# 太夸张了吧?



## ThomasNeo

Can someone please tell me what this means in the following context? I'm a bit lost.

A: 你明天要去机场接他吗?
B: 我干嘛要去接他?
B: 太夸张了吧?

Thanks so much!


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## Lucia_zwl

A: Are you going to pick him up at the airport?
B: Why shall I pick him up? 
    That would be too exaggerate!/ That's unnecessary!/ It's none of my business!

Obviously, B doesn't want to pick up that person. Maybe B doesn't even want to see that person at all.


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## ThomasNeo

Thanks for your help, but those phrases you gave doesn't quite fit into the context.

The guy called her to say he wanted to meet her at the airport. He's flying back from overseas.
The girl is angry he went without telling her, but she still likes him.
This part is where she's still being angry and her sister is telling her to go meet him.
She's mostly speaking in 反话.

This is as much as I could understand.


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## xiaolijie

Lucia is is correct from the *context that can be gathered in post #1*, and I think you're correct from *the situational context that only you knew about*.


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## ThomasNeo

Actually, the context I gave in my first post is more than sufficient.
But because the phrases she gave are too way off, I thought I give a bit more context to make it clearer. *so much for asking nicely*

"That's unnecessary!" would be 不必了, 不用了, 大可不必, etc
"It's none of my business!" would be 不关我的事, 关我什么事, etc

I acknowledge my standard of Mandarin is not up to a native, but I do know enough to tell whether it's right or not.
Thanks for your help so far, but this isn't what I was looking for.


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## richwarm

ThomasNeo, are you sure the third line is spoken by B, the same person who spoke line 2? 
If so, then why do you split her words into two separate, successive lines, both labelled "B:",
rather than a single line, like this --- B: 我干嘛要去接他? 太夸张了吧? 

Original dialogue, as quoted:
A: 你明天要去机场接他吗?
B: 我干嘛要去接他?
B: 太夸张了吧?

Is it possible that the third line is in fact spoken by A (the sister)?


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## ThomasNeo

Thanks, richwarm, for asking.

That is the way how I usually write - one sentence per line.


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## richwarm

Well, I could make sense of it if the third line were spoken by the sister (A), 
but if it was spoken by the B (the girl who is angry at the guy), 
then I'm not sure there is enough context to determine what she means by "太夸张了吧?" 
That question literally means pretty much what Lucia said: "Surely that's a bit exaggerated (over the top)!"

Why would she say that to her sister, when the sister had merely asked 
"Are you going to the airport to pick him up?" ?
How could that mild question be construed as exaggeration?

On the other hand, if it was the _sister_ who said
"太夸张了吧?" (Surely that's a bit exaggerated (over the top)!)
then that would make sense to me as a response to the girl's emotional comment "我干嘛要去接他?"


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## richwarm

ThomasNeo said:


> Thanks, richwarm, for asking.
> 
> That is the way how I usually write - one sentence per line.



But you have been writing posts here with two sentences in a line.
e.g.
_1) Can someone please tell me what this means in the following context? I'm a bit lost.
2) The guy called her to say he wanted to meet her at the airport. He's flying back from overseas.
3) But because the phrases she gave are too way off, I thought I give a bit more context to make it clearer. *so much for asking nicely*

_Could you please give a direct answer to my question:_
_*Is it possible that the third line is in fact spoken by A (the sister)?*


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## ThomasNeo

That's how I usually write *in Chinese*. I don't need to split lines that are in English.



> *Is it possible that the third line is in fact spoken by A (the sister)?*


The third line isn't spoken by the sister. It's spoken by B herself.

A Chinese dictionary give this definition of 夸张.


> 夸张法. 一种修辞手段, 指为了启发听者或读者的想象力和加强言语的力量, 用夸大的词句来形容事物"



I'm guessing "夸张" is functioning as a hyperbole here. But I'm not 100% sure.


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## richwarm

夸张 itself isn't "a hyperbole". It *means* "hyperbole". 
It's the sort of word one uses *in response to* someone's hyperbole.


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## ThomasNeo

You're right. 

Now I'm back to square one.


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## Razzle Storm

In response to the OP, I read "我干嘛要去接他？太夸张了吧？“ as emphasizing that she believes it would be going above and beyond the call of duty, so to speak, to go pick this person up from the airport (since he left without telling her and she is angry). You might translate it as "That's (asking) a bit much" or possibly "that's overdoing it."

A: Are you going to pick him up at the airport tomorrow? 
B: Why would/should I do that? That's a bit much, isn't it?


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## SuperXW

I think you were being too literal, Thomas. Different languages has different way of expressions. You need to try your best to relate the words' basic meanings to their context. 
Of course 夸张 literally means "hyperbole" or "exaggerate". Any dictionary would tell you that. And 太 is "overly, too much".
What you need to know 太夸张了吧！ is like a Chinese *slang that often means "that's way too much!"* Thus, in some cases, could mean "that's unnecessary." 
Just imagine the situation when you think something is overly exaggerated, and you try to express your feeling.
So in your context:
A: 你明天要去机场接他吗? 
B: 我干嘛要去接他? 太夸张了吧?
=B: Why am I going to pick him up? Isn't that too much? (Too much to do or too much to ask. The thing will become "exaggerated" if you do so.)


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## ThomasNeo

@Razzle Storm:

The explanation you gave matched the context perfectly.
"That's a bit much, isn't it?" is what I was looking for.
Thanks! <3

@SuperXW:

Thanks for replying. This is not about me being literal or liberal. This is about using the wrong expressions, like when you call someone, you greet the person with a "Bye" instead of "Hello" or "Hi". Like you said, in some cases it might work, but it's not the case here. "That's unnecessary" just doesn't fit because B wasn't being dismissive.


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## richwarm

"That's a bit much, isn't it?" is _*also*_ a dismissive expression.


The girl (B) _*was*_ in fact being dismissive of the idea of going to the airport. That's what "太夸张了吧?" expresses here, and Lucia was on exactly the right track by offering some dismissive expressions. They were not by any means "too way off". It's not at all like the difference between "Bye" and "Hello". It's just that they were not quite the right idiomatic dismissive phrase for the specific context. 


If you and I can not make the leap from Lucia's suggestion that it's a dismissive expression, because we are taking the dictionary definition of 夸张 too literally, then that is indeed our problem as learners of Chinese. There is wisdom in SuperXW's words. I think he is right to say that it's about being too literal. 


It's an issue that comes up all the time -- the dictionary doesn't give us the perfect word for the context, and we need to develop flexibility in our thinking in order to understand Chinese.


Personally, I think "That's a bit much, isn't it?" sounds a bit mild for someone (the girl, B) who is clearly upset.
I think you like it because it meshes with your idea that 夸张 is about exaggeration, whereas native speakers Lucia and SuperXW are telling us that 夸张 is used idiomatically for dismissing someone's suggestion as "way too much." I think we can learn from native speakers if we are flexible in our thinking and don't simply label them as "wrong".


There are any number of ways of dismissing A's suggestion of going to the airport. 
You could say
1) Why would I do that? That's a bit much, isn't it? [Razzle Storm's suggestion]
2) Why _*should*_ I go meet him? That's ridiculous!
3) Go and meet him at the airport? You've got to be joking!
4) Go to the airport? Get real!
etc.


You might argue that "ridiculous" would be 可笑的 or 荒谬的 and therefore #3 is wrong, and similarly with "got to be joking" and "get real", just as you argued 
_"That's unnecessary!" would be 不必了, 不用了, 大可不必, etc_


But that would be to miss the point that 太夸张了吧? is essentially about *dismissing the sister's suggestion*.


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## richwarm

There's a bit more context for the dialog at
http://vip.book.sina.com.cn/book/chapter_105120_65386.html


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## Razzle Storm

richwarm said:


> "That's a bit much, isn't it?" is _*also*_ a dismissive expression.
> 
> 
> The girl (B) _*was*_ in fact being dismissive of the idea of going to the airport. That's what "太夸张了吧?" expresses here, and Lucia was on exactly the right track by offering some dismissive expressions. They were not by any means "too way off". It's not at all like the difference between "Bye" and "Hello". It's just that they were not quite the right idiomatic dismissive phrase for the specific context.
> 
> 
> If you and I can not make the leap from Lucia's suggestion that it's a dismissive expression, because we are taking the dictionary definition of 夸张 too literally, then that is indeed our problem as learners of Chinese. There is wisdom in SuperXW's words. I think he is right to say that it's about being too literal.
> 
> 
> It's an issue that comes up all the time -- the dictionary doesn't give us the perfect word for the context, and we need to develop flexibility in our thinking in order to understand Chinese.
> 
> 
> Personally, I think "That's a bit much, isn't it?" sounds a bit mild for someone (the girl, B) who is clearly upset.
> I think you like it because it meshes with your idea that 夸张 is about exaggeration, whereas native speakers Lucia and SuperXW are telling us that 夸张 is used idiomatically for dismissing someone's suggestion as "way too much." I think we can learn from native speakers if we are flexible in our thinking and don't simply label them as "wrong".
> 
> 
> There are any number of ways of dismissing A's suggestion of going to the airport.
> You could say
> 1) Why would I do that? That's a bit much, isn't it? [Razzle Storm's suggestion]
> 2) Why _*should*_ I go meet him? That's ridiculous!
> 3) Go and meet him at the airport? You've got to be joking!
> 4) Go to the airport? Get real!
> etc.
> 
> 
> You might argue that "ridiculous" would be 可笑的 or 荒谬的 and therefore #3 is wrong, and similarly with "got to be joking" and "get real", just as you argued
> _"That's unnecessary!" would be 不必了, 不用了, 大可不必, etc_
> 
> 
> But that would be to miss the point that 太夸张了吧? is essentially about *dismissing the sister's suggestion*.



I would agree with most of this, and also remind people that the posters on this forum typically lack the context that the askers of these questions already know (which is why we always ask for context when possible). I would argue that 1, 2, 3, and possibly 4 would all be acceptable translations of the same Chinese sentence depending on the specific tone the person was speaking in. In my mind, B was speaking as someone who had been affronted and would be giving the person the "cold shoulder". 2 and 3 would definitely be great for situations where she was playing an angrier role. 

However, I would argue that lucia's post does not work as a translation, simply because it does not convey the same emotional connotations as 太夸张了吧？ to a native speaker of English who does not know Chinese. Knowing Chinese, we can understand what lucia was trying to say, and correct him/her with possibly more "acceptable" variants. On that note, lucia 加油！学习语言是一种很漫长的过程，但功夫不负有心人，只要你坚持，就会有超出您想象的成果！


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## richwarm

I agree with what you say, Razzle Storm. I didn't mean to suggest that Lucia's suggestions "work as a translation." I just felt that they were not plain "wrong" or "way off." 

I gave a few "angrier" renderings, because ThomasNeo said the girl was angry with the guy. After looking at the fuller context (at the webpage I quoted above) it doesn't seem that she was all that upset with the guy, in fact.

晚上回到宿舍，雨荨跟徐丽丽说端木要回来了并且要第一个见到她，徐丽丽问：“你要去机场接他吗？”
雨荨说：“太夸张了吧？我去机场干吗？他说的是指学校吧？他干吗要第一个看到我？我没什么好看的啊……”
徐丽丽开玩笑：“做贼心虚了吧？谁让你趁他不在就跟云海发展！”
雨荨着急地说：“这跟云海有什么关系？你不要乱说！”


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## Lucia_zwl

Razzel Storm, thanks for your understanding and encouragement! There's much more for me to learn and practice .

You're right by pointing out that, when translating, I should stand in the shoes of Chinese learner and consider the context, instead of simply giving literal translation. I'll notice it next time.


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## kareno999

In most cases, you can translate it as R U KIDDING ME?


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## richwarm

Yes, Karen, I agree with that (of course, since it's similar to my previous suggestion ~ "You've got to be joking!")  

As an editor with CC-CEDICT, I have looked into the usage of 夸张 (following the discussion here on Wordreference Forums). Our present definition is 
*/to exaggerate/vaunted/overstated/exaggerated/*
and I have proposed to change it to 
*/to exaggerate/overstated/exaggerated/hyperbole/(coll.) excessive/extreme/ridiculous/*

It's presently waiting for review by other editors. Some of the examples on which I based the "colloquial" part of my proposal are:

A: 其中黄瓜和西红柿的涨幅最高。黄瓜从每公斤三块五涨到五块六，西红柿从每公斤四块二涨到七块五。
Among these, cucumbers and tomatoes experienced the largest percentage of increase. 
Cucumbers went from 3.5 kuai per kilo to 5.6. Tomatoes rose from 4.2 to 6.5.
B: 涨这么多，太夸张了吧。
That's a lot. It's ridiculous.

"too much"
A: 哎，快看前面那个大红人！Hey, check out 'Ms. Red' over there!
B: 哇，红色的皮衣。
A: 还有红色的裤子。
B: 天啊！鞋子也是红的。
A: 晕死，从上到下全是红的。
B: 难道今年是她的本命年？
A: 也许吧。可是这太夸张了。我本命年的时候什么都没买。
Perhaps. But this is just too much. When it was my zodiac birth year, I didn't buy anything.

"bad" (i.e. extreme)
A	可是喝了这杯喜酒，我这个月就只能喝西北风了。
Because after going to this wedding, I'll be broke for the rest of the month.
B	有这么夸张吗？不就是送个红包吗？
Is it really that bad? All you have to do is give a red envelope with cash inside, right?

"ridiculous"
是呀。以前流行过西方的情人节，现在七夕又被称作东方的情人节。更夸张的是今年因为有闰七月，所以出现了两个七夕，还号称是三十八年
才能遇到一次的双情人节。因此商家的各种活动也层出不穷。
Yeah! In the past, many people celebrated the Western Valentine's Day. Now, Qixi is also being called ``The Valentine's Day of the East." Even more ridiculous, because there's an leap month this year, there are two Qixis. It's supposed to be the kind of double Valentine's Day that comes just once every thirty-eight years! So sales come out one after the other.

"out of control" (i.e. excessive)
双情人节？那加上西方的情人节，一年不是要过三个情人节啊？太夸张了。今年的情人节多的都快成为人们心理上和物质上的双重负担了。
A double Valentine's Day? When you add in the Western Valentine's Day, doesn't that mean we're going to have three Valentine's Days this year? It's out of control! This year, Valentine's Days are close to becoming a double mental and physical burden for people.


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## kareno999

kareno is a Japanese word. My name is not Karen. Thanks.


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## richwarm

I should stick to the exact spelling of usernames. Thanks for pointing out my error.


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