a simple question
jamshunt
July 05, 2008 at 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.
RJ
July 06, 2008 at 10:24 PM
thanks 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. :-)
zhanglihua
July 06, 2008 at 07:53 PM
What 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...
wufeifei
July 06, 2008 at 07:33 PM
How about getting the Chinese version of the movie to find out what it says there?
gibz
July 06, 2008 at 02:49 PM
No 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".
RJ
July 06, 2008 at 01:37 PM
you 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.
zhanglihua
July 05, 2008 at 03:39 PM
I hope you're not trying to get a tattoo...By the way, it is almost impossible to properly translate your sentence into Chinese.
sushan
July 07, 2008 at 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