Table of Contents
Why does Chinese translate so poorly to English?
Linguistic Differences In Chinese, there is no letter case, tense, plural forms, etc., and grammar rules are much different from English. For example: the same Chinese character may convey different meanings when combined with other characters. one English word can expand into many Chinese characters once translated.
What Chinese words Cannot be translated into English?
Chinese Words You Can’t Translate Into English
- 緣分 – yuán fèn. Yuán fèn roughly means “fate”, particularly in the context of human relationships.
- 關係 – guān xi. Guān xi roughly means “relationship” or “connection”.
- 慢走 – màn zǒu.
- 冤枉 – yuān wang.
- 師傅 – shīfu.
- 香 – xiāng.
- 加油 – jiā yóu.
- 傾聽 – qīng tīng.
Is Google translate good at translating Chinese?
But the new analysis also found that accuracy varied between languages. Like the 2019 study, it found that Google Translate was over 90 percent accurate for Spanish. Tagalog, Korean, and Chinese had accuracy rates ranging from 80 to 90 percent.
Is Chinese hard to translate?
Chinese is a tonal language, which means most words have several meanings based on the tone. Since tones are auditory-based, it makes it difficult to translate on paper. The translator must have a clear understanding of the context to translate the correct meaning of every word.
What words dont exist in Chinese?
12 Useful Chinese Words With No English Equivalent
- Untranslatable Word #1 – 香
- Untranslatable Word #2 – 孝順
- Untranslatable Word #3 – 面子
- Untranslatable Word #4 – 脸
- Untranslatable Word #5 – 下台阶
- Untranslatable Word #6 – 见外
- Untranslatable Word #7 – 冤枉
- Untranslatable Word #8 – 关系
What is the meaning of Xiao in Chinese?
Xiao may refer to: Filial piety (Chinese: 孝, Xiào), or “being good to parents”, a virtue in Chinese culture.
Should you skip right to the Mandarin Chinese phrases?
If you already have some familiarity with Mandarin Chinese Pinyin and tones, you can go ahead and skip right to the phrases. Otherwise, you’ll find some very useful info in the next section, so keep reading below!
How do you say don’t talk nonsense in Chinese?
When you don’t believe a word of what someone is saying, or you completely disagree with someone’s position on something, you can use the phrase：“不要说废话” (Búyào shuō fèihuà.) Meaning: ‘Don’t talk nonsense.’
What is the tone of a word in Chinese?
These represent the “tone” of each syllable. Spoken Chinese is a tonal language. This means that changes in your voice pitch while pronouncing a vowel sound form part of the meaning of a word.\ \ So, even if two words sound exactly the same except for the tone, a different tone = a different meaning.
What are Chinese idioms?
In Mandarin, idioms are known as chengyu, “fixed language.” Chenyu are often comprised of four characters, and the oldest Chenyou are treated to this day as proverbial sayings.