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英才

English translation: Ying Tsoi (a person's name) / genius (literary sense)

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Chinese term or phrase:英才
English translation:Ying Tsoi (a person's name) / genius (literary sense)
Entered by: Roddy Stegemann

09:45 Dec 25, 2003
Chinese to English translations [Non-PRO]
/ 言語
Chinese term or phrase: 英才
那個名人的名字是英才，他寫的東西很有名，他說的話是名言

I want to translate the above phrase as: "The name of that famous person is Ying Tsoi. His works are well known, and his sayings are famous".

Unfortunately, I am confused about the first part of this sentence -- namely, 那個名人的名字是英才. It appears that it contains unnecessary redundancy -- in particular 名人 and 名字. Unless the person is working under a pen name, usually both the person and his original name are known together. One does not have to repeat the word famous.

Also, I am concerned about the word 英才; can this refer to anyone who is considered a genius, or does it refer to someone in particular. If it is the latter, how does one write it in Latin script?
Roddy Stegemann
United States
Local time: 22:24
英才
Explanation:
名人 = famous person
名字 = name

Famous people need to have a name too, eh?? :) 名人 and 名字 are seperate entities here. Whether this person is writing under a pen name or an orginal name does not not have anything to do with whether he is famous. Therefore, I think there is no redundancy here.

英才 = genius
You're right! It is possible that this 英才 is not the name of a person. In literature, one plays with language and you say 他的名字是魔鬼 (He's evil), 你的名字是太阳 (You are my sunshine). But we can't be sure whether it is used as the NAME of this 名人 or simply as a description for him. You might like to grasp a feel of the author's writing style and judge from there.

Merry X'mas!! :)
Selected response from:

Denyce Seow
Singapore
Local time: 13:24
Grading comment
Thank you for the Christmas wish, and your thoughtful commentary with regard to 英才. As others have pointed out, these sentences are taken from a grammar text, and are thus awkward to translate. Thus, for the moment I will assume that it is merely the name of a person.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5 +3英才
Denyce Seow


  

Answers


2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +3
英才


Explanation:
名人 = famous person
名字 = name

Famous people need to have a name too, eh?? :) 名人 and 名字 are seperate entities here. Whether this person is writing under a pen name or an orginal name does not not have anything to do with whether he is famous. Therefore, I think there is no redundancy here.

英才 = genius
You're right! It is possible that this 英才 is not the name of a person. In literature, one plays with language and you say 他的名字是魔鬼 (He's evil), 你的名字是太阳 (You are my sunshine). But we can't be sure whether it is used as the NAME of this 名人 or simply as a description for him. You might like to grasp a feel of the author's writing style and judge from there.

Merry X'mas!! :)


Denyce Seow
Singapore
Local time: 13:24
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 1380
Grading comment
Thank you for the Christmas wish, and your thoughtful commentary with regard to 英才. As others have pointed out, these sentences are taken from a grammar text, and are thus awkward to translate. Thus, for the moment I will assume that it is merely the name of a person.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  English Chinese Medical Translator - Jimmy Deng
8 hrs
agree  Scott Webber (X): Do a Google search: if 'yingcai' doesn't turn up as a famous literatus, you'd probably be better to translate 'yingcai' as 'genius'.
8 hrs
agree  chica nueva: Some of these translations look like student practice exercises from a textbook. They seem rather artificial and stilted, in my view. Not necessarily a good guide to authentic spoken language (and a little difficult to translate meaningfully)
10 hrs
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