# Five weeks left before leaving France



## Liu.Ruo.Shui

你们好，
我不知道怎么翻译，你们可以帮我个忙吗? 5 weeks left before leaving France.

谢谢啊


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## EmileD

“离开法国还剩5周”


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## Liu.Ruo.Shui

谢谢你!


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## cabbagetyf

Salut Liu Ruo Shuai, en lisant votre phrase, j'ai une question.
En français, on dit plutôt
     je vais partir dans 5 semaines.
ou
     Il me reste 5 semaines avant de partir de france.
Merci d'avance.


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## Liu.Ruo.Shui

Les deux sont correctes mais la première est la plus utilisée.


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## MèngDié

再过五个星期就要离开法国了


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## Kevin70s

MèngDié said:


> 再过五个星期就要离开法国了


much better than the previous one.


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## Liu.Ruo.Shui

Why is the first one not good?


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## cabbagetyf

Liu.Ruo.Shui said:


> Why is the first one not good?


Personally,I think there's a nuance. The first one just presents the fact, but the second one may convey us a sentiment
either: great! i'll leave france in 5 weeks
or: what a pity i'll leave france(i will really miss it)


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## Liu.Ruo.Shui

I see, thanks for your help!


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## EmileD

Keep it simple and direct. I think most people here want to get a simple and clear answer. The original text just states a fact. Why did you above mix the emotional meaning. Is there any context that you can determine the author's original emotion? It's just a simple adverbial clause, please...


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## AquisM

I agree. The original author did not request for a full sentence. She gave us a short phrase, and EmileD translated accordingly. I don't see why there is need to change the sense and implications of the phrase when it was not requested. Why is that much better?


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## Liu.Ruo.Shui

In fact, a Chinese friend found that sentence quite strange...I told him that a Chinese translated that sentence but he didn't trust me.
Anyway, for me, the first one is ok .


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## Kevin70s

Without context, I would say 距离开法国还剩五周 or 离离开法国还剩五周 instead of "离开法国还剩五周” is acceptable translation for "5 weeks left before leaving France", although in most cases they still sound awakward to me for some reason.


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## xiaolijie

Kevin70s said:


> Without context, I would say 距离开法国还剩五周 or 离离开法国还剩五周 instead of "离开法国还剩五周” is acceptable translation for "5 weeks left before leaving France", although in most cases they still sound awakward to me for some reason.


Yes, it may sound awkward because, I think, we expect a bit of something else to make it feel complete. But the feeling is the same in the original English "*5 weeks left before leaving France.*", which likewise doesn't sound complete, because the OP only wanted to know how to say "*5 weeks left*" in Chinese. For this, *还剩五周* or *还有五周* is perfectly fine.


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## Kevin70s

xiaolijie said:


> Yes, it may sound awkward because, I think, we expect a bit of something else to make it feel complete. But the feeling is the same in the original English "*5 weeks left before leaving France.*", which likewise doesn't sound complete, because the OP only wanted to know how to say "*5 weeks left*" in Chinese. For this, *还剩五周* or *还有五周* is perfectly fine.



Hi! First of all, the original question is about the translation of "5 weeks left before leaving France" instead of "5 weeks left". Secondly, there's a preceeding ”离“ missing from the first suggestion that is not omissible. Thirdly, even by adding the not ommisble "离”, it does still sound awkward for a number of reasons that I don't think we would like to expound on, at least in this thread lest it confuse beginners of Chinese.


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## xiaolijie

You seem to misunderstand my post, Kevin70s. It was in complete agreement with yours. I quoted yours also for that reason.
By the way, "5 weeks left" was in the title and it can be taken as what the OP wants to know, and it's reasonable to take "5 weeks left before leaving France" as the context given for "5 weeks left".
And yes, please move on


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## lightrainsummer

For me,"再过五个星期就要离开法国了" is the best one,  it is clear and natural."距离开法国还剩五周" or "离离开法国还剩五周" is Obviously better than "离开法国还剩五周".you can also say "距离离开法国的日子还剩五周了。"


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## SuperXW

Why nobody suggested 还有五周离开法国, 再过五周离开法国 or 五周后离开法国...
I think these are the most natural and simplist way to express it in Chinese...
Of course some other suggestions are more accurate as a word-to-word translation, but talking about being simple and natural, I think mine are the best. 
Personal opinion: "离开法国还剩五周" is not so comprehensive because it may lead to another possiblity: "5 weeks left AFTER leaving France" (离开法国后，还剩五周). 
"距离开法国还剩五周" or "离离开法国还剩五周" are very grammatical, but not colloquial. You may write in these ways, but not speak. 
I think awkward combinations such as 离离 are what we are trying to avoid in colloquial speeches...


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## BODYholic

lightrainsummer said:


> For me,"再过五个星期就要离开法国了" is the best one,





SuperXW said:


> Why nobody suggested 还有五周离开法国, 再过五周离开法国 or 五周后离开法国...



I believe the person just above you mentioned it. 

Also, is "周" (as in week) something colloquial in Beijing and Hong Kong? In Singapore, hardly anyone says or writes it even in formal context.


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## viajero_canjeado

BODYholic said:


> Also, is "周" (as in week) something colloquial in Beijing and Hong Kong? In Singapore, hardly anyone says or writes it even in formal context.



Dunno about in the places you mentioned, but in Taiwan it's not so rare, and even somewhat common in written/formal contexts. Then of course there's 週末, a frequently used term. Admittedly, I tend to use 周 more than most locals because it's a shortcut of a single character instead of 星期 or 禮拜, thus quicker to write and say


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## SuperXW

BODYholic said:


> I believe the person just above you mentioned it.
> 
> Also, is "周" (as in week) something colloquial in Beijing and Hong Kong? In Singapore, hardly anyone says or writes it even in formal context.



I think 周 is common in both Mainland and Taiwan, but less used in Hong Kong.
In Hong Kong, people could write 週一，週二……週日 in formal context. But other than this, it seems they hardly use 周/週 to replace 星期/禮拜.
This could be another topic?


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## Season2

五个星期后，我将会离开法国


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## BODYholic

viajero_canjeado said:


> Dunno about in the places you mentioned, but in Taiwan it's not so rare, and even somewhat common in written/formal contexts. Then of course there's 週末, a frequently used term. Admittedly, I tend to use 周 more than most locals because it's a shortcut of a single character instead of 星期 or 禮拜, thus quicker to write and say





SuperXW said:


> I think 周 is common in both Mainland and Taiwan, but less used in Hong Kong.
> In Hong Kong, people could write 週一，週二……週日 in formal context. But other than this, it seems they hardly use 周/週 to replace 星期/禮拜.
> This could be another topic?



Thanks for sharing those information. But I have to assure the moderator we are not deep-diving in to the subject of "周/週".


The reason for my concern is that since "周 (to mean week)" is not a common word we used in our daily lives here in Singapore, it makes the few supposedly colloquial sentences presented by SuperXW sounded somewhat awkward for us. So now we learned that it is otherwise in Mainland China and Taiwan.

For learners, it is important for them to understand that the choice of words needs to jibe or accord with the tone of speech. _ie Informal words go with colloquial sentences._


SuperXW said:


> 还有五周离开法国, 再过五周离开法国 or 五周后离开法国


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## viajero_canjeado

BODYholic said:


> So now we learned that it is otherwise in Mainland China and Taiwan.



No, I agree:  in Taiwan, 周 (as week) is not particularly well suited for colloquial speech, with the exception of 週末.


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## Kevin70s

BODYholic said:


> The reason for my concern is that since "周 (to mean week)" is not a common word we used in our daily lives here in Singapore, it makes the few supposedly colloquial sentences presented by SuperXW sounded somewhat awkward for us. So now we learned that it is otherwise in Mainland China and Taiwan.



I don't it is otherwise in Mainland China and Taiwan. "周 (to mean week)" is not a common word colloquially used in Mainland China either, especially when it comes to "how many weeks", such as 四周, 五周.


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## SuperXW

Kevin70s said:


> I don't it is otherwise in Mainland China and Taiwan. "周 (to mean week)" is not a common word colloquially used in Mainland China either, especially when it comes to "how many weeks", such as 四周, 五周.


When I grew up in Beijing, it's pretty common for us to say 周一，周二……周六，周日，周末，also 下周一，上周一，几周后，四周，五周……It's generally replaceable by 星期/礼拜.
I guess there's a regional difference, or time difference.


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## Kevin70s

周一、周二 is definitely more common than 四周、五周 in daily speech.


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