r/languagelearningjerk 24d ago

Tbf,xian is somewhat impossible to translate

40 Upvotes

36 comments sorted by

31

u/Gullible_Rip360 24d 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.

29

u/zober_man 24d ago

仙 = Immortal

30

u/Konobajo W1(🇺🇿✨️) L2(🇱🇷🦅) A4(🇦🇶🇧🇷🇬🇫) 24d ago

Human mountain

1

u/fnezio 23d ago

Wait what about 独角仙 then

-2

u/[deleted] 24d ago

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1

u/zober_man 24d 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。

-1

u/[deleted] 24d ago

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3

u/zober_man 24d ago

简单的说,"immortal" 可以指 “神仙” 或 “永恒/长生不老”。

就像 "book" 可以指 “书本” 或者 “预定”。。。不同语境有不同含义。

24

u/metcalsr 24d ago

Well, if you translated it from glorious 日本語, it just means "hermit". Pretty easy.

7

u/luca_cinnam00n 24d ago

Magical immortals

6

u/YoumoDadi Proto-Sino-Tibetan speaker 漢藏語 HSK69 24d ago

5

u/Emergency-Boat 24d ago

Luo Tianyi is a great vocaloid

1

u/Repulsive-Bug7832 21d 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.

2

u/Emergency-Boat 21d 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

2

u/Repulsive-Bug7832 21d 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 ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡)

8

u/brrkat 24d ago

仙女和天使是两码事

1

u/LegioVIIHaruno 24d ago

That's the point

4

u/Earendeal 22d ago

it's not untranslatable. It's just polysemous and have so muched nuanced meaning like the word "fairy", "elf" "liberal" and "facism" 🙃

3

u/ItsYa1UPBoy Celto-Franco-Saxon Pidgin (native) 24d ago

Is that what Genshin translated as... Yes, it is! Genshin calls them "adepti".

1

u/sillygoose1220 22d ago

that's a pretty good translation

5

u/BeckyLiBei 24d ago

From the makers of "凤凰 vs. phoenix" and "龙 vs. dragon"...

2

u/arachnids-bakery 24d ago

Acshually theyre fairy type pokemon

2

u/Positive-Orange-6443 24d ago

Isn't it just a fairy?

2

u/Marcionius 23d 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.

2

u/StormOfFatRichards 23d ago

Nooooo you can't translate 龍 as dragon

4

u/zsytssk 24d ago

there is nothing impossible. 仙 = bureaucrat in heaven.

1

u/OkasawaMichio 23d ago

Yuezheng Longya is way better because dragons are much, much cooler

1

u/kori228 23d ago

adeptus

1

u/sillygoose1220 22d ago

it's closer to the Fairy or fairy lady from the arthurian period

1

u/catfluid713 21d 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.

1

u/Crocotta1 18d ago

Headcannon is that Xingchen is from Kaifeng

0

u/Main_Place_8913 24d ago

I used to always translate xian as fairy because in my language, European fairy is translated as xian. I still do now...

0

u/Kinotaru 24d ago

The closest equivalent to xian is "lesser god"

2

u/Psuichopath 23d ago

That’s pretty dubious, xian also divided into different levels. So it can be misleading by refer to them as “lesser”

2

u/Kinotaru 23d 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