The weather was really nice; bright sunshine with gentle breeze.
We had a walk along Oriental Parade. Lots of people there! We saw children riding their bikes, youngsters jogging and some of them playing volleyball on the beach.
We chatted about learning Chinese as we walked and sipped coffee at the same time. We started with weather. We described today’s weather as “风和日丽” , which can be literally translated into English as “wind is gentle and sun is bright”. Easy! Well, not always the case. Try this “心花怒放”. This Chinese phrase means something like overwhelmed with joy in English. If we translate it word by word, it goes like this: “heart flower angry open”. It doesn't make any sense, does it?
Very often, language translation can’t be done word by word. For this one, at least it is a laugh. Salute, the Queen!
Mandarin
今天是英国女王的生日。她多大年纪了？或许21岁吧。我们听到了21响炮声。
天气是特别得好；风和日丽。
我们沿着海滨路散布，人很多；有小孩子们在蹬车，年青人在跑步， 还有一些人在沙滩上打排球。
我们一边聊学中文，一边饮咖啡。从聊天气开始。今天的天气可以说是“风和日丽”。这个中文词组可以逐字翻译成英文“风是温和的，太阳是灿烂的。”很容易嘛！那可未必。试试这个词组“心花怒放”。它的中文词义跟英文的非常高兴差不多。但是，如果我们将它逐字翻译成英文的话，就成了“heart
flower angry open.” 驴唇不对马嘴，是不是？
通常来说，语言翻译不能逐字逐句来。这个词组的翻译，至少博得一笑。敬礼，女王！
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