Chinese to English translations [Non-PRO] Education / Pedagogy / Grammatical Analysis
Chinese term or phrase:黃先生一見了心上人 (UTF-8 encoded)
Sentence: 黃先生一見了心上人就很開心，做事也很有信心。
1st Attempt: A brief look into Mr. Wong's heart shows a person who is happy and confident in his work.
Problem(s):
1) Is Mr. Wong looking into his own heart, or is someone else commenting about what Mr. Wong sees, when he looks into his heart?
2) Have I missed the meaning of 一見 altogether?
Explanation: 1) Is Mr. Wong looking into his own heart, or is someone else commenting about what Mr. Wong sees, when he looks into his heart?
2) Have I missed the meaning of 一見 altogether?
正确的说法应该是：黄先生一见心上人，就很开心。
“见心上人”是“开心”的条件，并不一定已经发生，因此不用“了”。
句中“一....就...”应该是短语，用“as long as”"as soon as"也可以
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 32 mins (2006-04-02 12:31:13 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
As long as Mr Wong sees his sweetheart, he will be very happy...
I would like to thank both Minoer Yang and anastasia t for their very helpful answers, for it took both of you to put me on what I believe is probably the right grammatical track. NKWong's response to anastasia t's entry was also very helpful for it confirmed my own belief that both Minoer Yang and anastasia t may have missed something very important.
In the end, however, I believe Minoer Yang's entry was the most helpful, because it was she who provided the solution to my grammatical puzzle -- namely, the construction 一Ａ就Ｂ. Had I known this the other problems would likely have resolved themselves.
Although I doubt this is what the author had in mind (Last Hermit) when he constructed this sentence, I have decided to translate the sentence as follows: "Just after seeing his lover Mr. Wong is very happy; after performing his work he is also very confident.
In the absence of more context I am constrained by grammar and structural logic. In the end 做事 is a verb and 很有信心 follows Mr. Wong's having worked. 3 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer
The is how 一見了 should be interpreted. There has got to be the element of immediacy no matter the logic. Perhaps, the work here is not work per se. It could be the way Mr Wong stands, walks, talks, etc.
If immediacy is implied by the phrase 一．．．就．．．, then is Mr. Wong's confidence even related to his having seen his lover? In short, Mr. Wong's happiness occurs after he sees his lover, but his confidence does not occur until he has performed work. Is this not a more accurate interpretation of the sentence, irrespective of how it is translated?
Having read the responses from both anastasia t and Minoer Wang I am wondering, if it would not be better to translate this sentence as "After seeing his lover Mr. Wang is content and confident in his work". The contention between these two responders appears to be in the immediacy of the resulting action implied by the phrase 一．．．就. Does it mean "as soon as" or "as long as", these two phrases can have a very different meaning in English. Also, does the phrase 一．．．就 have a cause and effect implication, or does it merely imply a sequence of action.
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Answers
13 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +2
The moment Mr Wong sees his sweetheart/lover/girlfriend
Explanation: Yes, you've missed 2 things:
(1) 一見 is not a "brief look". "一見了" is usually preceded and followed by nouns. Let's say these two nouns are A and B. A 一見了 B means the moment A sees B.
(2) 心上人 should not be separated, it means the person in Mr Wong's heart, in other words, his sweetheart/lover/girlfriend.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 14 mins (2006-04-02 12:13:46 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
So your whole sentence can be translated as:
The moment Mr Wong sees his sweetheart/lover/girlfriend, he becomes very happy and confident in his work.
xxxanastasia t Singapore Local time: 12:34 Native speaker of: Chinese, English
17 mins confidence:
as long as\as soon as
Explanation: 1) Is Mr. Wong looking into his own heart, or is someone else commenting about what Mr. Wong sees, when he looks into his heart?
2) Have I missed the meaning of 一見 altogether?
正确的说法应该是：黄先生一见心上人，就很开心。
“见心上人”是“开心”的条件，并不一定已经发生，因此不用“了”。
句中“一....就...”应该是短语，用“as long as”"as soon as"也可以
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 32 mins (2006-04-02 12:31:13 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
As long as Mr Wong sees his sweetheart, he will be very happy...
Mincho Young China Local time: 12:34 Works in field Native speaker of: Chinese, English
Grading comment
I would like to thank both Minoer Yang and anastasia t for their very helpful answers, for it took both of you to put me on what I believe is probably the right grammatical track. NKWong's response to anastasia t's entry was also very helpful for it confirmed my own belief that both Minoer Yang and anastasia t may have missed something very important.
In the end, however, I believe Minoer Yang's entry was the most helpful, because it was she who provided the solution to my grammatical puzzle -- namely, the construction 一Ａ就Ｂ. Had I known this the other problems would likely have resolved themselves.
Although I doubt this is what the author had in mind (Last Hermit) when he constructed this sentence, I have decided to translate the sentence as follows: "Just after seeing his lover Mr. Wong is very happy; after performing his work he is also very confident.
In the absence of more context I am constrained by grammar and structural logic. In the end 做事 is a verb and 很有信心 follows Mr. Wong's having worked.
4 hrs confidence: peer agreement (net): +2
Mr Wang is filled with elation and confidence whenever he sees his sweetheart.
Explanation: But alliteration is not encouraged for good writing.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 4 hrs (2006-04-02 16:20:54 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
At the sight of his sweetheart, Mr Wang goes into ecstasies and becomes confident in his job.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 4 hrs (2006-04-02 16:22:15 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Oops. VERY confident in his job.
Last Hermit China Local time: 12:34 Native speaker of: Chinese PRO pts in category: 4
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +2
