# He walks amongst us, but he is not one of us



## mj2332

Hello,
Got a question that popped in my mind recently which I could not answer to.
In the tv series Lost the character Jack has got some tattoos ( 鷹 击 長 空) which are translated in English with 'He walks amongst us, but he is not one of us' but of course the real tattoos say something completely different, since the actor already had them inked before the show.
So, what would be the real translation for 'He walks amongst us, but he is not one of us'?
Thanks for the attention


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## Skatinginbc

Do you need an English translation of his Chinese tattoo?  Or do you need a Chinese translation for "He walks among us but is not one of us"?  If it is the latter, what interpretation do you hold with regard to that English sentence?  Do you mean he is the best among peers (鶴立雞群)?  Or do you mean he is a stranger among us (同伍異類)？


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## mj2332

I wanted the correct English-Chinese of the phrase 'He walks amongst us, but he is not one of us'. Apparently the tattoo of the actor is from a Mao poem and it is even written in a mixture of simplified and traditional Chinese (or at least so I read).
Anyways it can be read in both the meanings you said in the series, but are the translations you gave complete (because I also read that it would need more than 4 ideograms to get translated, but of course I don't know nothing with Chinese) ?
Thanks for your reply


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## Skatinginbc

Please elaborate on your interpretation of that English sentence in question.  The clearer the better.
Please specify your purpose (For example, if you intend to use it for your own tattoo, then I would recommend Classical Chinese translations.  If you demand a "correct" or literal translation, you may end up with a wordy, lengthy Modern Chinese translation.)


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## mj2332

I prefer the 'chosen one between his peers' between the interpretation (but as I said, in the series the meaning is ambivalent).


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## Skatinginbc

It sounds to me that you want a literal translation of that English sentence.  OK, here you go: 他雖與眾同行，但終非吾屬.


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## mj2332

I was just trying to explain myself at my best Ahahaha thank you for your patience. Just out of  curiosity, how would the classic Chinese look like?


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## hx1997

In case you didn't notice, he/she already gave the Classical Chinese translation: 鶴立雞群.


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## mj2332

Ok, thank you all for you help


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## lockheed

I would like to join this question, but with somewhat modified meaning than than what OP wanted.

How would we translate this sentence (*He walks amongst us, but he is not one of us) *to Chinese (both Traditional and Simplified) if the intended meaning was, for 

1. The first part of the sentence ("walks among us" part") which uses "walk" in a less literal, more poeting way to say "experiencing life/existence/journey among/with us"

and 

2. the second part of the sentence ("but he is not one of us")
- not implying "better of us", but could be one of the interpretations
- not stranger, but could be one of the interpretations
- something like "not of us", "different" but in an indirect, more vague way, just like the English "not one of us" - which could mean all the things above at the same time.

How would such interpretation of look like?


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## SimonTsai

他雖然和我們同道，但不是我們一夥的。


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## lockheed

Right. Can this be enclosed within 4-5 characters?


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## SuperXW

SimonTsai said:


> 他雖然和我們同道，但不是我們一夥的。


To me, “同道”可能指代抽象的“同道中人”，即“志同道合的人”，所以我倾向于用“同路”替代“同道”。

或者，我会直接翻译：
他虽然和我们走在一起，却不是我们的同类。



lockheed said:


> Right. Can this be enclosed within 4-5 characters?


It's hard but Skating's 同伍異類 is more genetic than other options, so it fits your vague requirement well, I think.


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## Myla78

mj2332 said:


> I wanted the correct English-Chinese of the phrase 'He walks amongst us, but he is not one of us'.



Hi, here's another possible translation for this sentence: 身在曹营心在汉.


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