Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Chinese term or phrase:
要是Ａ就Ｂ了
English translation:
if only Ａ would Ｂ
Added to glossary by
Roddy Stegemann
Apr 28, 2006 07:53
18 yrs ago
Chinese term
United States
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Native in: English 
Works in: German to English, Japanese to English, French to English, and 3 more.
要是Ａ就Ｂ了
Non-PRO
Chinese to English
Science
Education / Pedagogy
Grammatical Analysis
Sentence: 他跟她以前是同學。現在是同事，要是她同意做他的太太就好了。
1st Attempt: Previously he was her classmate. Now he is her work colleague. It would be good, if she agreed to become his wife.
Problem 1: I am concerned about the second half of the second sentence. In particular the phrase noted above. Have I captured its meaning properly?
http://homepage.mac.com/moogoonghwa/tsongkit/contents.html#p...
1st Attempt: Previously he was her classmate. Now he is her work colleague. It would be good, if she agreed to become his wife.
Problem 1: I am concerned about the second half of the second sentence. In particular the phrase noted above. Have I captured its meaning properly?
http://homepage.mac.com/moogoonghwa/tsongkit/contents.html#p...
Proposed translations
(English)
| 5 +1 | if only (FYI) |
asphodel
|
| 5 +4 | FYI |
xuhuanyu
|
Proposed translations
+1
7 hrs
Selected
if only (FYI)
I agree with xuhuanyu that you have captured the meaning of the sentence, but you may like to consider the following changes:
They used to be classmates. Now they are colleagues. If only she had agreed to be his wife.
"Previously" seems redundant since we know it's in the past from the past tense. "He was her classmate" is 他以前是她的同學 literally, and it is slightly different from what you have. The correct direct translation is "he and she were classmates", but I think a simple "they" will do the trick. The last sentence is only my personal preference. In your translation the action is indicative; a positive would yield if the action was taken. In my opinion the sentence implies an optative mood, where the speaker wishes her to marry him. I have chosen "if only she would..." to express that, and there is no need to say "it would be good" since it is already implied.
Having said that, I am overly scrutinizing the translation and I think your attempt is perfectly fine. :)
They used to be classmates. Now they are colleagues. If only she had agreed to be his wife.
"Previously" seems redundant since we know it's in the past from the past tense. "He was her classmate" is 他以前是她的同學 literally, and it is slightly different from what you have. The correct direct translation is "he and she were classmates", but I think a simple "they" will do the trick. The last sentence is only my personal preference. In your translation the action is indicative; a positive would yield if the action was taken. In my opinion the sentence implies an optative mood, where the speaker wishes her to marry him. I have chosen "if only she would..." to express that, and there is no need to say "it would be good" since it is already implied.
Having said that, I am overly scrutinizing the translation and I think your attempt is perfectly fine. :)
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Final rendering: He and she are former classmates, and now they work together. If only she would agree to become his wife.
Discussion:
May I refer you to the following link.
http://homepage.mac.com/moogoonghwa/tsongkit/part2/II-7-g.html#s5
Acknowledgement: I am not sure that being a bit nicer to him and marrying him are the same as Wenjer Leuschel would have us believe. Surely Wenjer, asphodel, and Minoer will agree with my final rendering, though. I hope everyone else does to.
I must give credit here to asphodel for his superb grammatical insight. My own paled before it, even with everyones great support.
This question has been a good learning experience for me and hopefully for the many others that have access to the Tsong Kit webpage!"
+4
12 mins
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