# Besides Beijing, I've never been in other places.



## mononoke

大家好！

I have to translate this sentence into mandarin:
_Besides Beijing, I've never been in other places.

_I have  two possible translations, but I don't know whether they are correct or no:
1) 除了北京以外，我还在哪里都没去过。

2) 除了北京以外，我还在哪个地方都没去过。

Are them correct? Can you suggest me a better translation?


I hope you can help me with my question.

谢谢你们！


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## nasridine

mononoke said:


> 大家好！
> 
> I have to translate this sentence into mandarin:
> _Besides Beijing, I've never been in other places.
> 
> _I have  two possible translations, but I don't know whether they are correct or no:
> 1) 除了北京以外，我还在哪里都没去过。
> 
> 2) 除了北京以外，我还在哪个地方都没去过。
> 
> Are them correct? Can you suggest me a better translation?
> 
> 
> I hope you can help me with my question.
> 
> 谢谢你们！



Hi mononoke, I'm afraid both of your translatiions sounds awkward to me. 
I would say, 除了北京，我哪里都没去过.
"以外" is optional. Plus you can replace 哪里 with 哪儿.


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## mononoke

Isn't 在 necessary when talking about places?


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## samanthalee

In Mandarin, when we mean _I've not been in other places_, we say_ I've never journey to other places_. We talk about the process of getting there and hence we don't use 在 here.


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## mononoke

so the correct translation would be nasridine's one?¿? or there exist other possible ways to say it?


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## GEmatt

Chatting with my Chinese friend, I would have said:

除了北京以外,我从没去过别的地方。

Is that acceptable?


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## nichec

GEmatt said:


> Chatting with my Chinese friend, I would have said:
> 
> 除了北京以外,我从没去过别的地方。
> 
> Is that acceptable?


 
Yes, I think it is, though I would translate your sentence into "I have yet to go to any other places besides Beijing".


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## GEmatt

喂 nichec, 妳好嗎?





nichec said:


> "I have yet to go to any other places besides Beijing".


I'm not sure about the difference between "I have yet to go" and "I have never been". Perhaps the first one indicates intention to go, but it seems subtle, to me. Perhaps to make it really specific:

北京是我唯一去过的地方。

可以嗎?


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## nichec

GEmatt said:


> 喂 nichec, 妳好嗎?I'm not sure about the difference between "I have yet to go" and "I have never been". Perhaps the first one indicates intention to go, but it seems subtle, to me. Perhaps to make it really specific:
> 
> 北京是我唯一去过的地方。
> 
> 可以嗎?


 
Hi, GEmatt, 

I think you would probably want to kill me, but I would translate it into "Beijing is the only place I have ever been" 

I think all the suggestions are close enough, and they carry more or less the same meaning.................I guess I used "yet to" because you have "還沒" in your version.


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## mononoke

谢谢你们都！

Mononoke


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## mononoke

And if the sentence I have to translate is:

_Besides Beijing, I haven't been in other places yet.

_How would you say that?


thanks again!


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## nichec

mononoke said:


> And if the sentence I have to translate is:
> 
> _Besides Beijing, I haven't been in other places yet._
> 
> How would you say that?
> 
> 
> thanks again!


 
See the answer in *GEmatt*'s post #6


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## mononoke

nichec said:


> See the answer in *GEmatt*'s post #6




but 从没 means never, and in _I haven't been in other places yet _there's no never... isn't it?


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## nichec

mononoke said:


> but 从没 means never, and in _I haven't been in other places yet _there's no never... isn't it?


 
But if you haven't been in other places *yet*, it means that you have *never* been in other places *before*, doesn't it?


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## nichec

And *never* (as in "never ever") should be "從來不曾/沒有(過)" in Chinese


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## mononoke

ok, I see. But if we translate literally, could this translation be correct?

除了北京以外，我还没去过别的地方。


thanks again!


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## nichec

mononoke said:


> ok, I see. But if we translate literally, could this translation be correct?
> 
> 除了北京以外，我还没去过别的地方。
> 
> 
> thanks again!


 
Yes, I think so


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## mononoke

nichec said:


> Yes, I think so



OK!

多谢你！！！


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## univerio

mononoke said:


> ok, I see. But if we translate literally, could this translation be correct?
> 
> 除了北京以外，我还没去过别的地方。
> 
> 
> thanks again!



But that emphasizes that you have not been to other places *yet*, and it implies that you will go in the near future.


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## mononoke

My God! this is more difficult than I thought!

So, Univerio, what's your translation to _I haven't been in other places yet_?

thanks a lot!


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## univerio

除了北京，我哪里都没有去过。


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## mononoke

O, I see. Ok, thank you so much for your help!


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## demoore

> I have to translate this sentence into mandarin:
> _Besides Beijing, I've never been in other places._





> I would say, 除了北京，我哪里都没去过.
> "以外" is optional. Plus you can replace 哪里 with 哪儿.


Totally agree with all the points.
Maybe the 过 can be ommitted. 我哪里都没去.
And to express a small frustration, a 啊 can be added : 我哪里都没去啊!


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## Rorrey

除了北京之外，我還有其他地方沒去過

It means you haven't been to Beijing either.


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## nic456

Hello,

Just to let you know that the correct English is to be to places/to have been to places, i.e. I have never been to other places.
Furthermore, I would use apart from and not besides in this context. Besides means in addition to, but in this context there is nothing to add (never been to other places), so it does not makes sense to use this expression.

Apart from Beijing, I have never been to other places OR I have never been to other places apart from Beijing.

Hope it helps


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## thebault

除了北京，我什么地方都没有去过。 或者 除了北京，我没去过其他地方。


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## yuechu

@nic456
I agree that we do say "to go TO other places" in English. However, just to make things clear: "to be to other places" only works in the past tense (since it has the meaning of the verb "to go". Ex. "We've been to France before"). In the future/infinitive, this does not work. Only "to be in + place" works in the infinitive or future constructions (since it has a stative meaning).

Re: your second comment about "besides" vs "apart from"
I have never heard of "besides" as being wrong here. It is a very natural construction for native speakers and is what I would say myself here.
I couldn't find much on it doing a Google search, but the dictionary (dictionary.com, based off of the Collins English dictionary) even gives "apart from" as one of the definitions of "besides". I highly doubt anyone would consider it wrong here. (do prove me wrong though if such a rule exists!).


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## xiaolijie

Hi guys,

Before you continue on, I'd like to point out one potential problem to do with "*apart from*" and "*besides*" that we should be aware of: the meaning of these words changes to the opposite, depending on what follows them:
1. _Apart from John, no one else went / Besides John, no one else went_ (= *Only* John (exclusive))
2. _Apart from John, Jack and Jill also went/ Besides John, Jack and Jill also went_ (= *In addition to* John (inclusive))


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## nic456

@baoshang
I wanted to point out the incorrect preposition. Your make a valid point about future tense and to be to, though this can be used in one particular future tense, future perfect: I will have been to Beijing if I get place on the bus.

With regards to besides, I have pasted what you can find on dictionary.com
If used as an adverb, it does indeed have the opposite meaning (point 5)

adverb 1. moreover; furthermore; also: Besides, I promised her we would come. 
2. in addition: There are three elm trees and two maples besides. 
3. otherwise; else: They had a roof over their heads but not much besides.
preposition 4. over and above; in addition to: Besides a mother he has a sister to support. 
5. other than; except: There's no one here besides Bill and me.

apart from
adverb 1. into pieces or parts; to pieces: to take a watch apart; an old barn falling apart from decay. 
2. separately in place, time, motion, etc.: New York and Tokyo are thousands of miles apart. Our birthdays are three days apart. 
3. to or at one side, with respect to place, purpose, or function: to put money apart for education; to keep apart from the group out of pride. 
4. separately or individually in consideration: each factor viewed apart from the others. 
5. aside (used with a gerund or noun): Joking apart, what do you think?
adjective 6. having independent or unique qualities, features, or characteristics (usually used following the noun it modifies): a class apart.

@xiaolijie
I think you raise a key point: the use of besides in a sentence that uses both a positive and a negative statement or combines two positive ones. In your sample sentences, I would still not use besides in 1, though aside from as a synonym for apart from. Note that the sample sentence in dictionary.com combines 2 items. It might have to do with the fact that I learned Latin, so I am (overly) sensitive to word structures. One of the key factors for the development of language is economy, and in this respect it is rather reasonable to use besides in both of your sample sentences.

I have come across prepend, which looks like a logical variation of append. The correct word would be prefix, because pend (Latin pendere, think of peding as well) as a root means to hang and items at the rear tend to hang (tail!), but not necessarily at the front (head!).

Hope this helps


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## grainhuang

> _I haven't been in other places yet_


我还没去过其他地方。


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## heynow

You can not say “除了北京以外” because it is logiclly wrong, this is a common error.
Both "除了北京" and "北京以外" are correct expressions.


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