# to believe in



## yuechu

大家好！

I was recently thinking of how to translate "to believe in" into Chinese for talking about vaccines, global warming, God, etc.
 Would 信 work for all these contexts?
 你信疫苗吗？
 你信全球变暖？
 你信神吗？ (or is it better to say 上帝?)

Thanks!


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## SimonTsai

The last one works. For the second, I think I might say something like, '你相不相信地球正在暖化?'

For the first, could you tell us a little more about what you mean, in Chinese or English, please?


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## yuechu

Thanks, Simon!



SimonTsai said:


> For the first, could you tell us a little more about what you mean, in Chinese or English, please?


Oh, some people are "anti-vaxxers" and don't believe that vaccines work.
(Also, some people think that global warming is a hoax)


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## SimonTsai

Oh, thanks. I was asking because I was unsure if it's about safety or effectiveness.

I personally might say, 'AZ 的疫苗我不大相信' or '這疫苗有沒有效, 我有點兒懷疑'.


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## yuechu

謝謝！


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## SuperXW

yuechu said:


> I was recently thinking of how to translate "to believe in" into Chinese for talking about vaccines, global warming, God, etc.
> Would 信 work for all these contexts?
> 你信疫苗吗？
> 你信全球变暖？
> 你信神吗？ (or is it better to say 上帝?)


When speaking English, do you really use "believe *in*" in all these contexts? Or do you use "*in*" only in "believe *in* God"?
I thought "to believe *in*" was different from "to believe".


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## AquisM

SuperXW said:


> When speaking English, do you really use "believe *in*" in all these contexts? Or do you use "*in*" only in "believe *in* God"?
> I thought "to believe *in*" was different from "to believe".


Yes, it's perfectly natural. Definitions 1 and 2 here describe "believing in global warming" and "believing in vaccines" respectively.


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## SuperXW

AquisM said:


> Yes, it's perfectly natural. Definitions 1 and 2 here describe "believing in global warming" and "believing in vaccines" respectively.


Ok, apparently my English teacher was not totally correct.

In Chinese, in general, 信xx refers to some faith.
But colloquially, it can also be short for 相信.

Without contexts, 你相信疫苗吗？你相信全球变暖吗？are definitely better.
But 你信疫苗吗？你信全球变暖？may still be used in casual conversations.


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## ovaltine888

信春哥 得永生
believe in Li Yuchun, become immortal


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## SimonTsai

SuperXW said:


> But 你信疫苗吗？你信全球变暖？may still be used in casual conversations.


I can't imagine that, but... The first is passable or tolerable at best. The second does sound awkward, unnatural. (The difference is that '疫苗', '基督', '春哥' are nouns and '全球變暖' is a clause.)


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## SuperXW

SimonTsai said:


> I can't imagine that, but... The first is passable or tolerable at best. The second does sound awkward, unnatural. (The difference is that '疫苗', '基督', '春哥' are nouns and '全球變暖' is a clause.)


Here 全球变暖 is a theory, a topic, an event.

I can't imagine that you can't imagine that. Then, do you say something like:
你信他的话？
吃瘦身药减肥，这你也信？
In these examples, the subjects/objects are not a faith, and can be a clause.


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## dojibear

yuechu said:


> (Also, some people think that global warming is a hoax)


That depends on how you define "global warming". Nobody thinks that historical data (showing warming) is a hoax. But many people think that the trillion-dollar industry called "global warming" is a hoax, and is not based on scientific data.

Scientists do not "believe in" anything. Scientists gather information, and expect that information to change. That is why we spend billions of dollars on GW research every year. There are no "scientific facts", just "the latest scientific information".

Science does not include the word "bad". But the industry (politicans and media) claim that any "bad" event is caused by global warming. Fires, hurricanes, too cold, too hot, tornados, bugs dying out, too many bugs, floods, droughts -- if it is "bad" then someone says on TV that global warming caused it. Since nobody believes every word that any person says, it is not clear what "believe in global warming" means in English.


AquisM said:


> Definitions 1 and 2 here describe "believing in global warming" and "believing in vaccines" respectively.


Thanks for the link. I had forgotten meaning 2 (to *believe in* the value of doing something). That matches "believe in getting vaccinated." 

In Chinese, should that meaning be expressed differently (应该, 应当，理应) as in 每个人都应该接种疫苗?


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## SimonTsai

SuperXW said:


> 吃瘦身药减肥，这你也信？ [...] the subjects/objects are not a faith, and can be a clause.


Grammatically speaking, '這' is a dummy object which summarises the preceding clause.

I can't explain at the moment why '吃瘦身藥減肥, 你信' works but when the topic is not fronted ('你信吃瘦身藥減肥'), it doesn't sound quite right to my ear.


dojibear said:


> In Chinese, should that meaning be expressed differently (应该, 应当, 理应) as in 每个人都应该接种疫苗?


That would mean, 'Each and every man should get vaccinated.'


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