Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Aug 11, 2006 14:50
17 yrs ago
Chinese term
United States
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Native in: English 
Works in: German to English, Japanese to English, French to English, and 3 more.
那地方發生了甚麼事？ (2/2)
Chinese to English
Social Sciences
Education / Pedagogy
Grammatikalische Analyse (Grammatical Analysis)
Sentence: 你知道那地方發生了甚麼事嗎？原來有人發現那裏的水是有害的。
1st Attempt: You know what happened over there? They discovered that the water is polluted.
Question One: Is polluted a fair rendering of 有害的?
Question Two: Consider the sentence part 那地方發生了甚麼事嗎. It would appear that the subject of this sentence part is 甚麼事. It also appears that 那地方 is used as an adverb telling us where 甚麼事 occurred. Nevertheless, the subject is placed at the end of the sentence, and there is nothing to indicate that 那地方 is either an adverb or prepositional phrase. Can anyone offer a good explanation for what is going on here? Is this good written Chinese?
You are welcome to comment on other parts of my translation as well.
Reference: http://homepage.mac.com/moogoonghwa/tsongkit/contents.html#p...
Warning: In order to provide ProZ.com users with the best glossary entries possible, more than one question for the same entry will be asked from time to time. Please keep in mind when responding that you will be graded on your responses to ALL questions asked.
1st Attempt: You know what happened over there? They discovered that the water is polluted.
Question One: Is polluted a fair rendering of 有害的?
Question Two: Consider the sentence part 那地方發生了甚麼事嗎. It would appear that the subject of this sentence part is 甚麼事. It also appears that 那地方 is used as an adverb telling us where 甚麼事 occurred. Nevertheless, the subject is placed at the end of the sentence, and there is nothing to indicate that 那地方 is either an adverb or prepositional phrase. Can anyone offer a good explanation for what is going on here? Is this good written Chinese?
You are welcome to comment on other parts of my translation as well.
Reference: http://homepage.mac.com/moogoonghwa/tsongkit/contents.html#p...
Warning: In order to provide ProZ.com users with the best glossary entries possible, more than one question for the same entry will be asked from time to time. Please keep in mind when responding that you will be graded on your responses to ALL questions asked.
Proposed translations
(English)
| 3 +2 | harmful, pernicious |
Abbatrans
|
| 3 +1 | Hazardous |
franksf
|
Proposed translations
+2
19 mins
Selected
harmful, pernicious
For the the actual meaning of 有害 see above. Do you know why the water is not fit for consumption? Is pollution or bacterial or ....?
As for the question sentence 那地方 is an adverbial (locality), 發生(了) = Verb, 事 is the subject, 甚麼 is the same as 什麼 = what?.
When the term 地方 is used to indicated a locality, in written language there usually is a 在 (at) preceding it. In spoken language I am sure it is left out a lot. For "over there" - I would suggest 那邊.
As for the question sentence 那地方 is an adverbial (locality), 發生(了) = Verb, 事 is the subject, 甚麼 is the same as 什麼 = what?.
When the term 地方 is used to indicated a locality, in written language there usually is a 在 (at) preceding it. In spoken language I am sure it is left out a lot. For "over there" - I would suggest 那邊.
3 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Final Rendering: Do you know what happened there? It was eventually discovered that the water was harmful.
Acknowledgement: My thanks to Elfie for her thorough answer. She appears to have explained everything but the unusual placement of the subject. Also, my thanks to Wenjer for his confirmatory support. This has been a very difficult question to unravel, and it still suffers from loose ends.
Discussion: Please see http://homepage.mac.com/moogoonghwa/tsongkit/part3/III-1b-g.html#s15 for further discussion regarding the context of this question.
My very best from the land of no mountains surrounded by sea on many sides."
+1
1 day 12 hrs
Hazardous
Literally: Do you know what happened in that place? It turned out that someone found that the water there was hazardous.
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Wenjer Leuschel (X)
14 hrs
|
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