忍耐得恨。

渣渣瓦瓦你阿。

How about 'Show him who's boss' or 'teach him a lesson' for gei ta dianr yanse kankan? 'Be a good boy and answer the old bastard's/fart's question' for guaiguai de huida laozi de wenti?

@Xiao Hu

Not critical, really? What an entertaining fellow you are. You obviously have never worked as a translator, since had you done so you would understand that the question you should be asking yourself when translating is not L1-focused at all. It's the exact opposite: it's L2-focused. But since it seems you think know everything please do share how you would render the sentence? Otherwise one might have to conclude that, contrary to your prefacing remarks, your only interest is to come across as a didactic, grandstanding Clever Dick.

@Epps_Rachel,davidwilljack,

I want to apologize to you both for coming across as grandstanding, this certainly was not my intention. I'm most definitely not interested in putting any antics on display (although I have often been guilty of indulging in the more than occasional "cold joke"). I don't want this forum to become a standoff in any way, and wish to avoid it ever becoming so. I want to promote an intimate, family atmosphere where all of us can be friends and family as well as fellow learners and colleges.

I also didn't mean to call into question your professionalism and integrity as a translator.

I understand it was completely my fault on this one, looking over my earlier comments they did seem grandstanding and didactic.

@Davidwilljack,

Just so you understand, I was trying only to look at this from the perspective of a language learner and teacher. To the best of my knowledge, when Brendan, David and Echo approach a translation, they first have to consider the target audience. Which is largely made up of language learners.

Like I said in my earlier post, language learners to a large degree, require very straightforward translations so they can wrap their heads around a new language concept or new word. You constantly have to bear in mind the limitations of the students. They, more often than not, are unable to stretch their minds enough to realize that, it's a translation, which has been interpreted, without respect to the precise meaning of the source material and meant only to convey a certain feeling or to sound more clever or natural to the L2 audience.

So, in many cases they begin to study it and question it.

Can you imagine if in the Popup Chinese premium materials Laozi was translated as, "old bastard" or "old fart?"

What if some students misunderstood the only-in-this-one-case concept and whenever they wanted to say, "old fart" they said "Laozi"? Popup Chinese said that one of the meanings of "Laozi" is "old-fart".

It seems laughable I know, but I've seen it happen with my students.

In my other post, I brought up your translation, "you've gone and killed him", and the only reason I called it into question was simply because the English phrase "you've gone and..." can be used in matters both small and large, whereas 居然 can't.

For example, in English you can say, "Oh my goodness, you've gone and dirtied your shirt", (天啊，你居然把你的衬衫给弄脏了), however 居然 can't be used in that way. So, standing from the perspective of a language learner you have to consider how the student would interpret the new material and then begin using it in speech.

As a teacher you should do whatever you can to avoid confusion and make the learning process fun and easy.

On the flip side of things, standing from the perspective of a translator, if you translate“你居然把他给杀了”for a novel or film subtitles as "You've gone and killed him!",it's a perfectly fine translation.

My point is just that language learning needs to be kept simple, and that a teacher really needs to be cognitive of these kinds of situations where misunderstandings can arise and prevent them before they begin. In my mind, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

@davidwilljack

One of the character flaws listed on the page you linked to is the inability to laugh at oneself. I certainly hope I'm not that humorless person who can't laugh at himself, or his own shortcomings.

Regardless of anything else, this forum is a one of learning. We can all teach each other and learn from each other. Not only in Chinese, but in all areas. A community of dedicated and helpful language learners is what everyone wants to be a part of.

:)

paglino9,

Tiansen growling orders from the corner MADE this lesson! I laughed myself dizzy about a thousand times, BRILLIANT!

My favorite line?

You guessed it..."妈的!"

@chadyanpitre,

"妈的" 本来不是很好笑可是有"田森" 在低吼着说真笑死我了! 没有他的语气就不会那么好玩! 这个演员是个天才!

"These are the Days of Our PopupChinese"....

@etbaccata,

Fixed. Thank you!

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com