Literal Translation Vs Google Translation

[889]

If it helps, think of it as a "tableful of food," where "a tableful" acts as sort of an English measure word.

[phoneticsem]

火锅店的员工走过来,看到桌子空无一人,断定客人已离开。

 

Staff of hot pot restaurant came, and saw that as no soul insight at the table,  concluded that the customers had left.

[phoneticsem]

他快速 地收拾了锅与盘,也把桌子抹得干干净净。

 

he quickly tidy up the bowls and plates, also cleaned up the table

 

锅 guō pot, pan, boiler

 

here what meaning of 锅 is most suitable? can i use it as bowls?

[Moshen]

If this is still the hot pot story, then 锅 refers to the hot pot that is put in the center of the table for cooking and dipping.

Look up in Google Images for hot pot restaurant and you will find photos of what the hot pot restaurant provides. It most definitely is not bowls.

Here again you are looking for answers in the wrong direction. It's not literal meanings of words that clue you in but rather the whole context of the passage.

[phoneticsem]

 

On 7/9/2022 at 3:51 PM, Moshen said:

Look up in Google Images for hot pot restaurant and you will find photos of what the hot pot restaurant provides. It most definitely is not bowls.

 

done the search and got what hot pot is and what hotpot restaurant is. I was thinking like a buffet restaurant earlier. that is the source of error, rather literal meaning.

 

他快速 地收拾了锅与盘,也把桌子抹得干干净净。

 

he quickly tidy up the pot and plates, also cleaned up the table.

[phoneticsem]

Able to understand this by reading chinese. Some improvement in understanding by literal translation, Context, Grouping, learning vocabulary and repetition/re-reading.

 

凡事不能单看表面,否则会让人做出错误的判断,还可能引起误会。我和太太日前到一家自助火锅店用餐时,便目睹了因错误判断而引起的误会。

当时,坐在我不远处的两名男子享用完一桌子食物后,双双离开位子。火锅店的员工走过来,看到桌子空无一人,断定客人已离开。他快速 地收拾了锅与盘,也把桌子抹得干干净净。

实际上,那两名男子只是暂时离开,到食材区“扫货”。当他们捧着 两大盘食物,再度回到座位时,发现锅被收走,顿时愣住了。两人面面相 觑,虽然有些不快,却忍住了怒气。我从他们的眼中看出了无奈。两人商量后,决定把食物放回食材区。

不料,这一幕被邻桌一名大叔看到了。他以为这两个人为了避免被 “罚款”,而偷偷将吃不完的食物放回食材区。因此他有些愤愤不平,不 断向朋友抱怨那两个人不讲卫生。

看到大叔在那里讲个不停,我真想上前向大叔说明一切,但又担心别人说我多管闲事。就在我犹豫不决的时候,大叔越讲越激动,甚至要向火锅店职员投诉。我想:那两名男子明明吃了亏,却还被人误会不讲卫生, 岂不是饱受委屈?想到这里,我鼓起勇气上前解释。听了我的解释,大叔 终于明白事情的来龙去脉。他虽然显得尴尬,但总算消了气。

事后我再三思量,或许自己也做了一个错误的判断。当大叔开始向朋 友抱怨时,我选择置身事外,觉得只是两个人私下的批评,没想到却引发 了之后的误会。或许,我一开始就应该开口解释,即使被认为多事,也总 比尴尬收场要好。

 

Google Translation:

Don't just look at the surface, otherwise people will make wrong judgments and may cause misunderstandings.  My wife and I witnessed a misunderstanding caused by misjudgment when we dined at a self-service hot pot restaurant the other day.

 At that time, two men sitting not far from me both left their seats after enjoying a table of food.  The staff of the hot pot restaurant came over, saw that the table was empty, and concluded that the customer had left.  He quickly cleared the pots and plates, and wiped the table clean.

 In fact, the two men just left temporarily and went to the ingredients area to "sweep the goods".  When they returned to their seats with two large plates of food in their hands, they found that the pots were taken away, and they were stunned.  The two looked at each other, and although they were a little unhappy, they held back their anger.  I saw helplessness in their eyes.  After the two discussed it, they decided to put the food back in the ingredients area.

 Unexpectedly, this scene was seen by an uncle at the next table.  He thought that the two men secretly put the unfinished food back into the ingredients area in order to avoid being "fine".  So he was a little indignant and kept complaining to his friends that the two were not hygienic.

 Seeing the uncle talking non-stop there, I really wanted to go forward and explain everything to him, but I was worried that others would say that I was nosy.  Just when I was hesitating, the uncle became more and more excited, and even complained to the staff of the hot pot restaurant.  I thought: Those two men clearly suffered a loss, but they were misunderstood for not being hygienic. Are they wronged? Thinking of this, I summoned the courage to come forward and explain.  After listening to my explanation, Uncle finally understood the ins and outs of the matter.  Although he looked embarrassed, he finally calmed down.

 After thinking about it, I may have made a wrong judgment myself.  When uncle started complaining to friends, I chose to stay out of the matter, thinking it was just a private criticism from two people, but unexpectedly it led to a misunderstanding later.  Perhaps I should have explained from the beginning that even being considered eventful is better than ending in embarrassment.

[phoneticsem]

就在我犹豫不决的时候,大叔越讲越激动,甚至要向火锅店职员投诉。

then I am hesitating at that time, uncle more and more speaking and even went to the extent of complaining to the staff of hot pot restaurant. 

 

越讲越: yuè jiǎng yuè  can i say speaking more and more in this sentence? 

[abcdefg]

On 7/17/2022 at 9:39 AM, phoneticsem said:

越讲越: yuè jiǎng yuè  can i say speaking more and more in this sentence? 

No, that doesn't sound right. 

[phoneticsem]

On 7/18/2022 at 4:07 AM, abcdefg said:

On 7/17/2022 at 10:39 PM, phoneticsem said:

越讲越: yuè jiǎng yuè  can i say speaking more and more in this sentence? 

No, that doesn't sound right. 

 

what translation sounds correct? How do you translate?

 

https://www.trainchinese.com/v2/wordDetails.php?rAp=0&wordId=23079&tcLanguage=en

[Moshen]

You had it earlier:

 

Just when I was hesitating, the uncle became more and more excited, and even complained to the staff of the hot pot restaurant.

 

OR: ...the more the uncle talked, the more excited he became, even to the point of complaining to the staff of the hot pot restaurant.

[phoneticsem]

On 7/18/2022 at 3:35 PM, Moshen said:

the more the uncle talked, the more excited he became, even to the point of complaining to the staff of the hot pot restaurant.

 

This literal translation helps me to arrive at correct meaning . here I missed to translate 激动 = to excite, and not used more..more properly, which made my earlier translation incomplete.

 

then I am hesitating at that time, uncle more he talk more excited and even went to the extent of complaining to the staff of hot pot restaurant. 

[abcdefg]

On 7/17/2022 at 6:18 PM, phoneticsem said:

 

what translation sounds correct? How do you translate?

 

Sorry, I don't understand what you are trying to do. Are you making up Chinese sentences and translating them to English or making up English sentences and translating them to Chinese? Or what? Unfortunately, many of your English sentences are also flawed. Not just the Chinese ones. 

 

You asked if the phrase sounded natural, I replied that it did not. But I can't take it any farther. Afraid I cannot help with your project since I don't understand it. I don't understand your method or your short-term and intermediate-term goals. 

 

越来越激动的说话 might be along the lines of what you are seeking. But I'm not sure at all. We are not on the same wave length. 

[889]

So many things there I don't want to even start.

 

But you should know that 大叔 does not literally mean "uncle" here. It's simply a way of referring to a somewhat older man. Translating it as "an older guy" would do. The tipoff is the term 一名大叔. You wouldn't normally refer to your real uncle that way.

[Moshen]

Quote

But you should know that 大叔 does not literally mean "uncle" here. It's simply a way of referring to a somewhat older man. Translating it as "an older guy" would do. The tipoff is the term 一名大叔. You wouldn't normally refer to your real uncle that way.

 

Great point!  Thanks.  And (referring to another current thread on the forum) this shows why cultural knowledge is just as important as dictionary meanings.  Culture is not something to be added in at higher levels of language learning.  It's part of learning the language.

[phoneticsem]

On 7/19/2022 at 6:48 AM, 889 said:

大叔 does not literally mean "uncle" here

 

yes, I know. 不料,这一幕被邻桌一名大叔看到了。From this sentence I understood that here uncle is used as “2. term used to address a man about the age of one's father”.  

 

Dictionary helped me in understanding the difference. 
大叔 = dàshū

1. eldest of father's younger brothers
2 uncle (term used to address a man about the age of one's father)

 

 

[abcdefg]

On 7/18/2022 at 5:59 PM, Moshen said:

And (referring to another current thread on the forum) this shows why cultural knowledge is just as important as dictionary meanings.  Culture is not something to be added in at higher levels of language learning.  It's part of learning the language.

 

Well said! Agree 100%. It's an essential part of the package from day one. And it's part of why machine translation is often sort of lame if not outright misleading. 

[889]

I couldn't understand why, if you knew what 大叔 meant here in context, you translated it as "my uncle."

 

Then I took a couple sentences and asked Google to translate them:

 

"After thinking about it, I may have made a wrong judgment myself. When my uncle started complaining to my friends, I chose to stay out of the matter, thinking it was just a private criticism from two people, but unexpectedly it led to a misunderstanding later."

 

Don't waste people's time here by asking them to correct a Google translation you're passing off as your own.

[Guest realmayo]

@889 have you considered that perhaps Google Translate AI is now sentient and asking you for advice?

[phoneticsem]

@889 all the single sentences I posted for past few days, I have translated them to literal meanings. before translation also I used to refer google translator for my understanding and removed my from “my uncle” in the above translation. 

[phoneticsem]

饱受 bǎoshòu to suffer

 

饱 to eat till full, satisfied

受 receive, suffer

 

was wondering, how satisfied plus receive = to suffer.

but second meaning of 受 suffer from pleco cleared my doubt. any one confused with this word? i think we should be aware when we are using it as receive and when using it as suffer, else the meaning will change.