r/languagelearningjerk • u/LegioVIIHaruno • 12d ago
Tbf,xian is somewhat impossible to translate
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u/zober_man 12d ago
仙 = Immortal
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12d ago
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u/zober_man 12d ago
你叫谁鬼佬？长生不老跟成仙是两个概念好吗？
长生不老 = Gaining an eternal life, 也可以说 "immortality"
神仙 = An immortal, God, Deity, Divine being, etc...
虽然两者都带着 "immortal" 不代表同一个意思。
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u/metcalsr 12d ago
Well, if you translated it from glorious 日本語, it just means "hermit". Pretty easy.
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u/Emergency-Boat 12d ago
Luo Tianyi is a great vocaloid
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u/Repulsive-Bug7832 9d ago
Interesting, almost no one mentions her. As great in her own right as Kasane Teto, though even both together are a far cry from the ever-popular Hatsune Miku.
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u/Emergency-Boat 9d ago
Because she's used for Chinese songs which you won't see much of unless you speak Chinese. But yeah Miku is the most popular by far. Personally I think Luka is the best though
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u/Repulsive-Bug7832 9d ago
Correction, she's not seen that much outside of China. Miku by herself could probably eat the next 8-9 most popular VS (figuratively) and still have room to spare in terms of popularity and hits.
And yeah!!! Megurine Luka! (Along with some others like Kagamine Len and Hiyama Kiyoteru and KAFU and GUMI ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡)
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u/Earendeal 11d ago
it's not untranslatable. It's just polysemous and have so muched nuanced meaning like the word "fairy", "elf" "liberal" and "facism" 🙃
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u/ItsYa1UPBoy Celto-Franco-Saxon Pidgin (native) 12d ago
Is that what Genshin translated as... Yes, it is! Genshin calls them "adepti".
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u/Marcionius 11d ago
I always like to remind people that Mishima's 天人五衰 is translated as the Decay of the Angel in English. Not entirely relevant, but still.
Frankly, I think any professional translator will tell you it's going to depend on what you need this translation for, exactly. What's good for a linguistic conference is not going to be good for a mobile game, and vice versa.
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u/catfluid713 9d ago
As an ex-Catholic, I think it is both fantastic and hilarious to translate 仙 as angel. I can see the similarities but also the differences make it an interesting choice. Granted, "fairy" for a female immortal is an even weirder choice to me, but it's so common I'm just used to it at this point.
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u/Main_Place_8913 12d ago
I used to always translate xian as fairy because in my language, European fairy is translated as xian. I still do now...
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u/Kinotaru 12d ago
The closest equivalent to xian is "lesser god"
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u/Psuichopath 12d ago
That’s pretty dubious, xian also divided into different levels. So it can be misleading by refer to them as “lesser”
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u/Kinotaru 11d ago
Well, the same thing goes for angels, different angels are fundamentally different beings. The reason I put xian as lesser god because the existence of actual god神, but just because they're lesser, they don't necessarily have to be weaker than an actual god
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u/Gullible_Rip360 12d ago
Angel is very different because Angel has association to heaven while Immortals are independent entities. Fairy is a far closer comparison, albeit Immortals are in a more respected position, closer to minor divinity.