Discussion Chinese phrases in novels - What do they even mean?

I'm trying really really hard to understand how someone can come up with such garbled collections of words that have no business being in the same sentence or even the same paragraphs. What could these authors be on when they think of these phrases?

"Ning realized that his "Shadowless" wasn't as shadowless as he thought, but this was the true shadowless stance" - Desolate Era
"Mystic Skeleton Battlesuit which seemed to be heavy and clumsy was like a tyrannosaur dancing gracefully on the tip of a sword" - Forty Millennia of Cultivation
"Lin Ming killed an over 10,000 jin Thunder Lizard with just a single punch; it was just like he had punched a dog to death" - Martial World (WTF yo, that poor doggo!)
"If a needle poked the back of a cat or dog, would that be able to kill a cat or dog?" - Martial World (Is the author a psycopath?)

Is it the Chinese language itself or were these author just hiring teams of monkeys to generate words out of a dictionary?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiom

You think idioms or phrases in English are any better? Clouds with silver linings and raining cats and dogs? Get some culture.

 

I mean, at least the silver lining/ raining cats and dogs could be said to have some origin (actual frogs were thrown up in fierce storms).
But let's be honest, English is three different languages wearing a coat and pretending to be one language. It's a constantly evolving one cannibalizing other languages.

Chinese isnt that way. And I still am struggling to picture a T.Rex dancing on a sword

 

There’s a reason the majority of us don’t use those phrases. Chinese is full of this crap, English isn’t.
I could read 10 books in English and count the amount of such phrases on my hands, I’ve yet to make it through a single Chinese book with less.

 

Woah there, be careful mentioning China and Uyghurs in one post. You might end up on some sort of list ...

 

Chinese culture in general tends to prefer proverbs and adages a lot more than western literature. There is a reason why China is famous for "ancient chinese proverbs". What you quoted are more of a modern twist on this. Whereas the old ancient chinese proverbs were famed for their profoundness and depth in meaning, the modern twisted ones are more famous for their wackiness and level of ridiculousness. And honestly, I think I enjoy the modern ones quite a bit.

The one you quoted for Desolate Era wasn't really wrong, it's like saying some guy realized his awesomeness was not as awesome as he thought, and that this is true awesome. The one from forty millenniums of cultivation uses the contrast between a cumbersome tyrannosaur to the thinness of a knife, a statement which not only greatly exaggerates the degree of difference in how the mecha is behaving, but it also evokes a bit of a chuckle imagining a dinosaur dancing gracefully.

The last two are a bit more graphical and I really wouldn't consider them modern either, rather they seem to be older phrases that are kind of common in any language. For example, there is more than one way to skin a cat. It's like shooting fish in a barrel. I wouldn't be surprised if most languages didn't have some sort of phrase related to mutilating some sort of animal because that's what people did in the past. Animal cruelty/animal rights is a relatively new thing especially when compared to the history of a language.

the TLDR of it all is: these phrases are to make things interesting, don't take it so hard

 

i dont know why the "americans" have so big problems with idioms (every one needs to be explained)
maybe its because its because my main is german
ie the Forty Millennia of Cultivation sounds for me like a combination of 2 idioms:
1. dancing on the knive-edge
2. the elephant in a porcelain shop
heavy emphasis on the last one

 

I think some of the Chinese idiom (when applied properly in the story/dialogue) can be quite interesting. Since they either tell a story or act as important lesson. As a translator myself, i try my best to incorporate them into English without disrupting the flow or sounding too awkward. Alternatively, I would explain the idioms in detail via footnotes.

Though if there are idioms that either add nothing to the story, or a single English word would do a far better job than translating the whole phrase, then I usually just skip those.

TLDR: Chinese Idiom is good, embrace them.

 

I think you are the type of person that would ask How is Sam Tarly still fat?

you are reading fantasy novels, and you are questioning about why those phrases are weird?

 

Idiom fine, if they reduced the word (ten thousand and other numerical nonsensical crap) fiction at least logical NOT dUMB

 

you sure this is not just a translator-san doing 'translation' things?

 

Most Chinese idioms when spoken in Chinese flow and sound cool, which is pretty much the only thing that matters. Just like in English, it doesn’t matter as long as it sounds cool. That’s also how debates and politics work, it doesn’t have to be logical, you just need to say it in a way that makes it sounds right, and people will believe you, that’s how the human mind works according to studies in psychology.

 

Personally I don’t mind the idioms. They sort of bring the ideas the author wanted to convey to life.
Some things are written just to get a reaction out of the reader, too. Like it’s funny/cute to imagine a dragon dancing, especially gracefully. Never mind doing it on the sword.
I agree with a point above that some things like that shadow could be just a strange translation.

What bothers me more in CN novels:
Jade skin (I know white jade exists, but usually I think green when I read that).
The numbers with many zeros in them.
The eyebrows.
Actually take green skin, sword eyebrows, peach eyes.... errr help we have a monster on the loose!!
The length of legs. Especially when they say that a 1.60m woman has long legs. That’s just so unproportional.
The words the translator uses for the word “said”. I don’t think I see many he/she said xyz, he /she told ABC person xyz, instead they write “shouted”. Why? Do they have an ear infection?
The “not hot not cold” “not short not long” why not translate it as “balmy temperature “ “a walkable distance away” or something?

That’s not going into character cliches that authors in CN write, just the few descriptions that often pop up in some novels. In comparison to those I think idioms are much easier on the eyes.

 

None of these phrases are even slightly confusing. People should also bear in mind that Chinese fiction tends to be more interested in being evocative than it is in being descriptive. What this means is that the writer will use statements that are designed to play on the reader's imagination rather than saying what something exactly looks like. It may not translate super well, but that's hardly the writer's fault (or even responsibility).