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小花

English translation: budding female personalities

23:36 Apr 15, 2016
Chinese to English translations [PRO]
Slang / Hong Kong
Chinese term or phrase: 小花
Describing the job of a reporter:

"我也要澄清一下，其他「小花」或許只是作新聞報道，但我所專注的， 和正職也其實是記者，因為我要作採訪，也有機會要到不同地方出差，所以我其實也討厭被稱為主播和新聞報道員。"

I confess I have never actually seen such a usage. I would think that it probably refers to young female reporters, but beyond that I'm not sure how to handle its connotations.
Lincoln Hui
Hong Kong
Local time: 06:58
English translation:budding female personalities
Explanation:
It can be difficult to translate such terms since they often draw on cultural references lost on people not from China.

I believe this has a double-connotation of both young, pretty faces on the screen and those breaking into the business. Your context on the person in question should hopefully provide more information about this.

'Budding female xyz' is a common way to refer to such new faces and has a neutral to positive feel to it. 'Budding' also manages to preserve the literal meaning of 'young/small flowers'. 'Personalities' is a term that encompasses any performed appearance on television.

If it is just young faces being referenced, and not necessarily new faces, 'young female personalities' could be used instead, or 'young faces' might be enough.
Selected response from:

Jason Cochrane
Ireland
Local time: 23:58
Grading comment
Just for everybody's reference, this is how I ended up translating the sentence:

There are other girls just doing news presentations, but my focus and my main job is that of a reporter as well, because I have to do interviews, I have to go out into the world, to different places, so I don't really like being called an anchor or a news presenter.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the discussion for your ideas as well as clarification on meaning.
2 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5 -1Eye candy
alexgochenou (X)
4the starlets
David Lin
3budding female personalities
Jason Cochrane
3young blossoms
Jason Cochrane


Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): -1
Eye candy


Explanation:
The word "eye candy" is often used by female American journalists when pointing out sexist treatment or in cases where an otherwise hardworking and ambitious (female) journalist is not taken seriously because she is expected to look good first and foremost.

Example sentence(s):
  • I am an investigative journalist, not eye candy thank you very much.

    Reference: http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/spectrum/society/candid-not...
    Reference: http://mediamatters.org/blog/2015/09/01/trailblazing-female-...
alexgochenou (X)
United States
Local time: 18:58
Native speaker of: English
Notes to answerer
Asker: For me, it feels like "eye candy" has more substantially negative connotations than 小花.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Jason Cochrane: It's clear she's including herself in the group of "小花", but pointing out that she wants a more active role than just sitting behind a desk regurgitating the news.
3 days 9 hrs
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1 day 18 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
the starlets


Explanation:
The way Hong Kong Chinese use this term refers to the new and usually young female stars as opposed to the mature and already famous celebrities.

I don’t think it has negative connotations to this group of people as used in the headline in this link.

Starlet = a young actress promoted and publicized as a future star, especially in motion pictures. http://www.dictionary.com/browse/starlet

Hope this helps.



Example sentence(s):
  • 小花：YouTube Rock My Life〈香港最強 CREATOR 新秀戰 2014〉立即報名參加

    Reference: http://ww.share001.com/cat99/node693105/574?page=4#574
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BDpe1Kg7Bk
David Lin
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:58
Native speaker of: Chinese
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Jason Cochrane: The term 'starlets' is reserved for entertainers (MW def: a young movie actress), not news anchors or journalists. Even though 'star' is used for reporters, it has a different meaning (headline-making). But I understand your point.
1 day 19 hrs
  -> Well, you might not know news anchor is like a celebrity in the news industry. Star reporter, star anchorwoman, hence the source text uses the Chinese quotations for 「小花」 to relay the special connotation of a celebrity.
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3 days 14 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
budding female personalities


Explanation:
It can be difficult to translate such terms since they often draw on cultural references lost on people not from China.

I believe this has a double-connotation of both young, pretty faces on the screen and those breaking into the business. Your context on the person in question should hopefully provide more information about this.

'Budding female xyz' is a common way to refer to such new faces and has a neutral to positive feel to it. 'Budding' also manages to preserve the literal meaning of 'young/small flowers'. 'Personalities' is a term that encompasses any performed appearance on television.

If it is just young faces being referenced, and not necessarily new faces, 'young female personalities' could be used instead, or 'young faces' might be enough.

Example sentence(s):
  • Other budding female personalities may be content in reporting the news, but what I'm focused on – my main job – is, in fact, journalism.

    Reference: http://new.girlguiding.org.uk/latest-updates/blogs/why-star-...
    Reference: http://imagenationabudhabi.com/en/media-center/press-release...
Jason Cochrane
Ireland
Local time: 23:58
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in DanishDanish
PRO pts in category: 2
Grading comment
Just for everybody's reference, this is how I ended up translating the sentence:

There are other girls just doing news presentations, but my focus and my main job is that of a reporter as well, because I have to do interviews, I have to go out into the world, to different places, so I don't really like being called an anchor or a news presenter.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the discussion for your ideas as well as clarification on meaning.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  David Lin: You maybe right but strictly speaking, '新聞報道' is presenting the news without interviewing/covering stories 採訪 as a reporter 記者 in this context. In addition, 新聞報道員 is news presenter. Some slight differences in the source text.
37 mins
  -> Well, my example sentence was quickly done to illustrate what was asked for. With more thought, I would likely translate 作新聞報道 as 'presenting news reports' to point out the lack of behind-the-scenes effort. I do have another suggestion I will add too.
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3 days 17 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
young blossoms


Explanation:
This is a somewhat indirect translation of the Chinese term that should be acceptable within the detailed context. This is because 'blossoming' is used in two well-known English contexts: blossoming into a (young/smart/attractive/etc.) woman and having a blossoming career.

Example sentence(s):
  • Other 'young blossoms' may be content in simply presenting news items, but what I'm wholly focused on – my full-time job, in fact – is journalism.

    Reference: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/blossom
Jason Cochrane
Ireland
Local time: 23:58
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in DanishDanish
PRO pts in category: 2
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