Help

[jtotheulie5]

Hi I am here to ask for some help with chinese characters

i want a tatoo that says either

live easy or life is good

i dont want to be like every other stupid american with a character on their body that doesn't mean what they think it means.

it would be greatly appreciated if you could help thank you

[malinuo]

I'm a little surprised you don't have any replies yet, but it may be because the expressions are a little vague. "Live easy" I think I understand, but I don't know how to translate it to a catchy phrase in any other language. It means "don't take things you encounter in your daily life too seriously", right? If I try to translate it to for example German, it comes out literally as "einfach leben", but that can also mean that you take life very seriously, but you do not allow yourself any excess luxury, and I guess that's not what you want to say? Same thing for French "simplement vivre" or "vivre simplement". In Swedish a close translation may be "simma lugnt", which literally means "swim calmly", but the sense is more or less "live easy". Catchy Chinese translation? Beats me.

For "life is good", it also depends on what you want to say. I think it generally can be translated well to phrases in other European languages. "Жизнь Прекрасна" (beautiful), "das Leben ist schön" (comfortable), "livet är underbart" (wonderful) and so on. The Italian film "Life is beautiful" was translated to Chinese as 美丽人生, which doesn't literally mean "Life is beautiful" but "beautiful life". However, my Chinese is not good enough to tell if the Chinese audience perceived that as "this is a life of someone surrounded by visual beauty" or "this is a comfortable life". In Japan I think they kept the English (!) title.

My point is that a catchy phrase in one language cannot always be translated to an equally catchy phrase in another language.

[jtotheulie5]

i want it to say live easy in the sense of not taking things to seriously but also to enjoy the things that are around you and not let dreams and aspirations take over your life to the point where you don't live. To enjoy what you got and what you need.

maybe i should say a phrase like: take time to enjoy the simpler things in life

something that means somewhere around that it doesn't need to mean live easy just on that idea.

i just want to make sure i dont have the the characters from the forest on my body my whole life thinking it means something along the lines of live easy

this website gave me this character for the phrase

http://chineseculture.about.com/library/symbol/blcc_liveeasy.htm

but i am not sure what it really means

[mr.stinky]

why?

[kudra]

even if you know what the character means, you are still at the mercy of the "tatoo artist"

check this site and see if you don't reconsider the whole thing....

http://www.hanzismatter.com/2006/06/from-finland-with-love.html

[adrianlondon]

我 很 懒

Which, in essence, means you take life easy and aren't stressed.

Although in case you rush off and actually get it done then sue me, it really means "I'm rather lazy".

[dradra]

As native Chinese speaker, I recommend 一生平安 according to what you want. The "direct" translation of it is the whole life (一生) happiness/peachful (平安). It is a most well-known greeting words in Chinese. It is not unusual to see Chinese decorate their houses or cars with handicrafts with this words.

From years of learning English, I realise that the advanced translation is much more than "direct translation of a single word". Translation is to transport meaning of the whole sentence, paragraph or article.

Wish it helpful.

[seesaw]

My recommendations are

别太累

享受生活

哥们，看开点

[Josh-J]

You might want to check whether the characters you eventually choose are the simplified or traditional versions (if there's a difference). Depends if it makes any difference to you

[jtotheulie5]

一生平安, i think i am going to get this one as a tattoo.

any opinions on this?

[Lu]

Yeah, here's my opinion: don't do it. It's a greeting, and something people might decorate their houses with, not something to put on your body. I'm not against Chinese character tattoos as such, but this phrase is not one I would recommend as a tattoo. (Although you could do worse.) Maybe you can find someone to calligraph it on a scroll and put that on the wall, seems more appropriate to me.

[wrbt]

Go with:

mai pen rai

[jtotheulie5]

what does this mean?

[skylee]

It means an easy and comfortable life/lifestyle.

[Joffrie]

I am a Chinese. These guys who gave you suggestions are good and sometimes funny. I will translate their Chinese back into English.

美丽人生 means "wonderful life";

我 很 懒 means "I am Lazy";

一生平安 means "peaceful life";

别太累 means "don't exhaust yourself (in your life/work)"

享受生活 "enjoy your/my life"

哥们，看开点 "buddy, just take it easy"

I think 美丽人生and一生平安 are good choices, yet the last three ones are kind of funny or "deride yourself".

My suggestion is 幸福平安, which means happiness and peace.