Chinese Translation

[marilyn_99]

Hello, can someone please translate these Chinese characters? I would like them tattooed but I would like to make sure that it is interpreted correctly.

If this is correct, can the letters be read from top to bottom instead of left to right? Thank you!

[somethingfunny]

溯游

 

Not a word I've ever come across, but apparently means something like "to flow downwards".

 

Yes, the characters can be read from top to bottom.  They could be read bottom to top and right to left and it probably wouldn't make much difference.

[marilyn_99]

okay, from the link that I checked out the first character (to the left) means to "go upstream" or "go against the current." Would that be appropriate by itself? Or does it have to be accompanied by another character?

 

I also found this translation for "go upstream":

 

逆流而上

[Shelley]

@marilyn_99What did you think it meant? What was the meaning you wanted.

 

I think it is trying to say - swim upstream -so to go against the current, ie: not to follow the flow

 

溯游   sù     to go upstream, to trace the source

          yóu    to swim

 

I would not get this as a tattoo. 

 

Even if this is what you want it to mean, it is really meaningless as a concept in Chinese.

 

If you insist to proceed with this, you will need to find a tattoo artist skilled in Chinese calligraphy or else you could end up with badly written characters or even wrongly written and it will lose its meaning or worse just be gibberish.

 

Using Chinese characters does not impart any kind of magic or special properties. 

 

As you have asked here I am guessing you have no Chinese speakers to ask and therefore no around you will be able to read it without asking you what it means, whats the point? 

 

Why not pick a nice font in your own language and find something uplifting to write in a beautiful font that you can share with everyone you know.

 

Tattoos are not really common in China, not highly thought of.

 

Before you ink, think and think again and again.

 

 

 

 

[Jim]

Funnily enough it appears in the Classic of Poetry: https://www.gushiwen.org/GuShiWen_afe01ee2ff.aspx

Quote

蒹葭苍苍，白露为霜。所谓伊人，在水一方，溯洄从之，道阻且长。溯游从之，宛在水中央。

As far as I can make out from the 白文 gloss (顺流而下去追寻), in that instance it means to go downstream in contrast with the parallel 溯洄, though I think it would normally be read as "swimming against the tide".

[Shelley]

Oh well found @Jim.

 

I do think it is supposed to indicate rebelliousness of a sort.

 

Or someone who makes everything hard work, once had boss who said of a coworker - hes always swimming upstream. 

 

Still wouldn't have it as a tattoo.

 

[Bibu]

1 hour ago, Jim said:

in that instance it means to go downstream in contrast with the parallel 溯洄

Book of Songs to too old to have a very accurate explanation today, unless it is examined with the old dictionary 尔雅.  

 

in 尔雅, 泝=溯

	逆流而上曰泝洄。
		顺流而下曰泝游

 

 

For that paragraph quoted, it is 互文, intertextuality,  the paragraph could be interpreted as : no matter I go up or downstream, the road is hard and long  as you always looks like in the water.

[somethingfunny]

Yes, the consensus seems to be that in this context 溯游 means 顺流而下 which, as I said, translates to something like "to flow downwards".

[Enjune Zhang]

I remember 溯游as "along the water". Chinese teacher just told me the meaning without interpretation when I was a middle school student, and I have taken it for granted for years. The discussion here makes me check for the answer.

 

In the context of蒹葭, origin text as below

溯洄从之，道阻且长。 If you 溯洄, the path is long and full of barriers

溯游从之，宛在水中央。If you 溯游, she appears right in the middle of the river

 

Obviously it takes two opposite actions to get the results different, or it doesn't make sense. How could 诗经 have something illogical like this?

 

溯游≠溯洄

溯=流向=水流的方向=flow direction （it could be going upstream, or downstream）

溯 doesn't include the meaning "against" in classical Chinese (古汉语)

Whether it means against the water or along the water, it depends on the second character, 游and 洄here. 

游 means floating above water, specially, along the water due to earth gravity, from the high to the low.

洄 means against the water, reflected by the 回 as part of the character, which means back to the origin.

Therefore, 溯游means 顺流而下in ancient Chinese, including the expression in 诗经

However, it could be explained as going against the water, or even swimming against the water if you want it in modern Chinese. But explanation on the combination of Chinese characters is preferred, or the Chinese people knowing 溯游 from 诗经may still deem it as 顺流而下, unless you give further illustration on it by connecting 游 with "swim" and 溯 as "against water".

It shows the evolution of meaning in the same Chinese character, and the potential to give Chinese new meaning as long as it makes sense.