{"id":10616,"date":"2014-12-02T09:00:44","date_gmt":"2014-12-02T13:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/?p=10616"},"modified":"2014-11-30T09:48:21","modified_gmt":"2014-11-30T13:48:21","slug":"literal-chinese-translations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/literal-chinese-translations\/","title":{"rendered":"What Happens When You Literally Translate Chinese"},"content":{"rendered":"

For learners of Chinese, it’s always fun to literally translate new Chinese words. Often times, you’ll find that you recognize two characters on their own, but you haven’t yet learned the word that is formed when you put them together. In my experience, my Chinese students and friends can never understand why foreigners think it’s so funny to literally translate words from Chinese into English. That’s not the way they learn the language, so it just doesn’t add up for them. I thoroughly enjoy literal translations of Chinese words, and I hope you do too. See if you can figure out the actual English words in bold in my short story below, and then check for the Chinese vocabulary at the end:<\/p>\n

\"From

From “Northern Capital” to “South of the Clouds.”<\/p><\/div>\n

Hi everyone,<\/p>\n

I’m Sasha. My Chinese name is Happy Field<\/strong><\/em>, but most Chinese people just call me Old Outside<\/strong><\/em>. I’m from the Beautiful Country<\/em><\/strong>, and I currently live in the Middle Country<\/strong><\/em>. I spent a few years living in the Northern Capital<\/strong><\/em>, and I recently moved South of the Clouds<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>to find better air quality and weather. I’ve been working as an old expert<\/strong><\/em> here for the most part, and it’s been a great experience. I’m enjoying my new job so far – my old board<\/strong><\/em> is a nice guy from the Brave Country<\/strong><\/em>. I really like that there isn’t a dress code at work. I can wear my cowboy pants<\/strong><\/em> and I don’t need to wear a Western costume<\/strong><\/em>. I can even wear my cool shoes<\/strong><\/em> if it’s warm enough to do so. I also do some freelance work writing and editing photos\/videos, so I need to have a good electric brain<\/strong><\/em>. I spent a lot of money on it, so I couldn’t afford a good hand machine<\/strong><\/em>. I don’t really need a good one for my work, anyways – everyone can get a hold of me by e-mail or social media.<\/p>\n

My passion is travel – I just spent 14 months on the road backpacking and I hope to get back out there soon. If I can, I like to travel by fire vehicle<\/strong><\/em> and enjoy the scenery. Of course, if I want to go visit my family I need to take a flying machine<\/strong><\/em>. Sometimes traveling in this country can be tough, as it’s always people mountain people sea<\/strong><\/em>. I also love music, and my favorite music team<\/strong> <\/em>is Phish. Believe it or not, I’ve been to over 50 of their\u00a0music parties<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"I'll

I’ll take a “flying machine” to see my favorite “music team” whenever possible.<\/p><\/div>\n

I like cooking and trying new foods from different countries as well. Back at home, I usually eat something like a fire chicken<\/strong> <\/em>sandwich and wash it down with a 100 Things cola<\/strong><\/em>. The food here is great, such as the three treasures of the earth<\/strong><\/em>. I just can’t get used to the white alcohol<\/strong><\/em> here, though – I’d rather have a glass of grape alcohol<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Alright, now let’s check out the vocabulary and learn a bit about these words:<\/p>\n