speech to foreigners. Throw into the mix that when you're talking about such nuances, your native speaker sources might struggle to explain it either in Chinese that you can understand or in English that they can produce, and it's common sense to be sceptical.

 

A: Do you want to go out?

B: I don't really want to right now.

A: When you say 'really', that's like 真的 right? I mean, you're intensifying "want", that's what "really" means?

B: Yeah sure.

A: Okay, so it's not like you're extremely keen to go out now, but you still want to quite a bit, right?

B: Uhmm...

 

 

A Chinese teacher of Chinese to Chinese people will not be teaching them how to speak everyday Chinese! So not the best source for you I'm afraid.

[BanZhiYun]

^ On top of that, a "teacher of Chinese to Chinese people" is a broad term. At least @ PKU this is the categories for all "Chinese" teachers to Chinese people:

古代文学教研室
现代文学教研室
当代文学教研室
民间文学教研室
文艺理论教研室
古代文献学教研室
古代汉语教研室
现代汉语教研室
语言学教研室
比较文学教研室
语言学实验室

In short, teaching "Chinese to Chinese people" could mean anything. If she taught grammar (现代汉语（下），现代语法研究等）that'd be a more convincing argument.

[Guest realmayo]

Obviously 99 times out of a 100 such a person will be of invaluable help but there are exceptions and that's why it's good to pay attention to how people actually speak rather than how they say they speak, what they actually mean rather than how they explain what they say they meant.

[L-F-J]

 

 

I hope you would be more academic about your opinions. 

 

Those academics who assert this phenomenon have absolutely zero evidence to support it and are just guessing, admittedly.

 

It may just be a speaking habit to use 很 often, but that doesn't mean it doesn't indeed show degree. 

 

If 很 had another usage as a dummy link without meaning, that usage would make it into the dictionary. Check Xinhua Cidian or any Chinese dictionary and see if such a usage appears. It doesn't, because there is no evidence to support it being an actual phenomenon.

[L-F-J]

 

 

Obviously 99 times out of a 100 such a person will be of invaluable help but there are exceptions and that's why it's good to pay attention to how people actually speak rather than how they say they speak, what they actually mean rather than how they explain what they say they meant.

 

And when you do that with 很 you're left with absolutely no indication of it not having any meaning, and without it you have absolutely no indication of it implying comparison unless followed by one. You would be doing nothing but making assumptions, as those scholars admit, they are just guessing without ample evidence.

 

Why would it be unreasonable or unreliable to ask someone who just said 她很漂亮 whether they really meant to show degree by it? Obviously they'd know if they meant pretty or very pretty.

[Guest realmayo]

A: Do you like my new dress?

B: Yes, you look really beautiful in it.

A: When you say 'really', do you mean to show degree?

B: Uhm, yeah sure.

 

 

10 days later

 

B: You look beautiful in that dress.

A: I hate you.

B: Why?

A: Last time I wore it you said I looked really beautiful. But now I just look beautiful. So you don't think I'm as beautiful as last time?

B: Uhmm... No that's not what I meant.

A: But I just looked up 'really' in a dictionary and it doesn't mention 'dummy linking' at all!

 

 

A: How are you?

B: Yeah I'm well thanks, how about you?

A: Oh, sorry to hear you're not as well as you were yesterday.

B: What do you mean?

A: Yesterday you said you were very well. But today you're just well. Maybe you're getting sick. Wear more clothes and drink hot water!

[BanZhiYun]

Are you aware of the diversity of Chinese dictionaries by type while giving me this advice?  What if the dummy link usage didn't appear in 现代汉语词典, but appeared in a 动词，形容词 or as in this case, 虚词词典？I am pretty sure you have never taken 中文工具书使用／中文工具书 as a subject to be going around and talking about dictionaries. Anyway, you can have your opinion, but there's still plenty of room for improvement.

[L-F-J]

Post up your links to the dictionary reference then...

[BanZhiYun]

They don't have all the dictionaries online, but If I found some online, I would gladly post it.
Side note: 很 used in a 形容词谓语句 doesn't mean "very". In other cases, 我买了很多水果，it would mean "very, a lot". Wanted to clarify to the OP.

[L-F-J]

If you find a reference for it in any hardcopy dictionary, you can cite that too, or post up a photo of the section.

[Guest realmayo]

L-F-J, I would suggest that relying on dictionary definitions will only get you so far to understanding any foreign language.

 

I think it's time to accept that you hear the Chinese language differently from how the rest of us posting here hear it, and differently from how the various Chinese and Western linguists who have published on this topic hear it. Also differently from how textbooks and Chinese teachers teach it. If those don't make you stop and think that you might be wrong, I don't see how any further remarks here could!

[L-F-J]

I don't rely on dictionary definitions, but one would think if such a basic and ubiquitous usage of one of the most common characters were real, it would find its way into all dictionaries, not just specialized 虚词 dictionaries which itself has also yet to be demonstrated.

 

Linguists can be wrong and are admittedly just guessing without any ample evidence. Did you miss that part? 只能说是一个猜想，没有给出充分的论证。If only every textbook were 100% accurate, right? 

 

I've also consulted with a 语文老师. That deals with every aspect of the language; spoken, written, modern, classical. The answer I get is that 很 expresses a heightened degree over a plain statement, and that it is not wrong to not use it and doesn't necessarily indicate contrast at all. You may find people like to use it often as a speaking habit, but that doesn't weaken or change its meaning or function.

[roddy]

I don't think anybody has said it's absence would 'necessarily indicate contrast' - I've only ever seen, eg, implication, which is quite a different thing and context dependent. Nor is it all that basic and ubiquitous - it's actually quite subtle and easily overlooked. Page 10 of this, incidentally, has your exact 今天冷 sentence marked as wrong. Which I wouldn't agree with. Also mentions comparison. And 很 as a 虚义的联系词, which sounds like a dummy linking word to me. 

 

Think we're quite far down the diminishing returns curve on this one, tbh... 

[yymmcc112233]

Look at this sentence, 他这人 is the subject，稳健 is the adjective or the predicative，then where‘s the verb？ I think they  may potentially regard 很 as a verb like 是， that’s why it isn't translated. Bay the way, this sentence may confuse many English speakers. This one is better 他是一个稳健的人， which means he is a steady person.

[Shelley]

This an extract from my text book, the bit about it being a comparison without the 很 makes sense and adds to my understanding of the way it is used.

 

One of my teachers explained it as a balance word to make the sentence flow and help it scan better.

 

 

[Altair]

Both English and Chinese have words that describe qualities that are thought of as existing on a scale.  Some examples are the words "good" 好, "small" 小, and "high/tall" 高.  In English these are adjectives, and in Chinese these are stative verbs.

 

When we use these words in English as part of a predicate in a short sentence, they always have a tense and a default meaning of having a lot of the quality described.  If you use the equivalent Chinese words as a complete predicate, they have no default tense or aspect and do not have a clear default place on the scale they describe.  They are thus quite vague in meaning.

 

When you say: "Would it be good for us to do that?," you really do usually imply that it could be good.  When you say: "我们这样做,好不好," you are just asking if something is okay to do, not whether it really would be a good thing to do, even thought "good" and 好 are usually though of as equivalents.

 

Notice that when you say something is "an inch too small," you actually are not saying that the thing really is small. It is just too small for your current purposes or under your current standard.  To remove the default meaning of "small to a great degree," you typically have to use a word like "too" in English. To say this in Chinese, you don't need to use the equivalent of "too" to remove the default meaning.  You can just say: 小了一寸, which more literally means: "small to the extent of one inch."

 

A phrase like 天黑了 can mean "it is getting dark" (also, of course, "it has gotten dark") even without any kind of particle indicating a progression or process.  The phrase 天黑 by itself can refer equally to being or getting dark, and there is no default meaning of "dark to a great degree."  This again is unlike English.

 

For all these reasons, it is normal in Chinese to use 很 before a stative verb indicating a scale if there is no other word to clarify what is being talked about.  If the word is used simply to contrast with some other standard, then 很 is not used.  This means that saying something like 他高 means something more like "he's the tall one" than "he is tall."  Just saying "he's the tall one" is vague about whether the  person referred to actually is tall by normal standards.  Since this is usually not what we want to say, 他很高 is more common than 他高 as a stand-alone phrase.