How to say: I went to a nightclub

[bumclouds]

Hey guys,

I have to invent a dialogue in Chinese class, and talk for 5 minutes about "travel experiences".

I want to talk in Chinese about my recent vacation to Japan. We spent a lot of time going to nightclubs over there, but I'm not sure how to say that in Chinese.

Online dictionary spits out 夜总会.. Is this correct? A chinese friend of mine says that this term is very "old" and isn't quite fitting. Another Taiwanese friend of mine suggested that I should just use "nightclub" in English, since this is a western concept.

-安德鲁

EDIT: another suggestion i got was 夜店.

[renzhe]

夜总会 or 俱乐部.

[chrix]

I've heard the same thing about 夜总会 like the OP. Especially in Taiwan, apparently it refers to some outdated (?) type of establishment, so it wouldn't go well with a modern context...

[Kenny同志]

夜店 might be a better option over 夜总会. 俱乐部 is an organisation for people of the same interest or a building or room where such people meet on a regular basis. Usually people have to have a membership to get in a 俱乐部. It has nothing to do with a nightclub.

So, I went to a nightclub is better translated as 我去过夜店.

Edited March 22, 2010 at 04:11 AM by kenny2006woo

[roddy]

夜总会 for me conjures up images of 1930s Shanghai, with everyone arriving in chauffeur driven cars or rickshaws to sit down and watch the band, and perhaps waltz.

[anonymoose]

I often see posters pasted around here (on lamp posts, walls, etc) advertising for staff for 夜总会. Exactly what the 夜总会 constitutes I couldn't say, but at least the word seems to still be in use.

[Kenny同志]

Exactly what the 夜总会 constitutes I couldn't say, but at least the word seems to still be in use.

Yes, it is still in use. And in my view, translating nightclub as 夜总会 is not bad.

[Loriquero]

So i have been wrong all this time saying 酒吧？

[Shi Tong]

酒吧 means more "Bar", I guess something like 夜总会 means more "nightclub".

[renzhe]

俱乐部 is an organisation for people of the same interest or a building or room where such people meet on a regular basis.

In other words..... club

But you're right, it doesn't necessarily describe every type of disco club, so it's not universal.

[skylee]

disco? what is a disco? never heard of it. is it something really old?

[Kenny同志]

In other words..... club

I knew, but I wanted to make it clearer.

[renzhe]

This is disco!

Seriously, though, the term discothèque is more common in other languages than it is in English nowadays, and I tend to use it too often.

[Lu]

Seriously, though, the term discothèque is more common in other languages than it is in English nowadays, and I tend to use it too often.

I do this too, when among native English speakers a lot this gradually fades, but it always comes back. Some words just sound so international that the proper English word never feels quite right :-) 'Metro' is another example I think.