Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Chinese term or phrase:
Ａ怎麼會Ｂ呢？
English translation:
Without A how can B occur?
Added to glossary by
Roddy Stegemann
Nov 25, 2006 12:15
17 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.
Ａ怎麼會好呢？ (1/2)
Non-PRO
Chinese to English
Social Sciences
Linguistics
Grammatical Analysis
Sentence: 你生病，當然應當聽母親的話快去看醫生，不看醫生怎麼會好呢？
First Attempt: You have fallen sick and should, of course, follow your mother's advice. What good could come of your not seeing the doctor as soon as possible?
Question One (1/2): It took a little rearranging, but I think I have captured all of the ideas with good precision and fluency. I am concerned about the phrase Ａ怎麼會好呢？Is my translation correct? Can you improve on it?
Question Two (2/2): Is there any grammatical congruency between the word 聽話 and the phrase 聽Ｂ的話? Or, am I stretching the Chinese grammatical imagination?
Please see http://homepage.mac.com/moogoonghwa/tsongkit/contents.html#p... for further reference.
As always you are welcome to comment on other parts of the sentence, if you find them in error or would like to suggest an improvement.
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: You have fallen sick and should, of course, follow your mother's advice. What good could come of your not seeing the doctor as soon as possible?
Question One (1/2): It took a little rearranging, but I think I have captured all of the ideas with good precision and fluency. I am concerned about the phrase Ａ怎麼會好呢？Is my translation correct? Can you improve on it?
Question Two (2/2): Is there any grammatical congruency between the word 聽話 and the phrase 聽Ｂ的話? Or, am I stretching the Chinese grammatical imagination?
Please see http://homepage.mac.com/moogoonghwa/tsongkit/contents.html#p... for further reference.
As always you are welcome to comment on other parts of the sentence, if you find them in error or would like to suggest an improvement.
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)
| 3 +2 | How could you get well without A? |
wherestip
|
Proposed translations
+2
1 hr
Selected
How could you get well without A?
怎麼會好呢？ literally means "how could you get well?"
不看醫生怎麼會好呢？How could you get well without seeing a doctor?
Some examples that follow this pattern:
不问人怎么会找到地方呢? How could we find the place without asking someone?
不复习怎么能考好呢? How could you score well (on the test) without studying?
不上学怎么会学到知识呢? How do you suppose to learn anything without going to school?
As you can see, this is a rhetorical question and the listener is assumed in most situations.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 days23 hrs (2006-11-28 11:30:53 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------
> even in the examples that you provided, is not always used rhetorically, though. Is it?
I would say so. The sentences with this construction are rhetorical in most situations. Although the sentences are posed in a question format, the right and wrong answers have already been decided by the asker.
不看醫生怎麼會好呢？How could you get well without seeing a doctor?
Some examples that follow this pattern:
不问人怎么会找到地方呢? How could we find the place without asking someone?
不复习怎么能考好呢? How could you score well (on the test) without studying?
不上学怎么会学到知识呢? How do you suppose to learn anything without going to school?
As you can see, this is a rhetorical question and the listener is assumed in most situations.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 days23 hrs (2006-11-28 11:30:53 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------
> even in the examples that you provided, is not always used rhetorically, though. Is it?
I would say so. The sentences with this construction are rhetorical in most situations. Although the sentences are posed in a question format, the right and wrong answers have already been decided by the asker.
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Final Rendering: You have fallen sick, and should do what your mother has told you. Go and see a doctor as soon as possible. How will you ever get better, if you do not?
Acknowledgment: Thanks, wherestip, but surely, the expression Ａ怎麼會Ｂ呢？, even in the examples that you provided, is not always used rhetorically, though. Is it?
My thanks, again, to both PK and anastasia for their confirmatory support.
Discussion: Please see http://homepage.mac.com/moogoonghwa/tsongkit/part3/III-3b-g.html#s17 for further discussion regarding the context of this question.
My very best from the land of no mountains surrounded by sea on many sides.
"
Something went wrong...