Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Chinese term or phrase:
句︱條
English translation:
counters for idioms and sentences
Added to glossary by
Roddy Stegemann
Sep 30, 2006 05:38
17 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.
句 (2/2)
Non-PRO
Chinese to English
Social Sciences
Education / Pedagogy
Grammatical Analysis
Sentence: 「沒有消息便是好消息」這是不是一句英文成語呢？
First Attempt: "No news is good news" is an English saying, isn't it?
Question One: I am confused about the use of 便 in this the saying 沒有消息便是好消息. How does one translate it into English here? If I were to include it, I would translate the sentence as "No news is better than good news". As this cannot be right, I have simply left it out.
With your explanation please include other examples of the use of 便 with similar meaning.
Question Two: Is 句 the counter for 成語?
Reference: http://homepage.mac.com/moogoonghwa/tsongkit/contents.html#p...
As always you are welcome to comment on other parts of the translation.
Warning: In order to provide ProZ.com users with the best glossary entries possible, more than one question for the same entry will be asked from time to time. Please keep in mind when responding that you will be graded on your responses to ALL questions asked.
First Attempt: "No news is good news" is an English saying, isn't it?
Question One: I am confused about the use of 便 in this the saying 沒有消息便是好消息. How does one translate it into English here? If I were to include it, I would translate the sentence as "No news is better than good news". As this cannot be right, I have simply left it out.
With your explanation please include other examples of the use of 便 with similar meaning.
Question Two: Is 句 the counter for 成語?
Reference: http://homepage.mac.com/moogoonghwa/tsongkit/contents.html#p...
As always you are welcome to comment on other parts of the translation.
Warning: In order to provide ProZ.com users with the best glossary entries possible, more than one question for the same entry will be asked from time to time. Please keep in mind when responding that you will be graded on your responses to ALL questions asked.
Proposed translations
(English)
| 5 +3 | counter for idiom |
anastasia t (X)
|
Proposed translations
+3
15 mins
Selected
counter for idiom
You are right. It's the counter for idioms. It's also the counter for sentences.
这句话 - this sentence (spoken)
Other examples of 句
句子-sentence (written)
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Note added at 1 day24 mins (2006-10-01 06:03:17 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
一句句子 is not wrong, but it sounds rather repetitive. You may want to use 条 as the counter for written sentence instead, i.e., 一条句子. 条 may also be used as the counter for idioms (一条成語), but sounds really odd when used as the counter for spoken sentence (一条话).
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day39 mins (2006-10-01 06:17:56 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
In summary:
一条句子
一句话
一条成語/一句成語
这句话 - this sentence (spoken)
Other examples of 句
句子-sentence (written)
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day24 mins (2006-10-01 06:03:17 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
一句句子 is not wrong, but it sounds rather repetitive. You may want to use 条 as the counter for written sentence instead, i.e., 一条句子. 条 may also be used as the counter for idioms (一条成語), but sounds really odd when used as the counter for spoken sentence (一条话).
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day39 mins (2006-10-01 06:17:56 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
In summary:
一条句子
一句话
一条成語/一句成語
Note from asker:
| So, when you want to write "a sentence" in Chinese, so you write 一句句子? |
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Final Rendering: "No news is good news" is an English saying, isn't it?
Acknowledgment: My thanks to anastasia for both her entry and dialogue. The Tsong Kit website now has two ways of counting sentences instead of only one.
My additional thanks to wherestip, Chinoise, and Aaron for their confirmatory support.
Discussion: Please see http://homepage.mac.com/moogoonghwa/tsongkit/part3/III-2b-g.html#s12 for further discussion regarding the context of this question.
My very best from the land of no mountains surrounded by sea on many sides."
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