Hi! I'm Ray
Today, I will share some Chinese phrases that are hard to translate into English
We often encounter Chinese words
that are hard to translate into English
No matter how many people ask or how hard you search, you still fail at finding the answer
What should we do? Well, you've come to the right place!
The purpose of this video is to solve everybody's frustrations
For this episode, I decided not to think of the teaching material by myself
All of the material here was provided by you guys in the comment section of the last video
So! Let's see which Chinese to English translations caused you guys grief
Let's look at the first comment
Uhh..
Isn't that a bit lengthy...?
I'm regretting the decision I made just now
You have quite the nerve, asking such a long question!
Why do we always start off translating such difficult things...
How do you translate "嫑嫑的“？
This seems to have only become popular recently
"什麼什麼的"
我不要不要的
If you want the direct translation, it's very simple
It's "no"
or "stop"
But the usage of this phrase should be closer to "saying one thing and meaning another"
It's like, you are saying that you don't want it
But in reality, your body is honest...
It's that feeling xD
(What are you saying!)
So, this phrase can be translated as
But, if you want to say it in a sentence
Come, let me teach you an impressive saying
It's similar to saying "I can't handle it", "It's too much"
The feeling is like, "I can't do anything anymore".
So if you want to say, "Ray is so handsome that 我嫑嫑的", you can say
You are all welcome to leave that in the comments below as practice
How do I translate "傻眼"?
傻眼 means speechless. It's like, something happened and you don't know how to respond.
Here, you can actually use the phrase we just learned: "I can't even".
That phrase can be used in both good and bad situations.
If you want to use an adjective
there are plenty of English adjectives that mean "被嚇到". For example:
But I feel like those words only express the feeling of spechlessness
and does not express the feeling of "rolling my eyes"
So here's another word for you: facepalm
It is the action of putting your palm on your face
and then... having a big sigh
This is a communication skill that transcends language.
So, the next time you want to roll your eyes, you can use "facepalm"
How do we translate "緣分“？
I feel that "緣分“ falls into a translation category that is the most difficult to deal with
And that is cultural disparity
In other words, if a concept does not exist in another culture
It will be very difficult to translate
There's no way to find a word that matches it perfectly
And "緣分“ falls into this category because the concept does not exist overseas
But I know a word that is adequately close to “緣分”
"the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way"
I feel like "緣分“ is also like this.
The accumulation of numerous events of coincidence can be termed "緣分“
If you want to translate it into full sentence
for example, "看緣分吧", you can say
How do we translate ”嘴砲“？
Everybody has a friend that is very 嘴砲
He is always showing off with his clever talk
How do we describe that type of person?
I saw some people translating it into "Mouth Cannon". That's impressive!!
But if you want to "嗆“ somebody, there are a few verbs you can use:
Those are used when you really want to blame someone
Or when you want to provoke somebody
But there are also some quips that are used when you are trash talking somebody
That can be translated very directly
But if you want to reply '不要嘴砲"
then you can use an extremely blunt saying, "stop talking shit".
That's right. "Shit" is that useful.
How do we translate "敷衍“？
Wait. I must first ask the question
Is it 敷一ㄢˇ or 敷一ㄢˊ ?
「一ㄢˇ」or「一ㄢˊ」？ You know what I'm talking about?
「一ㄢˇ」or「一ㄢˊ」？
(Maybe the correct pronunciation is 「敷一ㄢˇ」but it evolved into「敷一ㄢˊ」)
Oh
"敷衍” is a phrase that I am often asked about
There are many different sayings online. Some people will say that it is
I want to supplement those with a word that I feel is quite cute.
That word seems like "敷衍“ from looks alone, am I right?
"Standing very far away"
So it represents an attitude that is cold and inhospitable
So that's definitely not me. I'm a very sincere person
Okay!
Hopefully, the discussion about these words have helped you solve your frustrations
If you have more Chinese words that you don't know how to translate
You are welcome to leave a comment down below!
We will use your comments in the next episode!
Also, I want to remind everybody that this is the third expisode in this series
If you have not seen the previous two episodes or if you want to review them
You can click on this info box to watch them
(That's my blanket!)
(The scene just now was so awkward. It's not suited for children)
Yep. It's like that. Just like that.
We will upload a new video every Monday and Thursday night at 9!
Thanks for watching, and I'll catch you guys next time.
See ya! (See ya!)