Tattoo phrase

[aristotle1990]

Babelfish version looks fine to me. :rolleyes:

[furiously]

Because the bablefish version may be absolutely wrong and make no sense whatsoever.

Yeah true it doesn't have to be a philosophical or linguistic work, I just want a chinese form of the phrase which makes sense.

It could be a casual tone even. As long as the phrase emphasises on It is more shameful to distrust our friends than to be deceived by them if you know what I mean?

Anyone willing to have another go?

[anonymoose]

不信任我們的朋友比被他們忽悠更為可恥

[creamyhorror]

So why not just use the Babelfish version then?

Because that's just nonsense, and even if it weren't, it could be expressed more elegantly (e.g. with mushroom's translations like 「負友恥於友負。」 or 「懷疑朋友比被朋友欺騙更可恥。」).

furiously:

寧友負我，無我負友 = Better a friend betray me than I betray a friend

負友恥於友負 = Betraying a friend is more shameful than being betrayed by him

懷疑朋友比被朋友欺騙更可恥 = Suspecting a friend is more shameful than being deceived by him

不信任我們的朋友比被他們忽悠更為可恥 = Distrusting our friends is more shameful than being tricked by them

The aesthetics of the phrases matter too, of course. The more succinct phrases are generally better, and the ones which are classically derived.

[skylee]

負友恥於友負

You guys think this is ok?? I think it sounds very weird.

[furiously]

Thanks for the very detailed response creamyhorror.

Skylee, what appears to be the problem with it? Care to give your rendition?

[xiaocai]

I can't explain but I'd second skylee's point. I feel that it does sound weird to many Chinese. Mushroom's translation is by far the most natural sounding one to me. Well, these are just my personal opinions though, you don't really have to take them too seriously.

So why not just use the Babelfish version then?

I'd like to request for a photo of that to add into my collection when it's done.

[furiously]

Oh ok thanks, and will do xiaocai! Least I can do for all the advice and help I've received!

[imron]

Hmm, you do realise that the collection is of foreigners with bad Chinese tattoos right?

@xiaocai, this pic is fantastic! I think from now on I'm going to post it in every thread when someone asks for a Chinese tattoo.

[roddy]

The comments are also brilliant - the use of both 'cock' and 'chick' causes no little confusion for 四夕 · 先生 . . .

Some of the comments on other photos are good too . . .

here

这闺女毀了 ...

中间那个图不就是百度的Logo吗...

原来在外国纹身还要碰运气的……

there

我艹，牵一个这样的妞到朋友聚会的话，从此以后估计就没朋友了……

I still remember this one

微软雅黑

That one actually originated here. He'd be 24 now, wonder if it still reminds him of his stupidity.

[Kenny同志]

寧友負我，莫我負友。

[imron]

I like how creative Chinese swearing can be, with things like 我艹

[furiously]

Sorry, roddy what is the purpose of your post? Without an english translation I'm abit 'lost in translation' haha.

kenny what would that translate out to say?

imron ?

[Kenny同志]

“寧友負我，莫我負友”, except the wording, is almost the same as寧友負我，無我負友. However, the word 莫 sounds better to my ear than 無.

寧友負我，莫我負友

I’d rather be betrayed by my friends than the other way around.

[roddy]

Never mind. Good luck with your upcoming disfigurement.

[DecafLat]

I agree with anonymoose; the Chinese language functions in profoundly different ways than Western languages. You shouldn't extend or manipulate a fixed expression without care for the structure/symmetry.

And as far as tattoos go, since when is conciseness a drawback? Symmetry and Conciseness are two of the main virtues of Chinese; and anonymoose's suggestion has an elegance that is not found in the English phrase, much less in that machine-translated gobbledygook.

[furiously]

I agree with anonymoose; the Chinese language functions in profoundly different ways than Western languages. You shouldn't extend or manipulate a fixed expression without care for the structure/symmetry.

And as far as tattoos go, since when is conciseness a drawback? Symmetry and Conciseness are two of the main virtues of Chinese; and anonymoose's suggestion has an elegance that is not found in the English phrase, much less in that machine-translated gobbledygook.

Hi Decaflat, which translated version are you referring too? because there have been a number of variations.

[DecafLat]

I mean the first suggestion posted by mushroom; it's accurate and would be much nicer as a tattoo phrase.

[realmayo]

Haha, I like the comment in that older thread Roddy linked to: Skylee, who suggested 呆子 in the first place, tells the guy after he's had it done that now he's in the company of great thinkers like 孔子、孟子 etc!

[vulcanmold]

宁愿我负人，不愿人负我

this is the best way