Dinner is served

[Pleasehelp123]

Dear internet.

What is «Dinner is served» in chinese?

thanks u

[abcdefg]

The best way to say this will depend on context. It's also something that can be said in several ways.

 

In an informal or home setting, one common way would be to say: 上菜。

[889]

It's a bit formal, perhaps, but I'm always pleased to hear 请用膳.

[vellocet]

吃饭！

 

chīfàn, literally eat food, it's what you say at the beginning of a meal if people are unsure when to start or are dithering about starting.  It unambiguously states that the meal has started and people should get things rolling.  

[Tomsima]

吃飯了 usually shouted very loudly 

[889]

Problem is, "Dinner is served,"  has sort of a Downton Abbey sound to it these days, and there aren't that many grand manor houses left in China. So you're getting the equivalents of:

 

Chow's on!

Come 'n git it!

Dig right in!

[NinjaTurtle]

PH,

 

For a long time I was trying to find the best translation for  “serve stir-fry to your family”. (One of the things I have my students do is explain how to make stir-fry.) The translation I came up with was 给你 (Here you go.) But it just didn’t seem right. After a great deal of back-and-forth and ‘negotiating’ with my students, we finally decided on this:

 

Serve the bowls of stir-fry to your family.    把碗里爆炒的菜给大家。   Bǎ wǎn lǐ bàochǎo de cài gěi dàjiā.

 

(I’ll be curious what everyone has to say about this.)

 

[889]

给大家炒菜吃。

 

做炒菜给大家吃。

[NinjaTurtle]

Thanks!

[Shelley]

@Pleasehelp123 What is the context here?

 

Do want to actually announce dinner is ready? Or is this for a tattoo?

 

If this is for a tattoo then I would suggest not doing it.

 

As you can see there is a wide choice of translations depending on where you are using it, why you are using it and to whom.

 

Just have it done in your own language in a nice font then there will be no misunderstanding or people constantly asking what it means and asking why.

[889]

That never occurred to me. If so, scratch all my comments. (I just assumed he was say working in a Fawlty Towers sort of place and wanted to be able to call Chinese guests to meals in their own language.)

[abcdefg]

6 hours ago, NinjaTurtle said:

Serve the bowls of stir-fry to your family.    把碗里爆炒的菜给大家。   Bǎ wǎn lǐ bàochǎo de cài gěi dàjiā.

(I’ll be curious what everyone has to say about this.)

 

Apart from the versions @889 gave above (with which I agree) I would suggest that 爆炒 is not the sort of "everyday" term one would use at home informally. It's more of a "cookbook" term, useful when one is trying to be very precise and specific. Sort of "technical lingo." Wouldn't ordinarily find it on a menu.

[NinjaTurtle]

 

24 minutes ago, abcdefg said:

Wouldn't ordinarily find it on a menu.

 

How do you say stir-fry in conversational Chinese? How would you say, "Mom is making stir-fry for dinner"? Is "hotpot" more conversational? (But hotpot is not the same thing, right?)

 

(West Texas will get hit with a pretty good cold front in the next 24 hours. First significant cold front of the season.)

[dtcamero]

菜弄好了！

[Jim]

开饭咯！is another.

[abcdefg]

10 hours ago, NinjaTurtle said:

How would you say, "Mom is making stir-fry for dinner"?

 

You wouldn't ordinarily say that. It sounds unnatural. Cannot really translate activities straight from English to Chinese. Would have to change it up. It would need to be "stir-fried this" or "stir-fried that." You might say she is making stir-fried green pepper beef tonight. 她今晚做青椒炒牛肉。

 

Hot pot is entirely different from a stir-fry. It is meat and vegetables that one cooks in a soup base at the table. 火锅。Let's have hotpot tonight, OK? 我们今晚吃火锅, 好不好？It might be specific or not. Maybe 野生菌火锅 or 牛肉火锅。

 

I'd better shut up now. My ignorance is showing. I don't want to pretend I'm a native speaker when I'm not. Best not to spend too much energy and time sweating the small stuff. Let these little things just smooth out and evolve over time, ...or not. Doesn't matter much. I'll never be DaShan. If people can understand me without saying "What?" too many times, that's enough. 

 

------------- 

West Texas can sure get cold when a norther blows through. People who haven't been there would never believe it. 

 

[DavyJonesLocker]

17 minutes ago, abcdefg said:

Best not to spend too much energy and time sweating the small stuff. Let these little things just smooth out and evolve over time,

 

Agree, these type of things are hard to "study" . You just need to learn by exposure, not question it and just copy everyone else. 

 

It's easy to get caught into the trap of taking a very ordinary English phrase

, translating and assuming it is common in Chinese. E.g excuse me  = 劳驾 

I don't I ever heard that used nor seen it written outside a beginner text book

[889]

No place around to eat except a hotpot restaurant. I don't like hotpot. Well, maybe they have some other stuff, they sometimes do. Let's go in and ask.

 

你好! 你们这儿还有炒菜吗？

对不起，没有炒菜只有火锅。

[Shelley]

Stir fry is not the name of a dish it is a method of cooking.

 

I would never say we are having stir fry for dinner. its as odd as say we are having boil for dinner.

 

Most meals have a name descriptive of the contents so chicken and mixed peppers or beef and mushrooms in a creamy sauce on rice. 

[889]

But stir-fry as a noun isn't rare in English. Even at the BBC:

 

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/videos/techniques/how-make-stir-fry

 

Whip up a stir-fry for dinner? Why not?

 

See also, "We had (a) chicken stir-fry for dinner last night" :

 

http://www.learnersdictionary.com/definition/stir–fry