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Jack

Jan. 6, 2021

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Translation Practice

A long time ago, before the universe was created, there were four gods: Qin god, Chess god, Write god, Paint god.
Qin god created all the energy of the universe. Every photon moves with the tweedle that the Qin god plays. She pluck the strings in order to create the energy to control the world. The music that humans created is just a small mark that the Qin god left.
Chess god created all the matter in the universe. She is similar to the Qin god. With every move of chess on the sacred chessboard, she created matter which controls the universe.
Write god is responsible for the interaction of energy and matter. Without her, energy and matter will be independently of each other. People can see things because she has written down the reflection law in her book.
Paint god created the mixed gorgeous with her written brush: beauty, art, meaning, moral and feeling. Without her, a person is just a collection of molecules. In one word, she created life.
From the view of writing god and painting god, the qin god and chess god are both completists. They do things cautiously. For example, the chess god would spend several thousand years moving chess and think of all the possibilities the move would lead to.
In recent decades, these four gods’ strength has accidentally reduced. Write god and paint god personally decided to investigate what happened. not to wait and it must take action immediately. So they created humans and sent them to a planet called earth.

Corrections

A long time ago, before the universe was created, there were four gods: the Qin gGod, Chess gGod, Write god,ing God, and Paint ging God.

"Qin God" and "Chess God" make sense, but "Write God" and "Paint God" don't grammatically work (e.g. "write" is a verb so it has to be "writing" to make it a noun).

"God" needs to be capitalized here because "God of ____" is a title/pretty much the name of these gods.

"God of _____" sounds slightly more natural to me than "____ God". In particular, if I was writing this sentence myself, I would write "there were four gods: the God of the Qin, the God of Chess, the God of Writing, and the God of Painting". However, assuming "Qin" is 琴, I think "____ God" is fine (in my opinion using "_____ God" instead of "God of _____" makes it clearly feel like a translation from Chinese, but if you're going to use "qin" anyways, it will already clearly be a translation).

It's not entirely accurate, but "zither" or "Chinese zither" is often used as a translation of "琴"; depending on your audience, using "zither" instead of "qin" might make it easier to understand.

The Qin gGod created all the energy of the universe.

Every photon moves with the tweedlesounds that the Qin god plays.

There's not really a good English word to use here. Using "tweedle" in this way is a bit unnatural (basically nobody uses "tweedle" with this meaning/I read a decent amount and still had to look it up).

If you want to emphasize that it's not simply human "music", I think "sounds" is best. Alternatively, "divine melodies".

She plucks the strings in order to create the energy tohat controls the world.

The music that humans created is just a small mark thatleft by the Qin gGod left.

The original isn't grammatically wrong, but is less natural/felt a little awkward.

The Chess gGod created all the matter in the universe.

She is similar to the Qin gGod.

With every move of chess on the sacred chessboard, she created matter which controls the universe.

"Move of chess" is unnatural. For some reason, "chess move" sounds natural, but since you already say that it's on a chessboard, just "move" is most natural.

Write gThe Writing God is responsible for the interaction of energy and matter.

Without her, energy and matter willould be independently of each other.

People can see things because she has written down the law of reflection law in her book.

With physics or math "laws", it's almost always "law of ____" rather than "____ law". (For example, the first example I can think of where "____ law" is fine is "sine law", but "law of sines" is also just as common).

The Paint gGod created the mixed gorgeous with hermixtures writtenh her brush: beauty, art, meaning, morality and feelingemotion.

In this context, "written brush" doesn't make sense in English, and my Chinese isn't good enough to guess what the original was.

In onether words, she created life.

Even though "life" is one word, "she created life" is three words, so the original is a bit awkward.

From the view of wthe Writing gGod and pthe Painting gGod, the qQin gGod and cthe Chess gGod are both completperfectionists.

For example, the cChess gGod would spend several thousand years moving chessto move a chess piece and think of all the possibilities the move would lead to.

"Chess", in English, refers only to the game. The things that are moved are "chess pieces".

In recent decades, these four gods’ strength has accidentallyd somehow reduced.

"Accidentally" implies that the reduction was caused by a sentient being. If you mean "偶然", then "somehow" is best here. (Here, using "somehow" says that the reason is seemingly random and unknown).

Write gThe Writing God and pPaint ging God personally decided to investigate what happened.

notThe other two wait and itgods thought that they should not wait and that they must take action immediately.

The first half of this sentence seemed to be missing so I completed it with something that made sense.

So they created humansity and sent them to a planet called eEarth.

Here I assume you're referring to "人類"/"humans" as an overall race, in which case "humanity" is a better translation. If you say "humans", it sounds like the gods created some humans and sent them to Earth, but that there might also be other humans somewhere else.

Feedback

Not easy to correct! It would be helpful if you included the original text.

Jack's avatar
Jack

Jan. 6, 2021

0

琴棋书画的宇宙(1)
Jan. 6, 2021, 1:50 p.m.
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Posted by Becky82
很久很久以前,在宇宙被创造之前,存在着四位诸神:琴神、棋神、书神、画神。

琴神创造了宇宙所有的能量。宇宙的每一个光子根据琴神弹的古琴而移动。祂把神圣的古琴拨了弦以便创造又控制宇宙的能量。人类创造的音乐仅仅是琴神留下的极小痕迹。

棋神创造了宇宙所有的物质。祂跟琴神相似,跟着在神圣的棋盘上每一次走一步棋,祂创造又控制宇宙所有的物质。

书神主持宇宙里能量和物质所有的互动。没有祂,能量和物质存在得完全分开。人们能看到东西因为祂在神圣的书里写下了反射现象的定律。

画神把神圣的毛笔创造了复杂性:美丽、艺术、意义、道德、情感。没有祂,一个人只是分子的集合。总之,祂创造了生命。

在书神和画神的眼里,较古老的琴神和棋神都是完美主义者,都动手得特别慢。比如棋神可能花几千年走一步棋,仔细地思考所有的可能性。

近几十年来,这四位诸神的力量意外地减弱了。书神和画神私自决定调查发生了什么事,不能继续等待,必须马上擅自动手。因此,祂们创造了一个人,到一个叫“地球”的行星派了他。

Jack's avatar
Jack

Jan. 6, 2021

0

But remember, this paragraph is written by a non- native Chinese speaker, so it’s not perfect. But as a Chinese, I understand it very well.

Translation Practice


A long time ago, before the universe was created, there were four gods: Qin god, Chess god, Write god, Paint god.


A long time ago, before the universe was created, there were four gods: the Qin gGod, Chess gGod, Write god,ing God, and Paint ging God.

"Qin God" and "Chess God" make sense, but "Write God" and "Paint God" don't grammatically work (e.g. "write" is a verb so it has to be "writing" to make it a noun). "God" needs to be capitalized here because "God of ____" is a title/pretty much the name of these gods. "God of _____" sounds slightly more natural to me than "____ God". In particular, if I was writing this sentence myself, I would write "there were four gods: the God of the Qin, the God of Chess, the God of Writing, and the God of Painting". However, assuming "Qin" is 琴, I think "____ God" is fine (in my opinion using "_____ God" instead of "God of _____" makes it clearly feel like a translation from Chinese, but if you're going to use "qin" anyways, it will already clearly be a translation). It's not entirely accurate, but "zither" or "Chinese zither" is often used as a translation of "琴"; depending on your audience, using "zither" instead of "qin" might make it easier to understand.

Qin god created all the energy of the universe.


The Qin gGod created all the energy of the universe.

Every photon moves with the tweedle that the Qin god plays.


Every photon moves with the tweedlesounds that the Qin god plays.

There's not really a good English word to use here. Using "tweedle" in this way is a bit unnatural (basically nobody uses "tweedle" with this meaning/I read a decent amount and still had to look it up). If you want to emphasize that it's not simply human "music", I think "sounds" is best. Alternatively, "divine melodies".

She pluck the strings in order to create the energy to control the world.


She plucks the strings in order to create the energy tohat controls the world.

The music that humans created is just a small mark that the Qin god left.


The music that humans created is just a small mark thatleft by the Qin gGod left.

The original isn't grammatically wrong, but is less natural/felt a little awkward.

Chess god created all the matter in the universe.


The Chess gGod created all the matter in the universe.

She is similar to the Qin god.


She is similar to the Qin gGod.

With every move of chess on the sacred chessboard, she created matter which controls the universe.


With every move of chess on the sacred chessboard, she created matter which controls the universe.

"Move of chess" is unnatural. For some reason, "chess move" sounds natural, but since you already say that it's on a chessboard, just "move" is most natural.

Write god is responsible for the interaction of energy and matter.


Write gThe Writing God is responsible for the interaction of energy and matter.

Without her, energy and matter will be independently of each other.


Without her, energy and matter willould be independently of each other.

People can see things because she has written down the reflection law in her book.


People can see things because she has written down the law of reflection law in her book.

With physics or math "laws", it's almost always "law of ____" rather than "____ law". (For example, the first example I can think of where "____ law" is fine is "sine law", but "law of sines" is also just as common).

Paint god created the mixed gorgeous with her written brush: beauty, art, meaning, moral and feeling.


The Paint gGod created the mixed gorgeous with hermixtures writtenh her brush: beauty, art, meaning, morality and feelingemotion.

In this context, "written brush" doesn't make sense in English, and my Chinese isn't good enough to guess what the original was.

Without her, a person is just a collection of molecules.


In one word, she created life.


In onether words, she created life.

Even though "life" is one word, "she created life" is three words, so the original is a bit awkward.

From the view of writing god and painting god, the qin god and chess god are both completists.


From the view of wthe Writing gGod and pthe Painting gGod, the qQin gGod and cthe Chess gGod are both completperfectionists.

They do things cautiously.


For example, the chess god would spend several thousand years moving chess and think of all the possibilities the move would lead to.


For example, the cChess gGod would spend several thousand years moving chessto move a chess piece and think of all the possibilities the move would lead to.

"Chess", in English, refers only to the game. The things that are moved are "chess pieces".

In recent decades, these four gods’ strength has accidentally reduced.


In recent decades, these four gods’ strength has accidentallyd somehow reduced.

"Accidentally" implies that the reduction was caused by a sentient being. If you mean "偶然", then "somehow" is best here. (Here, using "somehow" says that the reason is seemingly random and unknown).

Write god and paint god personally decided to investigate what happened.


Write gThe Writing God and pPaint ging God personally decided to investigate what happened.

not to wait and it must take action immediately.


notThe other two wait and itgods thought that they should not wait and that they must take action immediately.

The first half of this sentence seemed to be missing so I completed it with something that made sense.

So they created humans and sent them to a planet called earth.


So they created humansity and sent them to a planet called eEarth.

Here I assume you're referring to "人類"/"humans" as an overall race, in which case "humanity" is a better translation. If you say "humans", it sounds like the gods created some humans and sent them to Earth, but that there might also be other humans somewhere else.

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