a simple question
jamshunt
July 05, 2008, 02:38 PM posted in General DiscussionI am looking for the chinese symbol for be and my, or more importantly for "Be water my friend" Any help would be greatly appreciated.
sushan
July 06, 2008, 01:13 AMdoesn't mean anything in English, maybe try your native language?
RJ
July 06, 2008, 01:37 PMyou could say water is my friend but I dont think that is what you are after. How about "become" or "change into" water, my friend
变成我的朋友 bian4cheng2 shui3wo3de peng2 you
you would have to ask zhanglihua or somebody with more knowledge if this works. Trust me, the best tattoo would be:
我是大傻瓜。
or put your girlfriend's name on your ass. Thats always a good idea.
gibz
July 06, 2008, 02:49 PMNo ones ever seen the inetrview where bruce lee is talking about water? "empty your mind, be formless shapeless like water. Now you put water into a cup it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle, put it into a teapot it becomes the teapot now water can flow or it can crash...be water my friend".
wufeifei
July 06, 2008, 07:33 PMHow about getting the Chinese version of the movie to find out what it says there?
zhanglihua
July 06, 2008, 07:53 PMWhat do you think about
水代表我的灵魂
/shui３ dai４biao３ wo３ de ling２hun２/
"water 水 represents 代表 my 我的 soul 灵魂 "?
Ｉ still don't think you should get a tattoo in Ｃｈｉｎｅｓｅ ｃｈａｒａｃｔｅｒｓ， ｉｆ ｔｈａｔ ｉｓ ｗｈａｔ ｙｏｕ ｉｎｔｅｎｄ． Ｉｔ ｉｓ ｎｏｔ ｐａｒｔ ｏｆ Ｃｈｉｎｅｓｅ ｃｕｌｔｕｒｅ ａｎｄ ｏｆ ｙｏｕ｜ｒｅ ｎｏｔ ｆａｍｉｌｉａｒ ｗｉｔｈ ｔｈｅ ｌａｎｇｕａｇｅ， ｉｔ ｉｓ ｓｉｍｐｌｙ ｒｉｄｉｃｕｌｏｕｓ．Ｐｌｕｓ， ｉｔ ｉｓ ｐｒｅｔｅｎｔｉｏｕｓ ａｎｄ ｍｏｓｔ ｐｅｏｐｌｅ ｗｏｎ｜ｔ ｂｅ ａｂｌｅ ｔｏ ｒｅａｄ ｔｈｉｓ ｓｔａｔｅｍｅｎｔ ａｎｙｗａｙ．Ｉｎ ａｄｄｉｔｉｏｎ ｔｏ ｔｈａｔ， ａｔ ｍｏｓｔ ｔａｔｔｏｏ ｐａｒｌｏｒｓ， ｔｈｅ ｃａｌｌｉｇｒａｐｈｚ ｉｓ ｐｏｏｒｌｙ ｄｏｎｅ． Ｅｖｅｒｙｏｎｅ ｗｈｏ ｗａｎｔｓ ｔｏ ｂｅ ｈｉｐ ｇｅｔｓ ａ Ｈａｎｚｉ ｔａｔｔｏｏ ｎｏｗａｄａｙｓ．．． Ｐｌｅａｓｅ ｅｘｃｕｓｅ ｍｙ ｈａｒｓｈ ｗｏｒｄｓ．
@rj *sigh* We've got enough foreigners running around with bogus Chinese tattoos already...Ｅｖｅｎ，ａｐａｒｔ from ｉｔｓ strange meaning 变成我的朋友 would be rather weird。
Ｉ don't know what happened to the font of this text...
RJ
July 06, 2008, 10:24 PMthanks gibz, I do remember, and now it makes more sense. I would simply say:
肖水
xiao1 shui3 "be like" water or "resemble" water.
It carries the intended meaning and it is more succinct. Does this sound better Zhanglihua?
Water represents my soul works too but it will hurt more. :-)
sushan
July 07, 2008, 12:45 AMIts translated in a a few places online as
像水一样吧我的朋友
xiàng shuĭ yíyàng bā、wŏde péngyou
zhanglihua
July 05, 2008, 03:39 PMI hope you're not trying to get a tattoo...By the way, it is almost impossible to properly translate your sentence into Chinese.