Having trouble translating.... :S
EmmaLouise1
January 22, 2010, 09:15 PM posted in I Have a Question
There's this blurb on the back of a book I've got (and I've still yet to get past page one :P) but there's parts of it that are confusing me... :S Here's what it says:
有三件事我很確定:
第一, 愛德華是吸血鬼
第二, 出於天性, 他渴望喝我的血
第三, 我無可救藥地愛上他了
I understand line 1 to mean "There are three things I'm sure about" and line 2 to mean "First, Edward is a vampire". However, I'm struggling with line 3 and 4, especially line 4.
For line 3, I've got "Second, ________, he wants to drink my blood" but I'm not about the 出於天性 bit. Is it something like "since birth/in his nature/a part of him"? I kind of get the basic gist of it but I don't want to stray too far away from the actual translation....
For line 4, I'm completely baffled :| I think it's something to do with her loving him but I'm not really sure in what context/why/how etc
Could a few Poddies help me out please? ^^
changye
January 23, 2010, 02:48 AM出(out)於(of)天性(nature) = by nature
EmmaLouise1
January 23, 2010, 09:49 AMchangye - ahhh, okay thanks, that makes sense now.
gesang - I never would have got that without your help! I've spend aaaages trying to look it up >.< That makes sense now (I think :/) Thanks ^^
But I don't understand why 了 is used at the end of the 4th line?
gesang
I am not a 了 specialist myself :-)... I am often confused when I have to or don't have to use it and I know there are many different uses...so there might be other grammar explanations... but I give it a try:
I would say it is one of the common uses of 了 here: the 'completed action' marker.
It already happened, she fell in love and there is no way to go back. now she is still in love-but the falling in love happened before...it could be called an 'completed action'...
Maybe changye is coming back here too, he is much better in grammar questions!
EmmaLouise1
hehe thanks ^^ that seems to fit with the sentence. I guess by adding 了 to the end of the sentence kind of adds that sense of 'danger' because, like you said, that she can't fall 'out of love' with him, because it's already happened and there's no going back. But then again, I'm not expert on reading Chinese literature! :P It's quite odd (in a good way :P) reading a book that's not in your native language. You have to try and understand it from a different and more literate perspective and I suppose some of the idioms/the added 了 sort of pass over your head (but maybe that's just me and my bad Chinese! haha)
zhenlijiang
Hi girls, I think this one is a "change of state" 了. She didn't always use to be, but is now "hopelessly (incurably) in love", has come to be that way.
It's great that you're reading a novel in Chinese (is it long?); I'm also about to start on one. 加油 and enjoy!
EmmaLouise1
Ohhh, I see. Yeah, that seems to fit with the story line better. It's my first Chinese novel, so we shall see! It's a good 500 pages long o.O so we shall see if I survive! haha But to tell you the truth, I do have the exact same novel in English :P You could class it as cheating but I actually think it's really helpful to have the same story in both languages; if I don't understand something, it's easy to check it against the English ^^ It's probably throwing myself in the deepend since I've only just graduated to an Ele! But still, with the help of my trusty dictionary and grammar book :P and I've learnt a lot ^^
zhenlijiang
My book is short and sweet, just 118 small pages of double-spaced print (ha you've shamed me now, for even thinking of that as a challenge). I can also easily get a Japanese copy to check against if I want to (mine is actually the Chinese translation of an award-winning Japanese novel Snakes and Earrings. I plan to slug through the Chinese without cheating, and look at the Japanese only when I'm done reading the Chinese.
Anyway it's great that you're pushing yourself, trying for something you haven't done before. That makes us grow. I'm sure you'll survive to tell us about it. And you've got a lifeline here in the CPod community too, you can always ask questions here. （＾ｖ＾）
EmmaLouise1
hehe, I'm sure your novel is just as hard (if that's a good thing!) I've already done a fair bit of cheating and I'm not even on the first page! I'm still on the blurb! haha Ah well, we see how we do. And yeah, the CPod community is great! ^^
orangina
I also bought a chinese book to read. Mine is 143 pages and is called "好脑袋就是不一样." I beleive it is marketed to the 11 year old crowd. It is a chapter book, but with plenty of pictures, and is about a family of 恐龙 (since we all know that word now.) I just noticed that the last 16 pages are devoted to introducing you to 8 types of dinosaurs. Perhaps I should start there.
Here is info from the fly page:
大型科普童话丛书；嘿！恐龙嘿！巨兽
*丛林深处的友谊，侏罗纪的惊人历险
*真实揭秘史前巨兽生存场景！
My thought was buying a kid's book would be easier, but looking at it I think I may have canceled out that effect by buying a kid's sci-fi book...
I may be in for trouble.
gesang
Yes, I think children's books can be quite confusing... My Chinese language partner in Switzerland bought children's books to study German, but the problem is many books use a kind of poetic language or invented 'cute sounding' words and word combinations. I keep telling her: 'this is not really a German word' or 'this word is existing but nowadays you normally don't use it' or 'in everyday life language you would put it like this:' ... I suppose this might be the same with Chinese children's books!?
orangina
Well, this is a very serious book about talking dinosaurs, so I don't think there will be 'cute sounding' words. I 'm just afraid my science lingo is not up to par. But good warning in general about children's books not always being easier.
EmmaLouise1
My book's probably aimed at teenagers (just the right age for me then :P) as the English equivalent if aimed at that market. However, I think if I have to read the English version again, I might just hit myself >.< stupid book, don't even know why I read it. Terribly writing and cliched, can't see why I loved it so much at first! Let's hope the Chinese equivalent is written better since I'm now stuck with it! haha
gesang
January 23, 2010, 10:04 AMI am not a 了 specialist myself :-)... I am often confused when I have to or don't have to use it and I know there are many different uses...so there might be other grammar explanations... but I give it a try:
I would say it is one of the common uses of 了 here: the 'completed action' marker.
It already happened, she fell in love and there is no way to go back. now she is still in love-but the falling in love happened before...it could be called an 'completed action'...
Maybe changye is coming back here too, he is much better in grammar questions!
EmmaLouise1
January 23, 2010, 10:32 AMhehe thanks ^^ that seems to fit with the sentence. I guess by adding 了 to the end of the sentence kind of adds that sense of 'danger' because, like you said, that she can't fall 'out of love' with him, because it's already happened and there's no going back. But then again, I'm not expert on reading Chinese literature! :P It's quite odd (in a good way :P) reading a book that's not in your native language. You have to try and understand it from a different and more literate perspective and I suppose some of the idioms/the added 了 sort of pass over your head (but maybe that's just me and my bad Chinese! haha)
EmmaLouise1
January 23, 2010, 01:33 PMOhhh, I see. Yeah, that seems to fit with the story line better. It's my first Chinese novel, so we shall see! It's a good 500 pages long o.O so we shall see if I survive! haha But to tell you the truth, I do have the exact same novel in English :P You could class it as cheating but I actually think it's really helpful to have the same story in both languages; if I don't understand something, it's easy to check it against the English ^^ It's probably throwing myself in the deepend since I've only just graduated to an Ele! But still, with the help of my trusty dictionary and grammar book :P and I've learnt a lot ^^
EmmaLouise1
January 24, 2010, 09:57 AMhehe, I'm sure your novel is just as hard (if that's a good thing!) I've already done a fair bit of cheating and I'm not even on the first page! I'm still on the blurb! haha Ah well, we see how we do. And yeah, the CPod community is great! ^^
EmmaLouise1
January 24, 2010, 10:01 PMMy book's probably aimed at teenagers (just the right age for me then :P) as the English equivalent if aimed at that market. However, I think if I have to read the English version again, I might just hit myself >.< stupid book, don't even know why I read it. Terribly writing and cliched, can't see why I loved it so much at first! Let's hope the Chinese equivalent is written better since I'm now stuck with it! haha
gesang
January 22, 2010, 09:38 PMI am incurable in love with him (or fell in love with him).
无可救药 is an idiom = incurable, beyond redemption
(wu2ke3jiu4yao4)