# 持保留意见



## gntlstp

Hi,

How would you say "持保留意见" in colloquial English - as in "关于那件事的真假与否,我_*持保留意见*_."? - and I mean, in COLLOQUIAL English.

Thank you.


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## xiaolijie

*持保留意见* = have reservations (about something)


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## JieXian

"持保留意见" 是 "不想说出你的看法" 或 a less colloquial “我没意见"吗？应该是 "I have no comment" - quite formal, often used in interviews or "I have nothing to say" - less formal but still quite formal I think, a little rude maybe? Should have a similar meaning with “我没意见"

Problem is, your sentence/phrase doesn't sound colloquial at all, not even in Chinese, in my opinion. 

So, for colloquial expressions I think "I don't know" or just "Dunno" is the closest thing to not giving your opinion. "I have no idea/No idea" fits well too.


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## viajero_canjeado

Another option is "I've got my doubts".


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## Raymond1st

JieXian said:


> "持保留意见" 是 "不想说出你的看法" 或 a less colloquial “我没意见"吗？应该是 "I have no comment" - quite formal, often used in interviews or "I have nothing to say" - less formal but still quite formal I think, a little rude maybe? Should have a similar meaning with “我没意见"
> 
> Problem is, your sentence/phrase doesn't sound colloquial at all, not even in Chinese, in my opinion.
> 
> So, for colloquial expressions I think "I don't know" or just "Dunno" is the closest thing to not giving your opinion. "I have no idea/No idea" fits well too.


 
Yes, the sentence "持保留意见" is definitely not colloquial in Chinese and it means "I do not agree with you but I would rather not argue with you." It does not mean "I don't know" or "I would rather not express my opinion".
BTW, I am a native speaker of Chinese.


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## JieXian

Raymond1st said:


> Yes, the sentence "持保留意见" is definitely not colloquial in Chinese and it means "I do not agree with you but I would rather not argue with you." It does not mean "I don't know" or "I would rather not express my opinion".
> BTW, I am a native speaker of Chinese.



Thanks but actually to me not wanting to express my opinion is usually due to the fact that I disagree, I mean it's implied - for me at least. But saying "I would rather not express my opinion" is may appear arrogant.

That's why I gave alternatives. But I've now thought of a better one. Many people just say "uhm" or "hmm" or "oh", sometimes with a nod or just keep quiet and eventually change the topic. That's literally not expressing your opinion - keeping quiet.

I can see that you're from China, don't worry ... I won't argue with you about your 1st language.


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## The Crows

No comments


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## Sanchuan

"I'm not sure about that"

一般来说，只要加about that ，I'm not sure这个口语表达就从表示不清楚的意思变成表示不同意了


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## SimonTsai

Sanchuan said:


> 只要加 about that ，I'm not sure 这个口语表达就从表示不清楚的意思变成表示不同意了


This is really interesting. I thought that 'I am not sure' meant 'I am not sure if this is the case'. I thought that 'that' in 'I am not sure about that' referred to 'if this is the case'.


gntlstp said:


> "关于那件事的真假与否, 我_*持保留意见*_."


I have always been curious about the origin of the phrase 持保留意見 in Mandarin as it seems to me that 保留 serves as an adjective rather than a verb in that phrase, which is unusual. (I suspect that it is a direct translation from English but I did no research.)


JieXian said:


> your sentence/phrase doesn't sound colloquial at all, not even in Chinese, in my opinion.


To be exact, it is possible in speech but is definitely not in an everyday, informal register. Per the International Standards on Auditing, there are four different types of auditors' opinions:

unmodified opinion 無保留意見書
qualified opinion *保留*意見書
adverse opinion 否定意見書
disclaimer of opinion 無法表示意見書


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## Sanchuan

SimonTsai said:


> I thought that 'that' in 'I am not sure about that' referred to 'if this is the case'.



你说的倒是字面意思，不过“I am not sure”本身就够了，加上about that这个补语也相当冗长…… 但是！语言方面，凡事都有功能，冗语也有用吧，有时候还可能带来一层隐含意义。果然在这个场合里，about that 可能理解为表示对比性的迂回说法，原来的意思大概是：这个问题我都十分清楚，你刚说的话（that）我才不清楚，也就是说，我不太同意你的意见。当然语调也会特别重要。


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## Lamb67

�




I'm not sure = I don't think

The above could shed some light🤩
"Sometimes, one can be so polite that one might just as well not say anything, or rather, it would be more strong-minded not to say anything.


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## SuperXW

Sanchuan said:


> 你说的倒是字面意思，不过“I am not sure”本身就够了，加上about that这个补语也相当冗长…… 但是！语言方面，凡事都有功能，冗语也有用吧，有时候还可能带来一层隐含意义。果然在这个场合里，about that 可能理解为表示对比性的迂回说法，原来的意思大概是：这个问题我都十分清楚，你刚说的话（that）我才不清楚，也就是说，我不太同意你的意见。当然语调也会特别重要。


冗余可以是强调，我同意。但跳到你的结论上，我认为完全是主观的解读。在正式或非正式场合中，都不会把加上about that视为“不同意”的。在我看来，加不加它的语气强度都一样。about that只是让它更有针对性，即针对对方上一段话。
相当于把“我不确定”变成了“那件事我不确定”。并不是变成“我不同意”了。


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## Sanchuan

除了主观或语境的问题以外，我觉得要理解这一段话的用法还必须考虑重事轻说这样的修辞说法，亦称曲言法，英语里非常常用。 我是说那段话，表面上的意思的确是“那件事我不确定”，可是常常还是可以用作礼貌用语来表示“我不同意但我不愿意跟你辩论”，这不是主楼的意思吗？


Raymond1st said:


> the sentence "持保留意见" is definitely not colloquial in Chinese and it means "I do not agree with you but I would rather not argue with you."



比方说：


> 甲 Our profits will definitely double this year!
> 乙 (Erm,) I'm not sure about that...
> 
> 甲 Musk will take us all to Mars in a couple of years!
> 乙 (Yeah,) I'm not sure about that...



“about that”不加也可以，但是像你说的，加了就更有针对性。


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## haoba

对此，我持保留意见


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## SuperXW

Sanchuan said:


> 除了主观或语境的问题以外，我觉得要理解这一段话的用法还必须考虑重事轻说这样的修辞说法，亦称曲言法，英语里非常常用。 我是说那段话，表面上的意思的确是“那件事我不确定”，可是常常还是可以用作礼貌用语来表示“我不同意但我不愿意跟你辩论”，这不是主楼的意思吗？


我也认同主楼的“我持保留意见”是“我不同意但我不愿意跟你辩论”的态度，是一种委婉说法。
我只是不认同"只要加about that ，I'm not sure这个口语表达就从表示不清楚的意思变成表示不同意了"。


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## hx1997

SuperXW said:


> 我只是不认同"只要加about that ，I'm not sure这个口语表达就从表示不清楚的意思变成表示不同意了"。


Well... I'm not sure about that. 

我觉得这个短语有字面意思和非字面意思，当然也可以用它的字面意思来表示不清楚，但是一定语境下，它采取的是非字面意思，即委婉表示不同意。至于为什么加about that就“变了味”，我觉得可以把这个短语视为一种习惯用法/固定用法，用这种固定的形式更大概率会“触发”它的非字面意思。有点像（不知道这个例子是否恰当）你说“谢谢你”一般没问题，但如果你说“我真谢谢你”或者“谢谢你，因为有你，温暖了四季”那在某些语境下就有点阴阳怪气了。


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## Sanchuan

SuperXW said:


> 我只是不认同"只要加about that ，I'm not sure这个口语表达就从表示不清楚的意思变成表示不同意了"


嗯，明白了。我这么说是比较笼统，可是句子前面原来有“一般来说”，在这个场合中意思是“_如果你要用委婉说法来表示不同意_”，看到这个帖子，我只是以为是不用再说的而已。

如果要确切点，那个话就应该修改成 “I'm not sure这个口语表达也常常会用来委婉表示不同意，而且只要加about that就更大概率会从表示不清楚的意思变成表示不同意了”。



hx1997 said:


> 至于为什么加about that就“变了味”，我觉得可以把这个短语视为一种习惯用法/固定用法，用这种固定的形式更大概率会“触发”它的非字面意思。


嗯嗯，没错


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