I need help with a tattoo!

[daryane tjuk]

Hey guys! 

 

I want to get a tattoo for my birthday. 

I need Chinese mandarin translations for a few potential quotes. 

Can someone please help me? 

 

quotes:

1. never let your fear decide your fate. 

2. It’s time to write a new story.

3. Your only limit is you. 

4. Turn the pain into power. 

5. Be stronger then your excuses. 

 

 

 

[Jim]

It's not usually a great idea to get a tattoo in Chinese if you don't understand it yourself and strikes me as particularly daft to have a list of phrases that seem pithy in English but won't necessarily work in Chinese, either linguistically or culturally. If you really want your tattoo to be Chinese I think you'd be better off looking at the vast canon of aphorisms etc. that are natively Chinese and choosing one you like.

[mungouk]

If you want to find some of these aphorisms, try googling "Chengyu" or "Chinese idioms".  There are whole books full of them.

 

[Demonic_Duck]

Weirdly I can't think of any Chinese phrases that come close to capturing the meaning of any of these. I think it's because the sinosphere doesn't really have the same brand of toxic positivity as the anglosphere. Chinese toxic positivity is more about 正能量 and 奋斗ing 积极向上ing rather than fighting through the pain, lol.

 

Edit: actually I guess 奋斗ing has some of that same aesthetic, and there's a couple of phrases with that, e.g. 奋斗不懈, striving without rest. But things like "It’s time to write a new story" or "Your only limit is you" are far too individualistic.

[daryane tjuk]

What all of you said makes sense.. 

Do you guys have a site or something reliable where I can find quotes that kinda match the same vibe I wanna go with? 

I really want my tattoo in Chinese because I am half Chinese and I want something different but something that is apart of me. It would be boring to get a quote in English.

 

Thank you all for the replies! 

[lifeinlondon]

1. never let your fear decide your fate. 

不向恐惧低头

2. It’s time to write a new story.

书写新篇章之际

3. Your only limit is you. 

超越自我

4. Turn the pain into power. 

化悲痛为力量

5. Be stronger then your excuses

永不放弃

 

Personally I would suggest No3 or No5 as tatoos. 

Typical problems with Chinese tatoos I have seen so far:

1) Bad meaning or form,   ideally it should be an idiom or poem etc

2) Meaning is alright, but the writing is wrong, missing a bit of the character or add some extra

3)Awful handwriting, even they succeed on the first two points, the tatoo looks like be writen by a five year old.  Especially you know Chinese are famous for their calligraphy