The Chinese and English languages have some notable differences in terms of tense usage. Here are a few key points to consider:
Grammatical Structure:
English has a more elaborate tense system compared to Chinese. English uses auxiliary verbs (e.g., "is," "was," "will be") to indicate different tenses, while Chinese often relies on context, adverbs, and particles to express time reference.
English has a clear distinction between present, past, and future tenses, while Chinese tends to have a more relative and context-dependent understanding of time.
Verb Conjugation:
English verbs undergo inflectional changes to indicate different tenses. For example, "walk" becomes "walked" in the past tense. Chinese, on the other hand, generally uses the same verb form regardless of tense. Instead, time references are often conveyed through adverbs or context.
Time Adverbs and Context:
Chinese commonly uses time adverbs and adverbial phrases to specify the temporal aspect of an action.
These adverbs indicate when an action occurred, such as "昨天" (zuótiān, yesterday), "现在" (xiànzài, now), or "明天" (míngtiān, tomorrow).
English also uses time adverbs, but they are often combined with specific verb forms to indicate the tense. For example, "I will go tomorrow" or "I went yesterday."
Aspectual Differences:
Both languages have different ways to express aspectual information (e.g., continuous, perfective), which further affects how events are described.
English often uses auxiliary verbs (e.g., "is," "have been") to convey aspects, while Chinese relies on different particles, adverbs, and contextual cues.
It's important to note that these are general differences, and there can be exceptions and variations in both languages.
Giles wrote:Well, one of the main points of failure in a cheap/poor translation is when it stumbles over linguistic and cultural differences that the translator doesn't understand (or that the AI doesn't 'understand'). Speaking as a professional translator
Apart from that, I haven't seen the film series yet but I read the trilogy a few years back and found it very interesting. The aliens and the alien/human interactions (and the whole Dark Wood theory) seemingly being predicated to a great extent on the author's experience of history and culture in the PRC, especially the Cultural Revolution. Pretty bleak in some ways, but that doesn't mean he is 'wrong'. Just as the nature of the aliens in Ted Chiang's novella "Story of your Life" and the film adaptation "Arrival" is not 'right' or 'wrong' either.
The concept of "intelligent aliens" is probably modern humanity's greatest Rorschach Ink-Blot Test: as a projective surface for our own various beliefs, fears, desires etc.
Doc Stier wrote:Wow! Overthink things much? Good grief!
How well do most non-Chinese speak any dialect of Chinese language or write anything in Chinese characters without the use of Google Translate or some other translation app? I would bet not very well in both cases.
Steve James wrote:
Afa movies, dubs usually aren't so accurate if you know the original language. Don't expect accuracy.
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