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禁锢

English translation: confinement

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GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

Chinese term or phrase:	禁锢
English translation:	confinement
Entered by:	Wenjer Leuschel

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17:22 Jul 21, 2008

Chinese to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Idioms / Maxims / Sayings / Meaning in this sentence

Chinese term or phrase: 禁锢

禁锢就是你以为你做不到。

My translation for this sentence would be "An imprisonment means that you believe you can't make it."

Is 禁锢 a "confinement" or an "imprisonment"? What difference do they make?

TIA!

Wenjer Leuschel KudoZ activity Questions: 367 (3 open) (4 closed without grading) Answers: 4078 Taiwan
Local time: 18:23

confinement

Explanation:
my undestanding is this...

imprisonment is punishment. It is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for commission of crime.

confinement is not necessarily a punishment.
e.g. hospital confinement

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Note added at 1 hr (2008-07-21 18:36:54 GMT)
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禁锢就是你以为你做不到。
Confinement is what you thought you can not accomplish.

But I think confinement need to be expounded --> as in mentally confined. 一个人在思想上被禁锢了，他就没有信心去尝试新领域或面推挑战，最后导致他什么也做不成。

Selected response from:

karcsy
Local time: 18:23

Grading comment

All suggestions are very good. Thanks to all! I choose this one because of the translation Malcolm's rendering in "Confinement is telling yourself you can't do it." Special thanks to the native speakers Michael and Malcom. Your participation helps me a lot in understanding English better.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

3 +2

self-confinement

Jason Young

4 +1

restraint

neallu

4 +1

imprisonment

Michael Lickorish

3 +2

confinement

karcsy

you are your own prison

quoi

Discussion entries: 5

Answers

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

restraint

Language variant: confinement

Explanation:
I think the restraint is better.

neallu
Local time: 18:23
Native speaker of:

Chinese

46 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

confinement

karcsy
Local time: 18:23
Native speaker of:

Chinese
PRO pts in category: 6

Grading comment

Notes to answerer

Asker: Thanks! How about "A mental confinement is the belief of being unable to accomplish."?

6 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

imprisonment

Explanation:
"(True) imprisonment is thinking there is something you cannot do".

The word confinement conveys the sense of being shut off from others, unable to communicate, whereas imprisonment has more the sense of being restricted or limited.

Imprisonment rather than confinement is thus more likely to be used metaphorically to refer to limitations.

Similar phrases include "the shackles of self-doubt" and
"All limitations are self-imposed".

Michael Lickorish
Australia
Local time: 19:53
Native speaker of:

English

7 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

self-confinement

Language variant: unconfidence

Explanation:
I guess 禁锢 can be either a "confinement" or an "imprisonment" depending on the specific situation. "imprisonment" is absolutely related to a prison or jail, while confinement can be related to any kind of environment, physical or mental.

Jason Young
China
Local time: 18:23
Works in field
Native speaker of:

Chinese

14 hrs confidence:

禁锢就是你以为你做不到 you are your own prison

Explanation:
It is not the world that confines you, you yourself are the World, which holds you so fast a prisoner with yourself in yourself.

- Microsoft Encarta

quoi
Native speaker of:

Chinese
PRO pts in category: 4

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English translation: confinement

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English translation: confinement

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