# 看好



## yuechu

大家好！

I was recently reading a Chinese novel where someone says: "我<看好>他！"

The dictionary says that 看好 can mean "optimistic (about the outcome)", "to think highly of" and "to support". These meanings are different in English. Which meaning is most common in Chinese? I'm assuming that it's "optimistic (about the outcome)" in this context because the person is speaking about contestants in a competition, but the other two meanings are also possible.
What would you say it usually means?

Thanks!


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## Robby Zhu

You're right that in your example, it means "optimistic (about the outcome)", yuechu. As for "think highly of",
( Speaking as a leader)"这批年轻人里, 我最看好小张"

To support:
I'm sorry, but I cannot come up with an example. 看好is similar to 支持 in some contexts, but they are basically different,  in my opinion.


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## Ghabi

yuechu said:


> The dictionary says that 看好 can mean "optimistic (about the outcome)"


I think the object of 看好 should be someone. For example: 

你看好哪隊? "Which team you think is going to win?" 
我看好你,你行的 "I've got faith in you. You're gonna make it"


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## yuechu

Thanks for your explanations, Robby and Ghabi! 😄


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## gonecar

yuechu said:


> 大家好！
> 
> I was recently reading a Chinese novel where someone says: "我<看好>他！"
> 
> *The dictionary says that 看好 can mean "optimistic (about the outcome)", "to think highly of" and "to support". These meanings are different in English*. Which meaning is most common in Chinese? I'm assuming that it's "optimistic (about the outcome)".


For some Chinese word, once you attempt to understand it by its English translation, you would either expand or reduce the original meaning of that word, and vice versa. 

A good way to learn a new Chinese word maybe, is to learn it in sentences, the context which throws light on how the word is used in an idiomatic manner, bolstered by looking it up in an Chinese-Chinese dictionary. 

Try these:

1.我们在赛前绝对不被看好。
Before the game we were definitely the underdogs.

2.今年的销售情况看好。
This year's sales figures are looking good.

3.这是我看好太空旅行的一个原因。
That's one reason why I'm bullish on space travel.

4. 那么，你也不看好这个计划吗？
So, are you unconvinced about the scheme too?

词典解释:

①（事物）将要出现好的势头：
旅游市场的前景看好
经济前途看好。 

②认为某人或某事物将在竞争或竞赛中占上风：
这场比赛，人们看好火车头队。


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## yuechu

gonecar said:


> For some Chinese word, once you attempt to understand it by its English translation, you would either expand or reduce the original meaning of that word, and vice versa.
> 
> A good way to learn a new Chinese word maybe, is to learn it in sentences, the context which throws light on how the word is used in an idiomatic manner, bolstered by looking it up in an Chinese-Chinese dictionary.
> 
> Try these:
> 
> 1.我们在赛前绝对不被看好。
> Before the game we were definitely the underdogs.
> 
> 2.今年的销售情况看好。
> This year's sales figures are looking good.
> 
> 3.这是我看好太空旅行的一个原因。
> That's one reason why I'm bullish on space travel.
> 
> 4. 那么，你也不看好这个计划吗？
> So, are you unconvinced about the scheme too?
> 
> 词典解释:
> 
> ①（事物）将要出现好的势头：
> 旅游市场的前景看好
> 经济前途看好。
> 
> ②认为某人或某事物将在竞争或竞赛中占上风：
> 这场比赛，人们看好火车头队。


Great suggestions! Do you have any recommendations of good online dictionaries? I mostly use ones based on CEDict which don't have any sentence examples at all. You're right that they can be very helpful!

Are those sentences ones from a dictionary or did you make them up? In any case, they are very good and help me understand much better how to use the word!  

Thanks again, Gonecar!


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## SimonTsai

yuechu said:


> Do you have any recommendations of good online dictionaries?


天火字典









教育部國語辭典簡編本


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## dojibear

yuechu said:


> The dictionary says that 看好 can mean "optimistic (about the outcome)", "to think highly of" and "to support".


My dictionary lists this meaning of 看好 (kàn hǎo). But my dictionary also lists 看好 (pronounced kān hǎo) with the meaning "to keep an eye on" (关照, 看管). 

I suppose the difference is context. Is the speaker a parent talking about children?


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## yuechu

dojibear said:


> Is the speaker a parent talking about children?


No, I don't think so. (They haven't talked yet about the age of the people in the competition, but I imagine that they are adults)


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## SimonTsai

*看*1 好他！別讓他給跑了！
我對他有信心，我*看*4 好他！
我*看*4 好他？我又不是瞎了眼！
你給我*看*4 好！我只做一次。


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## dojibear

SimonTsai said:


> 你給我*看*4 好！我只做一次。


我不明白。第一次的句子有什么意思？我为什么只做一次？


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## SimonTsai

That sentence means, 'I am showing you [how to do this properly] only once. [I will not repeat,] so pay attention.'


dojibear said:


> 第一次的句子有什么意思？


I am not sure what you mean by this. Could you explain?


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## dojibear

"What meaning does the first sentence have?"

Oops! I wrote 第一次 instead of 第一, then added 的. My mistake. I meant to write: 

第一句子有什么意思？

Is that okay, or is it "Chinglish"?


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## SimonTsai

第一*個*句子*是*甚麼意思？ or
第一*個*句子*是*甚麼意思？

(If you have any further questions about this, feel free to start a different thread or send me a message.)


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## Judy Zhu

dojibear said:


> 我不明白。第一次的句子有什么意思？我为什么只做一次？


你給我*看*4 好！我只做一次。
Here Simon gives an example for 看好（看4：看的发音是第四声）
看好 in the sentence means to look carefully.
The whole sentence may translate into: Because I only do it once, you should look carefully.

By the way, we don't say 第一句子. We say 第一句话 or 第一个句子.


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## dojibear

Thanks. I understand now. 你給我*看*好！is an imperative sentence (a command or request). I forgot that such sentences in Chinese (祈使句) often start with 你, because in English "you" is omitted in those sentences.

"你給我*看*好！我只做一次。" translates colloquially to "Watch closely. I will only do this once."


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