Mar 17, 2014 18:31
10 yrs ago
Chinese term
United Kingdom
心气高扬
Chinese to English
Art/Literary
Poetry & Literature
The full sentence is below.
小黄笑话辛荑的简称是小黄，他戴上近视眼镜，裹白围脖，好象心地纯净心气高扬的五四青年。
If you would like more context, you can read the first chapter at http://www.fengtang.com/novels/beijing/1234774132.shtml
For me, 心地纯净 seems easy because it could be pure-hearted or something similar.心气高扬 does not fit into an easy adjective, perhaps "serving a higher purpose" would work? I would be open to more creative suggestions.
小黄笑话辛荑的简称是小黄，他戴上近视眼镜，裹白围脖，好象心地纯净心气高扬的五四青年。
If you would like more context, you can read the first chapter at http://www.fengtang.com/novels/beijing/1234774132.shtml
For me, 心地纯净 seems easy because it could be pure-hearted or something similar.心气高扬 does not fit into an easy adjective, perhaps "serving a higher purpose" would work? I would be open to more creative suggestions.
Proposed translations
(English)
| 3 | idealistic |
Phil Hand
|
| 4 +1 | ambitious / aspiring |
David Lin
|
| 4 +1 | high-spirited |
tanglsus
|
| 4 +1 | elated and ambitious |
jarv95888
|
| 4 | With a big dream |
maxzhy
|
| 3 | a mind full of lofty ambitions |
Aaron Gilkison (X)
|
| 3 | proud and passionate |
Dai.Xiaohu
|
Proposed translations
13 hrs
Selected
idealistic
I think the meaning incorporates elements of idealism an ambition/aspiration - think of the May 4th movement: they wanted to change China, and they really believed they could.
Other possibilities: passion, dream... you could think around Don Quixote, it's that kind of pure chivalric idealism, without the bathetic failure!
...he looked like one of the innocent young idealists of the May 4th movement.
Other possibilities: passion, dream... you could think around Don Quixote, it's that kind of pure chivalric idealism, without the bathetic failure!
...he looked like one of the innocent young idealists of the May 4th movement.
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "It has all the info and it's concise. Great!"
+1
14 mins
ambitious / aspiring
心气高扬 ＝ 自视高过其他人／志气 ／ 想有一番大作为 ＝aspiring / ambitious
Just an idea.
Just an idea.
+1
4 hrs
high-spirited
innocent yet high-spirited youth from the era of fourth of May movement
供参考
供参考
Note from asker:
| I think your suggestion of innocent but high spirited is good. The tone is right but I need something a little shorter. |
+1
4 hrs
6 hrs
a mind full of lofty ambitions
好象心地纯净心气高扬的五四青年
心地 and 心气 seem to mirror each other here. I would try to combine them, play them off each other as is done in the Chinese. Based on the rest of the sentence it sounds like a description of a young revolutionary, striving for lofty ideals. Thus, I'd go with something along the lines of:
"...like a youthful revolutionary of the May Fourth movement, with a heart full of righteousness and a mind full of lofty ambitions."
心地 and 心气 seem to mirror each other here. I would try to combine them, play them off each other as is done in the Chinese. Based on the rest of the sentence it sounds like a description of a young revolutionary, striving for lofty ideals. Thus, I'd go with something along the lines of:
"...like a youthful revolutionary of the May Fourth movement, with a heart full of righteousness and a mind full of lofty ambitions."
Note from asker:
| I like this version a lot, it has a nice ring to it. |
8 hrs
With a big dream
In China, a lot of young people, esp. university students, in that particular period seemed to think they could do many things to reinvigorate this nation.
1 day 9 hrs
Dai.Xiaohu
China
China
Native in Chinese
China
An English-Chinese-English freelancer
Native in: Chinese (Variants: Mandarin, Simplified)
Works in: English to Chinese, Chinese to English, English
proud and passionate
心高气傲 = proud and arrogant
心气高扬 = 心"高"气"扬" = proud and passionate
心气高扬 = 心"高"气"扬" = proud and passionate
Discussion
Idealism = the belief that a perfect life, situation etc. can be achieved, even when this is not very likely. - Oxford Dictionary
In May 4th movement, I am not sure the student movement was looking for something like 'perfect life that can't be achieved'. Rather, one of the accomplishments of the May 4th was the abolishment of 文言文 into 白話文 which we are lucky to be able to use it until today in the 21st century i.e. modernisation of the Chinese language, apart from raising awareness about the weaknesses of many aspects of social and political life in China then.
See more about May 4th movement in the link below. It is more than idealism I believe.
http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/五四运动