Grandma’s Crazy Phrasebook #10: Try Walking Backwards
June 1st, 2009 | View Comments
In previous editions of Grandma’s Crazy Phrasebook we’ve seen flippant remarks, computer problems, and family angst, but we’ve yet to feature an actual travel phrase from this alleged travel phrasebook.
Until now.
Granted, I’m not sure why you’d want to travel this way, but who am I to judge?
“Let’s try walking backwards.”
試試看倒退走.
Shi4 shi4 kan4 dao4 tui4 zou3.
後ろ向きに歩いてみて。
Ushiro muki ni aruitemite.
Finding an appropriate context for this sentence might be a challenge, but at least the grammar is easy for both Chinese and Japanese.
試試看 = “try” (actually one 試 already means “try” but we Chinese like to repeat things) or “try and see what happens” (看 = “see), 倒退 = “reverse” or “go backwards”, 走 = “walk” or “move”.
What’s interesting here is that there are actually multiple ways to translate this Chinese into English. “Let’s try walking backwards” is valid, if rarely useful (if ever); “See what happens if you reverse” is also valid and more useful—say your car is stuck in a ditch or other place and you’re trying to get out. “Try retracing your steps” is still valid, I think (though I’d probably use a different phrase for “retrace your steps”), and even more useful. Context is everything when translating Chinese (and when translating, period).
The Japanese, as far as I can tell, does literally mean to walk on foot; the only definition my dictionary gives for 歩いて is “on foot”.
後ろ = “back” or “rear”, 向き = “direction”, に = adverb marker, 歩いてみて = “try walking”.
Yvonne posted this on June 1st, 2009 @ 12:00pm in Chinese, Grandma's Crazy Phrasebook, Japanese | Permalink to "Grandma’s Crazy Phrasebook #10: Try Walking Backwards"
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