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班门弄斧

English translation: Teach fish how to swim

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Chinese term or phrase:班门弄斧
English translation:Teach fish how to swim
Entered by: Stefanie Sendelbach

17:37 Jan 7, 2005
Chinese to English translations [PRO]
Linguistics
Chinese term or phrase: 班门弄斧
What is the comprable English saying?
The ChinaDaily site translates it as "teach one's grandma to suck eggs". My goodness!
servejoy
Local time: 14:33
A few suggestions
Explanation:
- show off one's skill with the axe before Lu Ban (the master carpenter)
- show off one's skill before an expert
- parade one's learning before a great scholear
- teach fish (how) to swim

These are all taken from A New Century Chinese-English Dictionary (Foreign Language Teaching and Reseach Press)

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Note added at 1 hr 46 mins (2005-01-07 19:23:47 GMT)
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Kingsoft Powerword gives: \"To display one\'s slight skill before an expert\"

*********
Of course it should read \"scholar\" instead of \"scholear\", sorry.
Selected response from:

Stefanie Sendelbach
Germany
Local time: 20:33
Grading comment
I think "Teach Fish how to Swim" is close enough.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +8A few suggestions
Stefanie Sendelbach
3 +1FYI teach your grandmother to suck eggs
chica nueva


Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +8
班门弄斧
A few suggestions


Explanation:
- show off one's skill with the axe before Lu Ban (the master carpenter)
- show off one's skill before an expert
- parade one's learning before a great scholear
- teach fish (how) to swim

These are all taken from A New Century Chinese-English Dictionary (Foreign Language Teaching and Reseach Press)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr 46 mins (2005-01-07 19:23:47 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Kingsoft Powerword gives: \"To display one\'s slight skill before an expert\"

*********
Of course it should read \"scholar\" instead of \"scholear\", sorry.

Stefanie Sendelbach
Germany
Local time: 20:33
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
I think "Teach Fish how to Swim" is close enough.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Will Wong
29 mins
  -> Thanks. I personally like the one with the fish best.
agree  AlanG (X): This phrase can also be found in "The Pinyin Chinese-English Dictionary", Wu Jingrong ed.
58 mins
  -> Thanks, Alan.
agree  Will Matter: Like teaching Wing Chuns' Bil Jee form to Ip Man or teaching Li Ching-Yun how to breathe or helping Cheng Man Ching to "improve" his push hands technique. You get the idea.
1 hr
agree  Denyce Seow: I like your last one. However I must say that "teach one's grandma to suck eggs" is a valid saying.
1 hr
agree  Francis Fine: A comparable and established English saying? "To haul coal to New Castle" is all I can think of at the moment.
1 hr
agree  Edward LIU
6 hrs
agree  Shang
7 hrs
  -> Thank you, everybody.
agree  English Chinese Medical Translator - Jimmy Deng
1 day 3 hrs
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

1 day 15 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
班门弄斧
FYI teach your grandmother to suck eggs


Explanation:
It refers specifically to telling someone how to do something/what to do in a situation/etc.

teach your grandmother to suck eggs (UK disapproving) = to give advice to someone about a subject that they already know more about than you

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Note added at 1 day 16 hrs 2 mins (2005-01-09 09:40:01 GMT)
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班门弄斧 = display one\'s slight skill before an expert eg 在你面前班门弄斧,太不好意思了. I\'m making a fool of myself trying to show off before an expert like you.

=> \'show off in front of an expert\'(外研社\"汉英词典)

show off =




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Note added at 1 day 16 hrs 3 mins (2005-01-09 09:40:45 GMT)
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make a fool of oneself trying to show off in front of an expert


    Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary
chica nueva
Local time: 06:33
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 16

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Mark Xiang
17 hrs
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)



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