# 中英不對照



## lovelymonday

How may I express 「中英不對照」in English?

I use two languages when I write for my blog (Chinese and English) but the two languages are not used as translation for each other.  I describe this bilingual inclination as 「中英不對照」 in Chinese when I write the blog description.  I’d like to describe this in English, too.  And I’d like to keep it negative if possible because of the context.


My first attempt was:

*Two languages used but not always in sync



The context would be like:

Neither a foodie diary nor a travel log.
Not in chronological order.
Two languages used but not always in sync.



My question is:

I  am not sure if the meaning I want is delivered.  And I am curious about how a native speaker would put it in English.
I would appreciate it greatly if anyone could kindly help me with this.  Thank you!


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## SuperXW

1. 为啥使用双语却又中英不对照？最好给个例子……
2.  Two languages used but not always in sync. 这不是说得很明白了吗？  
3. 考虑下 Chinese-English not-parallel texts？
4. 我不是native speaker，水平不够了，其实这问题应该去英语论坛问啊……


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## lovelymonday

SuperXW said:


> 1. 为啥使用双语却又中英不对照？最好给个例子……
> 2.  Two languages used but not always in sync. 这不是说得很明白了吗？
> 3. 考虑下 Chinese-English not-parallel texts？
> 4. 我不是native speaker，水平不够了，其实这问题应该去英语论坛问啊……


“Not parallel texts” Aha! It might be what I need.  Thank you so much!!


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## Skatinginbc

lovelymonday said:


> the two languages are not used as translation for each other.


But「中英不對照」sounds like a translation criticism (e.g., 翻譯失敗) or translation guideline (e.g., "可考慮中英不對照的義譯").  It describes a relation between bilingual texts that are _*meant to be translation*_ of each other.  I guess you intended to mean something like「中英非對照」or perhaps more accurately「中英交錯」(Mandarin-English code-switching; alternation between Chinese and English), right?


lovelymonday said:


> not always in sync


like 對白與字幕不同步 ?


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## lovelymonday

Skatinginbc said:


> But「中英不對照」sounds like a translation criticism (e.g., 翻譯失敗) or translation guideline (e.g., "可考慮中英不對照的義譯").  It describes a relation between bilingual texts that are _*meant to be translation*_ of each other.  I guess you intended to mean something like「中英非對照」or perhaps more accurately「中英交錯」(Mandarin-English code-switching; alternation between Chinese and English), right?
> 
> like 對白與字幕不同步 ?


Hmmmm, yes indeed, you’ve got a point.  I was thinking maybe I should change my question into something like this:

***
I am writing a description for my blog.  
Anyone can help me with the translation, please?

關於網站
不是食記或遊記。不按時間先後順序。中英不對照。

My first attempt was:

Neither a foodie diary nor a travel log.
Not in chronological order.
Two languages used but not always in sync.

I am not sure if the meaning I want is delivered. And I am curious about how a native speaker would put it in English.
I would appreciate it greatly if anyone could kindly help me with this. Thank you!
***

Help me with the translation from Chinese to English, will you?


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## lovelymonday

@Skatinginbc @SuperXW 

Thanks to you I think I just finish my blog description by combining the wisdom of you two:

Neither a foodie diary nor a travel log.
Not in chronological order.
*Not parallel texts, just a code-switching tendency.*


This turned out to be exactly what I was looking for.
I can’t express my thanks enough for you and this forum.
You are the beeeest!!😄👍


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## 2PieRad

Hi


lovelymonday said:


> Neither a foodie diary nor a travel log.
> Not in chronological order.
> *Not parallel texts, just a code-switching tendency.*


I don't think that works...

I don't really understand what you mean by: 


lovelymonday said:


> the two languages are not used as translation for each other.


Can you give us an example?


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## lovelymonday

Erebos12345 said:


> Hi
> 
> I don't think that works...
> 
> I don't really understand what you mean by:
> 
> Can you give us an example?


Hi!

I was trying to say that sometimes I write in Chinese and sometimes I write in English.

Something like this:

Important things in life

The above link will lead you to one of my blog articles. 
And I am still open to a better expression.
Thanks!


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## SuperXW

这是我理解的"中英不对照"：中英文主题一致，但细节不同，可能是因为不好翻译。题主一开始并没有解释。总之，散文前声明“中英不对照”给我一种很文艺的感觉。
This is my understanding of "not a translation" - where the two languages are talking about the same issue, but using different words, probably because of translation difficulty. I don't know why but the writer just want us to live with it. 

BTW，有些人讲中文时候会加入English，just like this。这叫“中英夹杂/中英混杂”。


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## 2PieRad

Hmmm...yeah, makes sense, but this really isn't _code-switching_.

Chinese blog posts _loosely translated _into English? 

I can't think of anything better at the moment. (or ever)


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## lovelymonday

SuperXW said:


> the writer is too lazy to explain, he/she just want you to live with it.


Haha Surprisingly this is an awesome interpretation for my blog description.  Being vague is also one of the intentions of mine.


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## lovelymonday

Erebos12345 said:


> Hmmm...yeah, makes sense, but this really isn't _code-switching_.
> 
> Chinese blog posts _loosely translated _into English?
> 
> I can't think of anything better at the moment. (or ever)



I understand.  I have got this problem describing it since I started my blog.😅


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## 2PieRad

-not perfect/direct translations of each other
-loose translations of one another


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## lovelymonday

Erebos12345 said:


> -not perfect/direct translations of each other
> -loose translations of one another


Points taken.
But if we take a look at the whole blog:
Some articles are written entirely in Chinese, no English in it.
Some are in English only.
I admit it’s not all about translation, if I may say.
As a matter of fact, I think maybe now it’s time for me to work on more of the content to fit this blog description.
The responsibility is on me now.😉
Thanks a lot!


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## brofeelgood

You could say all your articles are unique and published only once, in either English or Mandarin. There's no mirrored reproduction of any content in the opposing language.


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## lovelymonday

brofeelgood said:


> You could say all your articles are unique and published only once, in either English or Mandarin. There's no mirrored reproduction of any content in the opposing language.


That’s one way to put it. Thanks a lot.

I should say:

“the two languages are not **necessarily* used as translation for each other”

They could be translations for each other sometimes.

I am gradually sorting it out for myself, too.  I’m really appreciative of all the helps you’ve been given.


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## Oswinw011

Here's a succinct version:
Noted: The English text is not a translation.

I don't know why you did that though.


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## lovelymonday

@Oswinw011  Thank you!  You see, for this case, in Chinese it provides the ambiguity but in English it ruins everything.  Isn’t it interesting?


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## Boyar

我的尝试： 

• Posts in either English or Chinese; some of them fully bilingual

简本：
• Posts in either English or Chinese or both


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## kadioguy

lovelymonday said:


> How may I express 「中英不對照」in English?
> 
> I use two languages when I write for my blog (Chinese and English) but the two languages are not used as translation for each other.  I describe this bilingual inclination as 「中英不對照」 in Chinese when I write the blog description.  I’d like to describe this in English, too.  And I’d like to keep it negative if possible because of the context.



我覺得這首先要處理你對這個詞的中文表述，「中英不對照」本身就是一個很奇怪的中文用語，這種情況通常我們是說「中英無法逐字逐句對照」或「英文翻譯不會拘泥於中文原文」（反之亦然）或「請勿將中文與英文逐字對應」之類的。


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## Boyar

kadioguy said:


> 「英文翻譯不會拘泥於中文原文」（反之亦然）


据我了解，在大多数情况下，根本就没有翻译。(她根本就没有翻译嘛。)


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