# 愛美



## lmyyyks

Hello,

I've just come up with an adjective 愛美.
Making it clear, 她是一個愛美的女孩, that is she loves to be pretty and always dress up and make up to make herself as pretty as possible.

How should I translate it into English?
She is a(an) ??? girl.

Thanks


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## nichec

lmyyyks said:


> Hello,
> 
> I've just come up with an adjective 愛美.
> Making it clear, 她是一個愛美的女孩, that is she loves to be pretty and always dress up and make up to make herself as pretty as possible.
> 
> How should I translate it into English?
> She is a(an) ??? girl.
> 
> Thanks


 
I would say "She takes care of herself/her appearance".

Adjective? Hmm.........Still looking for one............


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## xqby

她是一個愛美的女孩 is pretty neutral, isn't it? The only word I can think of is "prissy" but it would mean that she is overly concerned with her looks.

Just saying "She likes to look pretty" seems fine to me; I don't think there is any single adjective that would capture "愛美" exactly.


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## snowyau

xqby said:


> 她是一個愛美的女孩 is pretty neutral, isn't it? The only word I can think of is "prissy" but it would mean that she is overly concerned with her looks.



"vain" is another word, but it depends on what one means by 愛美. Usually, to "愛美" is not a virtue as such.

If you were after a neutral meaning, maybe "fastidious" or "meticulous" with her appearance.


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## nichec

Of course we can also say "She's painstaking about her appearance", but none of these seems to capture the meaning of *愛美* precisely, it really should be something neutral, because "愛美是女人的天性"


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## 2PieRad

Yeah, _vain_ came to mind, but it carries too many negative connotations that 爱美 really doesn't seem to have.

The closest adjective I can come up with is _girly. _Be aware that this is really a made up word used in colloquial conversation. (After all, Firefox spell checker doesn't even recognize it.) It draws from the idea that nichec brought up, 爱美是女人的天性. So, you can describe someone as a _girly girl_, and this will mean that she's a "stereotypical girl." Despite differing views on what a stereotypical girl is, 爱美 is probably one of its characteristics that most people can agree on. However, since other characteristics besides 爱美 may fall into that definition, you need a lot of context around _girly _in order to narrow it down and give it a similar meaning to 爱美.

_Jane is so girly. She loves going to the beauty salon, getting her nails done, and always takes half an hour every morning doing her make-up._


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## snowyau

Erebos12345 said:


> _Jane is so girly._



I'd be careful with the use of the word "girly", as it could be construed as quite a sexist or dismissive thing to say. As you say, it's a stereotype thing, although Chinese thinking could still be stuck in these sort or stereotypes.

Certainly, my wife would throw a fit if she heard someone say "爱美是女人的天性"... it certainly sounds like a derogative slant... a little like a back-handed compliment.


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## nichec

I think it's quite sad that everything has to be "politically correct" these days.

As a woman, I don't feel bad at all when people say "愛美是女人的天性", maybe because I am superficial enough to fit right into this stereotype, but that's just me.

I think the choice of word in this thread, well, to find the "right" word to translate "愛美", has somehow become more of a personal take on whether the term has negative or indeed sexual meaning to it than a pure linguistic matter.

It doesn't have any negative or sexual meaning to me, and I have failed to find any adjective that conveys the precise idea in English, but I have had my say in my posts.


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## snowyau

nichec said:


> I think it's quite sad that everything has to be "politically correct" these days.



Not everything has to be politically correct; and in this case I think the issue is not about political correctness. 

Of course you might feel that 爱美 is a perfectly fine part of being 女性, and you're fully entitled to think so.

However, that statement is of course a generalisation, as not everyone shares this sentiment. Generalisations don't have to be negative - you might say "All Chinese are hard working" and that's a generalisation.

Overall, I am pointing out that one should definitely be careful in using the term "girly" in a translation.


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## lmyyyks

Thank you all for the suggestions

But as you say, the word "爱美" cau be neutral, while "girly" is obviously feminine, and moreover, maybe too general, not only concerning the value towards beauty.
If I want to say 他是一個愛美的男孩, I guess we wouldn't say "He is a girly boy". It sounds like that the boy do not only care about his appearance, but also act like a girl, and more else.

We all agree that the word "爱美" contains neutral/positive/negative meanings. Whatever suggestions are welcomed, as long as the senses fit.


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## samanthalee

This is surprisingly difficult. Allow me to have a go at it. 

愛美是女人的天性 = Every woman wants to look her best.

她是一個愛美的女孩 = She always makes a point to look her best.
Hmm... it's still not accurate enough.
How about this?
她是一個愛美的女孩 = She takes good care of her appearance.


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## nichec

samanthalee said:


> How about this?
> 她是一個愛美的女孩 = She takes good care of her appearance.


 
Hehe, that's the same like my post #2


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## Aoyama

愛美是女人的天性 = It is in the nature of women to look for beauty/make themselves beautiful.
                         It is _inherent_/_innate_ to women to ....
她是一個愛美的女孩 = She is a lady/woman who focuses on/takes good care of/ her appearance.
She is a lady/woman for whom appearance/the way she looks/ is important/counts.


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