Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Chinese term or phrase:
不容易 | 真難
English translation:
not easy | difficult
Added to glossary by
Roddy Stegemann
May 2, 2006 07:58
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.
真不容易/真難 (3/3)
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
(English)
| 3 | good questions |
CHEN-Ling
|
| 3 | hard = not easy |
wherestip
|
Proposed translations
16 hrs
Selected
good questions
I think these are good questions. Let's see the first one: really, it's common that a modifier is between a modal verb and a verb in Chinese. For example:
不想活—>不想苟且地活
希望飞—>希望在天上飞
-我要去!
-你到底要到哪里去啊?
The second question: I think the two attempts make no difference.
又地点适中=地点又适中. But, here "又" is an adverb instead of a conjunction, such as 又快又好. You know that adverb should be placed before the adjective.
她老实,人又好-----correct
她老实,又人好-----wrong
The third one:不容易=难, just as not easy=difficult. Actually there is no difference between them. But in some cases, they can not be replaced with each other.
For example: 她过得不容易--She lives a hard life.
We seldom say: 她过得难.It seems something awkward.
不想活—>不想苟且地活
希望飞—>希望在天上飞
-我要去!
-你到底要到哪里去啊?
The second question: I think the two attempts make no difference.
又地点适中=地点又适中. But, here "又" is an adverb instead of a conjunction, such as 又快又好. You know that adverb should be placed before the adjective.
她老实,人又好-----correct
她老实,又人好-----wrong
The third one:不容易=难, just as not easy=difficult. Actually there is no difference between them. But in some cases, they can not be replaced with each other.
For example: 她过得不容易--She lives a hard life.
We seldom say: 她过得难.It seems something awkward.
3 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: I am giving these points to Minoer -- not simply to spread around the good cheer, but because of her additional very helpful examples. I do not agree, however, that 又 is used here as an adverbial modifier of an adjective. I see this rather as a case of an adverb modifying the understood (or, in this case, unutilized) verb "to be". Once again, Wherestip for your very fine examples."
3 hrs
hard = not easy
I believe this would be the same as English. "hard" and "not easy" are pretty much synonymous.
Of course it could be said that 真難 is even more difficult than 真不容易 in degree. But most of the time, it just depends on what the person prefers to use in that instance or at that moment.
Of course it could be said that 真難 is even more difficult than 真不容易 in degree. But most of the time, it just depends on what the person prefers to use in that instance or at that moment.
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