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子善自为之

English translation: = 你好自为之you'd better behave yourself

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GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

Chinese term or phrase:	子善自为之
English translation:	= 你好自为之you'd better behave yourself
Entered by:	Prof Projex

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03:29 May 7, 2008

Chinese to English translations [PRO]
History

Chinese term or phrase: 子善自为之

How to translate it ? Any helps appreciated.

Thankyou

Tony Zhou KudoZ activity Questions: 147 (none open) (1 closed without grading) Answers: 0
Local time: 17:20

=你好自为之you'd better behave yourself

Explanation:
听起来像佛教用语呵:P
im wonder if Confucius had a student named "子善", if yes, hrm..then it could also be 子善/自为之 zishan does it himself :P

Selected response from:

Prof Projex
China
Local time: 18:20

Grading comment

Thank you so much
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +1

=你好自为之you'd better behave yourself

Prof Projex

behave yourself; take care (context needed)

snowlamb

conduct yourself well

Yang Min

Answers

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

=你好自为之you'd better behave yourself

Explanation:
听起来像佛教用语呵:P
im wonder if Confucius had a student named "子善", if yes, hrm..then it could also be 子善/自为之 zishan does it himself :P

Prof Projex
China
Local time: 18:20
Native speaker of:

Chinese
PRO pts in category: 24

Grading comment

Thank you so much

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

neutral

Pamanush: you btr behv urself sounds like telling someone off and too threatening in tone, wot do u think?

2 hrs

-> 呵呵，是，但是“好自为之”其实也不是什么褒义词。meanwhile, behave oneself could aslo mean acting in the way that ppl think is correct n proper. or "hope you rely on your own resources", wot do u think?

agree

snowlamb: 断成“好自为之”就可以了。"子善/自为之"不太可能，首先没听说孔子有这么个学生；而且即使有，“为”的对象不是发出动作的这个人，而且子善是第三人称，所以一般不用“自”-否则按比较早的汉语讲，应该是“子善身/亲为之”。[补充]->["但是文言文中，“自”确有表示自己，自身的意思哦~"]可能刚才没表达清楚:P--孟子这段的第一个“人”只能翻译成"one”或"everyone",而不是某个特定的有名字的人（是泛指，而不是语言学的“专有名词（proper name）”)

6 hrs

-> 可是孔子有学生叫“善”，只是不确定是不是字“子善”还是名，that's why i said i was wondering :P . 但是文言文中，“自”确有表示自己，自身的意思哦~ 可见《孟子·离娄上》“人必自侮,然后人侮之;家必自毁,而后人毁之;国必自伐,而后人伐之”可见“自”与“子善”是否为第三人称无关呀! but anyway, this is just for fun :)

3 hrs confidence:

conduct yourself well

Explanation:
conduct yourself well

Yang Min
Local time: 18:20
Native speaker of:

Chinese,

English
PRO pts in category: 16

6 hrs confidence:

behave yourself; take care (context needed)

Explanation:
It can be either warning or advise, depending on the context.

子：you
善：better
自：oneself - usually refer to 2nd/1st person or everyone; rarely 3rd person
为：do;behave
之：auxiliary for mood; or just make up the syllables

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 7 hrs (2008-05-07 10:51:48 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

forgot to mention, 自oneself as an object can be him/herself; but not as an adverb for him/herself in the ancient Chinese of Confucius' time.

snowlamb
Native speaker of:

Chinese

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Changes made by editors

May 14, 2008 - Changes made by Prof Projex:
Edited KOG entry	Prof Projex's old entry - "子善自为之" => "=你好自为之you'd better behave yourself"
May 9, 2008 - Changes made by Prof Projex:
Created KOG entry	KudoZ term => KOG term

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子善自为之

English translation: = 你好自为之you'd better behave yourself

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子善自为之

English translation: = 你好自为之you'd better behave yourself

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KudoZ™ translation helpThe KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.

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