Quote:
Originally Posted by HansTWN
There are always some fine nuances lost in some cases. An example is 'intentional ambiguity' that can get lost going from Chinese to English. Since there is no plural form in Chinese you can say "there is book on the table". And you leave open if it is one or several books. It would take a very awkward sentence to covey that same meaning.
By the way, there are very easy ways to express the same meaning in Chinese that compound tenses do in Western languages. No changes in the verbs, again just two simple words are added. Not tons of new forms to learn for every verb, every tense; just 2 words that always stay the same.
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How does irony work in Chinese? It doesn't in Japanese. If you say something ironical they will believe that you are sincere and actually mean what you say. When I studied Japanese, back in the day, I noticed that Brits where usually more frustrated than Yanks, simply because they had an inherent need to be ironical and use understatements. The latter simply doesn't go over well. I remember a friend who in a full typhoon said "We're getting a few drops today" and the Japanese person he talked to started correcting him.