# Make change happen



## Zhuli

你们好,

I'm translating a short text from English to Chinese but I'm afraid my Chinese is very rusty 

The English is: make change happen.

My translation is: 使变革得以实现

Do you think this is correct?

EDIT: I thought of another way to translate "make change happen together": 我们一起发生变化。Same question, can you give me some feedback?

Thank you!


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## lee376033

"变革" seems quite fomal and strong , I think, close to revolution or reform.
if you really mean this, 使变革得以实现 is good.

or you can use 变化 变更 改变 改造 .
一起使这个改变得以实施或完成，一起完成改造 ，一起实施变更...


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## Zhuli

Thank you for your reply! I should have given more context, my mistake.

You are right, nothing to do with revolution here. It is a charity, and the tagline should be something around "together let's initiate change". That's why I thought my second translation, 我们一起发生变化, may be more adequate.

What do you think of it?


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## BODYholic

Zhuli said:


> My translation is: 使变革得以实现


It's okay but I have to read a few times to understand what it means. This is because 变革 (transform) is also a verb and it confuses me. Over here, it should take the meaning of transformation (noun). Hence, it would be clearer that you describe the type of change(s). i.e. 使 "xx变革(noun)" 得以实现.



Zhuli said:


> 我们一起发生变化。


Non, ça ne marche pas.

Unless you are chemical A and the other party is chemical B, there will be 变化 when both of you mixed. Otherwise, an abstract noun is preferred in this situation. Example, 我们的感情发生变化。


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## Zhuli

> It's okay but I have to read a few times to understand what it means.  This is because 变革 (transform) is also a verb and it confuses me. Over  here, it should take the meaning of transformation (noun). Hence, it  would be clearer that you describe the type of change(s). i.e. 使  "xx变革(noun)" 得以实现.



I understand, thank you. My main problem is that there is no change described, i.e. the sentence is very generic. 



> Non, ça ne marche pas.
> 
> Unless you are chemical A and the other party is chemical B, there will  be 变化 when both of you mixed. Otherwise, an abstract noun is preferred  in this situation. Example, 我们的感情发生变化。



 Definitely not a chemical! Je comprends. 

So maybe 一起使这个改变得以完成 is the best solution here.

Argh!


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## samanthalee

Zhuli said:


> I understand, thank you. My main problem is that there is no change described, i.e. the sentence is very generic.


We have to conform to the colloquial pattern of the target language when doing translation. Even though it's a generic sentence, I think we should know its context to give an equivalent Mandarin tagline that sounds natural. I don't think we can talk about "changes" in Mandarin without hinting on what kind (创新/美好/多彩) or what magnitude (变革/改变).


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## xiaolijie

I just wonder if "使变化出现" sounds ok to native speakers.
?


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## Jerry Chan

xiaolijie said:


> I just wonder if "使变化出现" sounds ok to native speakers.
> ?



It's understandable but not like traditional Chinese.


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## xiaolijie

Thank you, Jerry Chan. Your confirmation is what I need 

Now this may be a bit off topic but I think sometimes an idea is difficult to translate may not be purely a linguistic issue, but could be a cultural one. "Make change happen" sounds ok to us because of our culture, but I suspect it doesn't sound so good in Chinese, even if it's said in perfect Chinese. Again, would any Chinese speaker confirm this feeling?


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## Dorothea01

变革：change in the nature of things


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## Razzle Storm

xiaolijie said:


> Thank you, Jerry Chan. Your confirmation is what I need
> 
> Now this may be a bit off topic but I think sometimes an idea is difficult to translate may not be purely a linguistic issue, but could be a cultural one. "Make change happen" sounds ok to us because of our culture, but I suspect it doesn't sound so good in Chinese, even if it's said in perfect Chinese. Again, would any Chinese speaker confirm this feeling?




使变化出现 is something that would probably not appear at any event organized by a native speaker. Something like 一起(or even 牵手) 让／使世界变得更美好！ might be closer to a more "natural" idea that still expresses what you want. I figure for a charity event "let's make the world a better place" is fairly equivalent to "make change happen", since the "change" here is talking about good change.

My suggestion would be 一起让世界变得更美好, but I don't know if native speakers would agree.


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## samanthalee

xiaolijie said:


> Now this may be a bit off topic but I think sometimes an idea is difficult to translate may not be purely a linguistic issue, but could be a cultural one. "Make change happen" sounds ok to us because of our culture, but I suspect it doesn't sound so good in Chinese, even if it's said in perfect Chinese. Again, would any Chinese speaker confirm this feeling?


You are quite right. That's what I meant in my previous post. If we say "make change happen" in Mandarin, everyone will start wondering "what is the change?", "is it going to be nice?", "how radical?".

Razzle Storm's suggestion of "一起让世界变得更美好" is great for most context. As I've mentioned "美好", "多彩", "创新" are all the possible terms to use in taglines. "多彩生活；全新体验" for example.


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## Zhuli

xiaolijie said:


> Thank you, Jerry Chan. Your confirmation is what I need
> 
> Now this may be a bit off topic but I think sometimes an idea is difficult to translate may not be purely a linguistic issue, but could be a cultural one. "Make change happen" sounds ok to us because of our culture, but I suspect it doesn't sound so good in Chinese, even if it's said in perfect Chinese. Again, would any Chinese speaker confirm this feeling?





samanthalee said:


> You are quite right. That's what I meant in my previous post. If we say "make change happen" in Mandarin, everyone will start wondering "what is the change?", "is it going to be nice?", "how radical?".
> 
> Razzle Storm's suggestion of "一起让世界变得更美好" is great for most context. As I've mentioned "美好", "多彩", "创新" are all the possible terms to use in taglines. "多彩生活；全新体验" for example.



Thank you for all these explanations, it makes a lot of sense to me. I usually translate from English to French (and French to English) and haven't translated into Chinese since university.

Even in French and English, some ideas and concepts simply don't translate well.

I had to explain this to the client, that basically it's not the matter of translating a single sentence, it has to do with whether this sentence "speaks" to people or not.


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