Quote
cicelyalaska
How do you say "rich language" in Cantonese? I'd like to say, for example, that "Cantonese is a rich language." The English/Cantonese dictionary entry for "rich" doesn't seem to give me a translation that's quite right in the context of "rich language." Would it be fung1 fu3 jyu5 jin4?
Interesting discussion. There's expressions in one language, using metaphors, that does not translate exactly into another language. I worked at a senior center where 75% of the clientele are Cantonese, and often I have to translate and often I get stuck on these, think for a moment, and my English speaking co-workers would laugh and say, "what's the matter Frank, you forgot how to say that in Chinese?"
Once I had a spirited discussion when a Chinese speaking person heard someone say "it's so God damn hot", he knew the word hot, but didn't get the first part. So I told him it would be "鬼 咁 熱" in Chinese, and he nodded, smiled, and understood. The social worker heard it and was wondering what the man is asking about and I explained that in Chinese and you don't say "God damn", so she asks, then "so, what do you say?" So I explained that the Chinese expression, that I translated word for word goes like "ghost so hot". She made an ugly face, said "what's the matter, Chinese people believe in ghosts, not God, that's awful".
By then, a few people gathered, heard the discussion, and I explained the problem with translating is that languages are based on culture and you can't translate expressions word for word. Then, an Italian co-worker, who came from Italy said "why can't you translate word for word?". Since this guy curses a lot, and spoke Italian, so I said for instance, you say "fu*k you" in English", but you can't translate it word for word into Italian, and asked him, there's a word for "fu*k and in Italian and a word for "you" in Italian, right? He nodded. But if you say those two Italian words in a sentence in Italian, would someone in Italy understand what you're saying? He said "no". But he agreed there's an equivalent expression in Italian, though not word for word. So I explained in English, we use sexual metaphors a lot, but not in Chinese, probably not in Italian.
So you can translate "Cantonese is a rich language" word for word, and people would scratch their head wondering what you're talking about. Mr. K is right on the mark, his translation is more a like Chinese person thinking and talking, not a foreigner thinking in English, and then translating word for word into Chinese.
