Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
我指給你看吧
Chinese translation:
Let me show you!
Added to glossary by
Roddy Stegemann
Apr 19, 2006 09:03
18 yrs ago
English term
我指給你看吧
Non-PRO
English to Chinese
Science
Education / Pedagogy
Grammatical Analysis
Sentence: 地圖上,黃色的地方是高山,藍色的地方是海,我指給你看吧。
1st Attempt: The yellow regions on the map are high mountains, and the blue regions are sea and ocean. I will show you.
Problem 1: Have I captured the meaning of the phrase 我指給你看吧 properly? Also, what is the meaning of 吧 in this context? Does it mean something akin to "pay attention", "be alert", "look out"?
An aside: Although a sea forms a part of the ocean, and is often called the ocean in English, there is an important difference. Seas vary enormously with the surrounding land. In short, it takes many seas to form an ocean. To what exactly does the word 海 refer in this context? Surely, it does not mean the same as 洋 in the word 太平洋. Is it something more akin to saltwater 海水?
As always you are welcome to comment on other parts of my translation.
http://homepage.mac.com/moogoonghwa/tsongkit/contents.html
1st Attempt: The yellow regions on the map are high mountains, and the blue regions are sea and ocean. I will show you.
Problem 1: Have I captured the meaning of the phrase 我指給你看吧 properly? Also, what is the meaning of 吧 in this context? Does it mean something akin to "pay attention", "be alert", "look out"?
An aside: Although a sea forms a part of the ocean, and is often called the ocean in English, there is an important difference. Seas vary enormously with the surrounding land. In short, it takes many seas to form an ocean. To what exactly does the word 海 refer in this context? Surely, it does not mean the same as 洋 in the word 太平洋. Is it something more akin to saltwater 海水?
As always you are welcome to comment on other parts of my translation.
http://homepage.mac.com/moogoonghwa/tsongkit/contents.html
Proposed translations
(Chinese)
5 | Let me show you |
Daniel Xie
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3 +1 | Let me show it to you! |
Naikei Wong
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3 | Let me point them out to you |
wherestip
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Proposed translations
8 hrs
Selected
Let me show you
Let me show you.
Hamo, I think you have got it.
吧 here is a modal auxiliary word, expressing a intent to do sth.
海 here is more akin to saltwater 海水 as you guess.
BTW, Hamo, why do you use "on the map" but not "in the map"?
Hamo, I think you have got it.
吧 here is a modal auxiliary word, expressing a intent to do sth.
海 here is more akin to saltwater 海水 as you guess.
BTW, Hamo, why do you use "on the map" but not "in the map"?
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Revised sentence: The yellow regions on the map are high mountains, and the blue regions are sea and ocean. Let me show you.
Discussion:
That I may refer you to:
http://homepage.mac.com/moogoonghwa/tsongkit/part2/II-6b-g.html#s18
Acknowledgement: Thank you everyone for the interesting discussion.
As I am not familiar with the etymology of the character 海, I decided to play it safe and include both meanings. Would "sea" not be correct for a small map showing only the water adjacent to a particular land mass, and "ocean" correct for a larger map showing entire continents.
The idea of 吧 indicating "voluntary intent" on the part of the speaker appears to be shared among the respondents.
Please see the URL above for my discussion of the phrase 我指給你看. I hope you approve.
In answer to Daniel Xie's question. In English the preposition "on" is usually preferred in reference to things found on top of flat surfaces. Objects on that surface that are enclosed in boxes, circles, and the like can be said to be located "in", however.
This was a difficult question to grade, because everyone had something additional to offer. I declined NKWong's entry because of his incorrect use of the preposition "it". Wherestip gave a much better suggestion, but failed to provide the discussion of either NKWong or Daniel Xie."
+1
59 mins
Let me show it to you!
A more literal translation is "Let me point it out to you!"
Here, "show" is sufficient and sounds more natural in English.
The expression is "volitive" -- a wish to offer help.
海 -- "sea" / marine regions -- any areas of such **represented** in a map.
When reading a map, blue areas (other than lakes) are commonly referred to as "sea" (wether or not it's really an ocean).
This is probably because historically, the Chinese cosmology said China was surrounded by the four seas.
The notion of "ocean" is relatively modern.
Here, "show" is sufficient and sounds more natural in English.
The expression is "volitive" -- a wish to offer help.
海 -- "sea" / marine regions -- any areas of such **represented** in a map.
When reading a map, blue areas (other than lakes) are commonly referred to as "sea" (wether or not it's really an ocean).
This is probably because historically, the Chinese cosmology said China was surrounded by the four seas.
The notion of "ocean" is relatively modern.
1 hr
Let me point them out to you
another way of saying it that perhaps captures the Chinese more precisely in my opinion
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