好不好 - what's your best translation?

[Christa]

A friend of mine asked me for a translation of "好不好?" but, after I gave her one, she kept using it wrongly.

 

Any idea of the best way to translate it? 

I'm thinking in particular about when you put it at the end of a sentence to check agreement. What is the closest English equivalent? 

 

"Okay?" / "Is that okay?" / "Is that alright?" / "Would that be alright with you?"

 

What best captures its essence when it's put on the end of a sentence to check if someone agrees with an idea?

 

Any thoughts?

[Shelley]

I was taught to use ba 吧 

 

Use it at the end of a sentence to indicate a suggestion or to get consent or agreement.

 

The reply is hao ba 好吧 or bu hao 不好

 

 

[Flickserve]

1 hour ago, Christa said:

"Is that okay?" / "Is that alright?"

 

Either one of these two...

[DavyJonesLocker]

As above. 

好吧 And 好不好/好吗 wouldn't be the same though. 

[Kathy Lu]

Is that okay? or Is that alright?  这样可以吗？or 这样行吗？ 

[Christa]

So, just to check everyone understood my question.

 

Am I right in thinking that the option of everyone here is that a good translation for 好不好 at the end of a sentence would be: "Is that okay?" / "Is that alright?"

 

Is that correct?

[Shelley]

When you think of the individual meaning of the words that can give you a good idea of the overall meaning.

 

hǎo bu hǎo   好不好 - good, not good.

 

It follows the chinese question form of the positive and the negative to give you a choice.

 

This helps to explain it https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Affirmative-negative_question

[Publius]

I used "what do you say" once.

The answer I got was "what does the fox say."

[abcdefg]

16 hours ago, Christa said:

"Okay?" / "Is that okay?" / "Is that alright?" / "Would that be alright with you?"

 

All of those look fine to me. 

 

2 hours ago, Christa said:

Am I right in thinking that the option of everyone here is that a good translation for 好不好 at the end of a sentence would be: "Is that okay?" / "Is that alright?"

 

Correct, in my opinion.

[Christa]

3 hours ago, abcdefg said:

All of those look fine to me. 

 

Thanks for that. I thought so too.

 

My friend used it in really weird ways though.

[Shelley]

1 hour ago, Christa said:

My friend used it in really weird ways though.

 

I am intrigued as to what weird ways.

 

[陳德聰]

“How does that sound?” was the first thing that came to mind but I think the crux is that it is often just a mild way to ask how the other person feels about the suggestion, generally implying you are looking for or expecting the positive answer.

 

Does your friend say it after commands? That’s not weird though...

 

不要醬子好不好

“Could you, like, not?”

[889]

Cudja stop with it, OK?

[Christa]

On 20/01/2018 at 6:08 PM, Shelley said:

I am intrigued as to what weird ways.

 

16 hours ago, 陳德聰 said:

 

Does your friend say it after commands? That’s not weird though...

 

It was things like: 他们想去电影院，但是 我不想去。 好不好？

 

So, in English, based on the translation I'd given her, it seemed to her like it should be alright: "They want to go and see a movie but I don't wanna go. Is that okay?" 

 

My translation really wasn't a safe thing to give to her...

[陳德聰]

I think just “okay?” is pretty fine.