膨胀得厉害

[Lu]

Another translation question. The main character and her mom have moved in with her aunt. The main character descibes her uncle. I'm just going to quote the whole paragraph, that gives all the context. This is the first we really learn about this uncle and if I recall correctly, he doesn't play much of a role further on.

 

姨夫倒是很喜欢有我妈妈陪着姨妈，这样他就自由了，从外面应酬到很晚也没有人管。他在一个国企做厂长，管着上百号的人，脾气很暴躁，心情不好的时候也会对我妈妈发火。喝点酒话就讲得很难听，说没有他我们都会饿死在大街上。那几年企业效益好，他膨胀得很厉害，性格变得越发张狂。在外面养了个女人，后来被姨妈知道，他就彻底不回家了。姨妈气得跳脚，但也拿他没办法，毕竟这一大家子人都要靠他来养。

 

What I don't really get: what does 他膨胀得很厉害 mean here? I don't suppose he gets fat, I guess perhaps it's his ego that inflates? Can anyone confirm?

[jannesan]

16 minutes ago, Lu said:

I guess perhaps it's his ego that inflates

 

That’s right, my girlfriend tells me it’s a common way of saying this. Not sure how to smoothly express it in English though.

[roddy]

You can talk about someone becoming puffed up. Over-inflated egos also a possibility. 

[Lu]

Thank you both! That solves it.

[Woodford]

I really enjoy learning from these examples!

As I was reading the passage, I thought about how this person bragged that his family needs him (说没有他我们都会饿死在大街上), how he's doing well in his business (那几年企业效益好), and how he became more insolent/arrogant/brash (性格变得越发张狂). So when I see 膨胀得很厉害, I can guess that this person is really proud and arrogant about his success. That concept seems to fit the context well.

[Jim]

"Full of yourself" would work too: Those were years when the enterprise was doing really well which made him especially full of himself.

[Dawei3]

On 3/25/2021 at 3:05 PM, Lu said:

I guess perhaps it's his ego that inflates? C

Does "ego" translate comfortably into Chinese?  The reason I ask is that commonly my Chinese friends don't know the word "ego," even ones with strong English skills.  

 

The book "Anatomy of Chinese" explores how for certain concepts, the Chinese language prefers to use verbs to describe them whereas English uses nouns.  That English tends to use "nominalization" in which nouns are created for "things" that might or might not exist.  It's hard to give concise examples, but 2 he gives are "inflation" and "connectivity" are nouns in English of things that don't really exist.  He doesn't offer "ego" as an example, but it fits with his thinking.  Pleco gives 自尊 (a verb) and 自我 (a noun) as translations for ego.  Are either of these words commonly used in Chinese for ego?  Does Chinese talk about "ego" as a "thing"?

 

(I can't think of "ego" as a verb....)

 

The author notes that in the 20th century, some Western concepts have come into Chinese such that now they use nouns to describe them.  

[889]

If you want something more literal, you can work "fathead" in.

[艾墨本]

Don’t know how literally you want to be translating but:

 

head swelled with self love

Puffed him up no small amount 

Filled his head with a sense of greatness

 

and you could also play with how those fit together. Hopefully also just sparks some ideas of possible ways to get it across.

 

[roddy]

We’re all assuming this is getting translated into English, of course. 

[Lu]

56 minutes ago, roddy said:

We’re all assuming this is getting translated into English, of course.

Yes, I should have mentioned I'm translating into Dutch. But all the advise has been very helpful and inspiring! I'll come up with something good.