Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Chinese term or phrase:
花也會謝了
English translation:
even flowers would wither
Added to glossary by
Roddy Stegemann
Aug 16, 2006 23:19
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.
花也會謝了 (2/2)
Chinese to English
Social Sciences
Education / Pedagogy
Grammatikalische Analyse (Grammatical Analysis)
Sentence: 在這個世界裏，每個人都需要「愛」，沒有了它，花也會謝了。
1st Attempt: In this world everyone needs love, for without it life's flower fades.
Question One (1/2): Is the phrase 在Ａ裏 a common pattern in Chinese? What does it mean? Could you please give examples?
Question Two (2/2): How about the phrase 花也會謝了? Is this a fixed pattern? What does it mean?
You are welcome to comment on other parts of the sentence.
Reference: http://homepage.mac.com/moogoonghwa/tsongkit/contents.html#p...
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.
1st Attempt: In this world everyone needs love, for without it life's flower fades.
Question One (1/2): Is the phrase 在Ａ裏 a common pattern in Chinese? What does it mean? Could you please give examples?
Question Two (2/2): How about the phrase 花也會謝了? Is this a fixed pattern? What does it mean?
You are welcome to comment on other parts of the sentence.
Reference: http://homepage.mac.com/moogoonghwa/tsongkit/contents.html#p...
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 +1 | even flowers would wither away. |
Anthony Sariti
|
| 4 | Love can never be over-emphasized |
franksf
|
| 4 | FYI |
Philip Tang
|
| 4 | Flowers would fade without loving care and attention. |
redred
|
Proposed translations
+1
4 hrs
Anthony Sariti
United States
United States
Native in English
United States
Over 20 Years of Translation Experience
Native in: English
Works in: Chinese to English
Related KudoZ points
:
4
Selected
even flowers would wither away.
[without it] even flowers would wither away.
This is a standard pattern where 也 is understood in English as "even." Of course, "also" as the dictionary entry would give also makes sense, but that's not the tone in Chinese. So X 也 Y Z means "even X YZ." Naturally the actual meaning of Y and Z require tweaking in English to get it idiomatically correct. Another point, this phrase with the meaning of "even" comes after some comment. Just straight out of the box with no preceding phrase or sentence, then "also" would be the first choice. The final arbiter is context, of the preceding phrase, sentence and even paragraph in some cases.
Of course, note special meaning of 謝 here.
This is a standard pattern where 也 is understood in English as "even." Of course, "also" as the dictionary entry would give also makes sense, but that's not the tone in Chinese. So X 也 Y Z means "even X YZ." Naturally the actual meaning of Y and Z require tweaking in English to get it idiomatically correct. Another point, this phrase with the meaning of "even" comes after some comment. Just straight out of the box with no preceding phrase or sentence, then "also" would be the first choice. The final arbiter is context, of the preceding phrase, sentence and even paragraph in some cases.
Of course, note special meaning of 謝 here.
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Final Rendering: In this world everyone needs love, for without it even flowers cannot survive.
Acknowledgement: My thanks to franksf, communease, redred, and Anthony for their entries. I have selected Anthony's response, because it offered the best grammatical explanation for the phrase 花也會謝了. I think you will find that I used a little of everyone's entry on the Tsong Kit website, however.
My thanks to Anastasia for her confirmatory support, as well. She appears to know what I am looking for.
Discussion: Please see http://homepage.mac.com/moogoonghwa/tsongkit/part3/III-1b-g.html#s19 for further discussion regarding the context of this question.
My very best from the land of no mountains surrounded by sea on many sides."
1 hr
Love can never be over-emphasized
在這個世界裏，每個人都需要「愛」，沒有了它，花也會謝了. It depicts a human-centric world: Love (among human) can never be over-emphasized, for if there were no love, even flowers would fade. We know from common sense that this is not true, the state of flowers is independent of humanly love. 花也會謝了 is hypothetical. It is applied to over-emphasize some "thing" like love. It can also be used to stress the chance of something being tiny. For example, 你要我等你﹐我要是等你來愛我﹐恐怕花也會謝了. You say that you want me to wait for you, if I waited for your love, I am afraid that even flowers would fade. (chance being tiny)
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Note added at 1 hr (2006-08-17 00:55:28 GMT)
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Attempt of translation: In this world everone needs love, for without it even a diamond would decay.
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Note added at 1 hr (2006-08-17 00:55:28 GMT)
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Attempt of translation: In this world everone needs love, for without it even a diamond would decay.
3 hrs
Philip Tang
China
China
Native in Chinese
&
English
Specializes in field
China
Seasoned US hi-tech/management executive
Native in: English , Chinese
Works in: Chinese, Chinese to English, English to Chinese
Related KudoZ points
:
30
FYI
(1) 裏 = within a circumstance, for example: 日本人習慣在屋子裏不穿鞋.
I wouldn’t call this a common pattern; I could easily rephrase it to –
在這個世界之間, 沒有愛就沒有生命意義!
(2) 花也會謝了 – it means without love, “even flowers will cease to survive.
I wouldn’t call this a common pattern; I could easily rephrase it to –
在這個世界之間, 沒有愛就沒有生命意義!
(2) 花也會謝了 – it means without love, “even flowers will cease to survive.
7 hrs
Flowers would fade without loving care and attention.
在这个世界里，每个人都需要“爱”，没有了“爱”，就好像花儿缺少水的滋润，花也谢了。
或，在这个世界里，每个人都需要“爱”，没有了它，生命之花也凋零。
Everybody needs LOVE, without LOVE, as if flowers are lack of the irrigation of water, they are withered away easily. 花也会谢了hints a shortage of solicitude from human beings.
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Note added at 7 hrs (2006-08-17 06:44:58 GMT)
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People need love that is equal to flowers require water sprinkling.
或，在这个世界里，每个人都需要“爱”，没有了它，生命之花也凋零。
Everybody needs LOVE, without LOVE, as if flowers are lack of the irrigation of water, they are withered away easily. 花也会谢了hints a shortage of solicitude from human beings.
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Note added at 7 hrs (2006-08-17 06:44:58 GMT)
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People need love that is equal to flowers require water sprinkling.
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