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Tattoo translation help.


Daosh

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Hey guys, my name is Dado from Macedonia and i just joined this forum. :)
So, i want to get a tattoo.
The tattoo is "Pain is temporary, pride is forever" , however, i want it on chinese letters.
So i was checking online , asking some friends on steam, and the resaults are these:

- 苦痛是暫時的,但是輝煌是永恆的  -  the tattoo translated by some guy from china, friend on steam
- 苦痛是暂时的骄傲是永远   -  the tattoo translated from google translate from English to Chinese (Simplified)

I also have this picture in my computer, idk where did i found it on the internet, and i think it's japanese and some guy from asia told me that it's correctly written
- http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=kaibk5&s=8#.U8-0t2NxHdI

So, if you guys can help me with the translations, and tell me if that picture with the tattoo is japanese so i won't put the wrong tattoo, cuz i want to get it with chinese letters, and if the translations are wrong, please correct them, and tell me your opinion.

Thanks. :)

 

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I'd translate the lines in the picture as 'always proud, temporarily in pain'.

As the thread Skylee links to says, these idioms don't translate that well into Chinese. You're Macedonian, try translating them into Macedonian and see if it still sounds so cool. Now consider how different Chinese is and realise it sounds even less cool in Chinese translation, it just looks like a clunky sentence.

Perhaps consider finding a nice font and just getting this tattooed in English, or finding a picture or image that symbolises this idea. What are you hurting from, what are you proud of? Perhaps capture that in a meaningful picture.

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How ever good peoples Chinese is ,I don't think they would really recommend you getting anything tattooed on you that can't read yourself.

 

As you are asking for it to be translated in to Chinese Letters it is clear to me that you do not understand the Chinese language even a tiny bit. Not that this a reason not to tattoo in Chinese but you are very vulnerable to mistakes and people trying to play tricks on you.

 

Having it in Chinese does not impart any kind of magic or special meaning.

 

Sayings like this do not translate well in to Chinese, a lot gets lost in translation.

 

Even if  you manage to get some characters that mean close to what you want, the tattoo artist may not be skilled calligrapher and you could end up with a horrible mess.

 

Go look here http://hanzismatter.blogspot.co.uk/

 

As Lu says have it done in English in a nice font or even in your own language then the people around you be able to read the message you supposedly want to share with those around you.

 

As always before you ink think and then think again and again.

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Having it in Chinese does not impart any kind of magic or special meaning.

 

Well...

 

As long as you never make any Chinese friends or ever go to China it might...

 

I think that the safest way is to choose a dead language for any special message to yourself.

 

If I were to get a tattoo, it would say "think before you speak" in Egyptian hieroglyphs on the back of my left hand and "time to stop speaking" in cuneiform on the right.

 

Very beautiful tattoos that would have life long significance and use to me.

 

These tattoos would have stopped me from pointing out to people, as I rudely have, when they have Chinese tattoed upside-down and flipped back to front...

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Regarding the translations in this thread, I would like to repeat my comments on an older thread (http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/42784-please-could-someone-translate-this-for-me/?p=322135)

This is what I think. If I see this as a tattoo on a non-Chinese person, I would not think, wow, that is great. I would laugh and sigh in my heart and then look away. And if that person asks me what I think about that tattoo, I would say politely, if you like it, it is ok.

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As a kid I was quite afraid of tattooed people--I wonder if someone has come up with a learned word for fear of tattoos yet? If I knew enough Greek I'd probably do so myself. Since every third person in the US(up to and including lots of gray-haired grannies) has one these days, I've had to get kinda used to 'em--although it would be nice to live in China if for no other reason than to get away from tattoos!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ok guys, i've been absent for a while, but thanks for the help you all.
As refering to the picture i gave to you, my friend said it's Mandarin, and the translation is correct.
Anyways, i'm still looking for ideas, help and all that stuff and i found new pic to show to you, but it's not so good :D
So here it is:

- http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=169kznt&s=8#.U9wgE2NxHdI

Can you spot the letters correctly, if you can, i'm seeking for your opinion for this one too.

Thanks again. :)

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I think it's too long, inelegant.

 

I've just looked in my idioms dictionary and 

 

傲雪欺霜

 

seems to be what you're after. Dictionary says

 

傲视寒霜,与雪搏斗。形容不畏严寒或无所畏惧,坚贞不屈。

 

Which means that you stand proud and fight in the face of adversity, you have no fear. Comes from the time of the Yuan Dynasty.

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It'd still translate the text in that picture as 'always proud/arrogant, temporarily in pain', and I would still advise you to not get a tattoo of an English phrase in Chinese. Get a Chinese phrase in Chinese or an English phrase in English.

  • Like 1
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Okay, thanks for the help again.
I respect your opinions guys, but still i have new material, im gonna show it to you and waiting for your comments.
Here are the pictures:

which means "pain is temporary"

which means "pride is forever"

So, are those 2 pics correct or not?

And Lu, can you tell me some phrase related to "Pain is temporary, pride is forever" but in Chinese?

Thanks. ;)

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http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=wb2f6t&s=8#.U9zC3WNxHdI - pain is temporary

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=efq7o&s=8#.U9zDHGNxHdI - pride is forever

Here are the picture links, idk why they weren't in my comment above.
However Shelley, i respect your opinion and i don't know Chinese as you said, but i want that meaning with Chinese letters and i'm making the tattoo for myself, not for others, so i don't mind if they can't read it or something, and the tattoo artist is pretty good tho.

Anyways, see if the pictures are good and tell me.
And some other stuff i thought about, maybe i can combine like symbols for "Pain; Temporary - Pride; Forever"  , would this be good idea?

Thanks.

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The first says 'temporary pain', the way it's phrased would look a bit silly for a tattoo (I know I've said this before). The second says 'pride' 'forever' but I'm not sure if this is the 'pride' you really want.

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