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有害的 (1/2)

English translation: harmful, hazardous, damaging

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Chinese term or phrase:有害的
English translation:harmful, hazardous, damaging
Entered by: Roddy Stegemann

14:48 Aug 11, 2006
Chinese to English translations [Non-PRO]
Social Sciences - Education / Pedagogy / Grammatikalische Analyse (Grammatical Analysis)
Chinese term or phrase: 有害的 (1/2)
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.
Roddy Stegemann
United States
Local time: 16:26
TRY
Explanation:
1. harmful, hazardous, having adverse effects. It might or might not have been caused by polution.

2. Believe ot not, this is the structure of the sentence:


那地方(subject) + 發生了(verb) +甚麼事 (object) 嗎
Selected response from:

jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 19:26
Grading comment
Final Rendering: Do you know what happened there? It was eventually discovered that the water was harmful.

Acknowledgement: My thanks jyuan_us for his very helpful answer with regard to the meaning of 有害的. I do find it very difficult to agree with his grammatical interpretation of the phrasing 那地方發生了甚麼事. I have discussed the issue somewhat thoroughly on the Tsong Kit webpage.

Thanks to yuzouren for his confirmatory support.

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.
3 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +1TRY
jyuan_us


  

Answers


3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
TRY


Explanation:
1. harmful, hazardous, having adverse effects. It might or might not have been caused by polution.

2. Believe ot not, this is the structure of the sentence:


那地方(subject) + 發生了(verb) +甚麼事 (object) 嗎

jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 19:26
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in ChineseChinese
PRO pts in category: 38
Grading comment
Final Rendering: Do you know what happened there? It was eventually discovered that the water was harmful.

Acknowledgement: My thanks jyuan_us for his very helpful answer with regard to the meaning of 有害的. I do find it very difficult to agree with his grammatical interpretation of the phrasing 那地方發生了甚麼事. I have discussed the issue somewhat thoroughly on the Tsong Kit webpage.

Thanks to yuzouren for his confirmatory support.

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.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  yuzouren: In other words, even it is polluted, it may not be harmful. I will not say the translation is wrong in any case. At least, we should know what is cause and what is result.
11 hrs
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