Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Chinese term or phrase:
要在Ｂ找Ａ
English translation:
having to find A in B
Added to glossary by
Roddy Stegemann
May 2, 2006 07:56
18 yrs ago
Chinese term
United States
Search HKLNA!
Native in: English 
Works in: German to English, Japanese to English, French to English, and 3 more.
交通方便,地點又適中 (1/3)
Non-PRO
Chinese to English
Science
Education / Pedagogy
Grammatical Analysis
Sentence: 要在香港找一間交通方便,地點又適中的房子真不容易。
1st Attempt: Having to find a dwelling in Hong Kong that is both conveniently located and easily accessible is truly difficult.
Well what do you think? Did I get it? This sentence raises many problems.
Question 1: I am concerned about the placement of the phrase 在香港 between the words 要 and 找. Is it common practice in traditional Han to place a modifier between a modal verb and the verb it modifies? Could you provide additional examples?
Question 2: Why do you think the adverbial conjunction 又 was placed before 適中 rather than before 地點？Would it not have been grammatically more correct to have written: 「一間交通方便又地點適中的房子」?
Question 3: Is the phrase 真不容易 stylistically more correct than 真難? Or, does one not even say 真難?
As always, you are welcome to comments on other parts of my translation, as well.
http://homepage.mac.com/moogoonghwa/tsongkit/contents.html#p...
1st Attempt: Having to find a dwelling in Hong Kong that is both conveniently located and easily accessible is truly difficult.
Well what do you think? Did I get it? This sentence raises many problems.
Question 1: I am concerned about the placement of the phrase 在香港 between the words 要 and 找. Is it common practice in traditional Han to place a modifier between a modal verb and the verb it modifies? Could you provide additional examples?
Question 2: Why do you think the adverbial conjunction 又 was placed before 適中 rather than before 地點？Would it not have been grammatically more correct to have written: 「一間交通方便又地點適中的房子」?
Question 3: Is the phrase 真不容易 stylistically more correct than 真難? Or, does one not even say 真難?
As always, you are welcome to comments on other parts of my translation, as well.
http://homepage.mac.com/moogoonghwa/tsongkit/contents.html#p...
Proposed translations
5 hrs
Selected
agree
Your translation is very good IMO. The Chinese sentence is also structured correctly and worded very well.
I'm not big on grammar, because that's not how I learned either languages. So without commenting on the grammar, I'll just give some examples that have similar structures:
想和他们结盟可要小心
应该把作业做好再玩儿
你能和他们通话吗?
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Note added at 6 hrs (2006-05-02 14:06:03 GMT)
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I can see complaints that those are not exactly modifiers I used in my examples, so here's another try:
想远方结友可不易
争取在四点前做好作业
你能向美国通话吗？
I'm not big on grammar, because that's not how I learned either languages. So without commenting on the grammar, I'll just give some examples that have similar structures:
想和他们结盟可要小心
应该把作业做好再玩儿
你能和他们通话吗?
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 6 hrs (2006-05-02 14:06:03 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
I can see complaints that those are not exactly modifiers I used in my examples, so here's another try:
想远方结友可不易
争取在四点前做好作业
你能向美国通话吗？
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Final rendering: Having to find a dwelling in Hong Kong that is both conveniently located and easily accessible is truly difficult.
Discussion:
May I refer you to the following link.
http://homepage.mac.com/moogoonghwa/tsongkit/part2/II-7-g.html#s8
Acknowledgement: Wherestip you should be lucky that you did not have to learn your language skills with the aid of grammar, as grammar can be just as problematic as it is helpful. Nevertheless, this is the way the majority of the people who learn English today acquire what little of the language they know.
Thank you for your terrific examples! They were very helpful."
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