# not impressed by



## RusskiPower

How would you say "not impressed by" in Mandarin please?

My online dictionary gives me 看不中, but it does not seem to be a valid phrase at all.

The context is: "I make a lot of mistakes in Chinese, my teachers are probably not impressed."

My take is 我常常说错，写错，我的老师大概看不中, although the 看不中 bit is apparently incorrect.

Please help me, I want to impress my teachers! 

Thanks a lot!


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## ChineseBoy

I think may be "我在中文上犯了很多错，（但是 but）我的老师也许都不记得了/都没什么印象了"


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## Ghabi

ChineseBoy said:


> I think may be "我在中文上犯了很多错，（但是 but）我的老师也许都不记得了/都没什么印象了"


No no no ... the sentence means "老师大槪不太满意". In some contexts you may also use the idiom 不以为然, which has some scornful connotation.


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## xiaolijie

The question should be better phrased in the first place. "Not impressed by" is not what it seems.


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## RusskiPower

Thanks a lot, Ghabi and Chinese Boy! 多谢！

It all worked out fine, I finally did impress them!


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## RusskiPower

Btw, 看不中 is a Henan dialect word. Wonder how on earth it made its way to a Mandarin dictionary?


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## indigoduck

xiaolijie said:


> The question should be better phrased in the first place. "Not impressed by" is not what it seems.


 
Judging from xiaolijie's comment "Not impressed" is not understood everywhere.

"Not impressed" is english slang that simply means "Not happy" or "Not proud"

This was quite a common expression used by teachers in Canada, at least.

But i agree, not everyone understands this slang.


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## Ghabi

RusskiPower said:


> Btw, 看不中 is a Henan dialect word. Wonder how on earth it made its way to a Mandarin dictionary?


Henan!? 看不中/看不上 "doesn't find (someone/something) attractive" is perfectly acceptable in Mandarin. 



indigoduck said:


> Judging from xiaolijie's comment "Not impressed" is not understood everywhere.


How come? It's standard English. I don't think any English speaker would misunderstand it.


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## viajero_canjeado

As for rewriting the original, I don't think it'd be needed except for turning the comma splice into a semicolon. 

"To not be impressed by sb/sth" is pretty straightforward to me:  when a student excels his teachers are impressed - if he makes a lot of mistakes, they aren't impressed, 老師感覺學生沒怎樣. This is a subtle expression that implies that instead of the teachers being "displeased," they are merely "not pleased". Is that the perspective that 不滿意 gives or is that closer to being displeased?


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## xiaolijie

> Judging from xiaolijie's comment "Not impressed" is not understood everywhere.
> "Not impressed" is english slang that simply means "Not happy" or "Not proud"


By my previous post, I didn't mean "not impressed" is not understood or slang or such. "Not impressed" as asked here is not in its primary meaning, and a more direct word should be used here if the purpose is in order to get the correct word/ sentence in Chinese, which is the reason for asking.


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## Ghabi

viajero_canjeado said:


> ... 老師感覺學生沒不怎樣.


I think this is an excellent translation for many contexts, for example, 

昨天剛看了"趙氏孤兒",說實的,感覺不怎麼樣 "Just saw Chen Kaige's _Sacrifice_. I'm not impressed, if you wanna know the truth", 

but I find it a bit odd when used in OP's context.



> This is a subtle expression that implies that instead of the teachers being "displeased," they are merely "not pleased". Is that the perspective that 不太滿意 gives or is that closer to being displeased?


不太满意 means literally "not overly satisfied". Like "not impressed", it's an understatement that leaves some wiggle room for interpretation.


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## xiaolijie

> it's an understatement that leaves some wiggle room for interpretation.


Exactly! This is why I don't think "_not impressed_" is a suitable bridge for getting to the other shore. Something is bound to be "lost in translation" (in a mixed readership ).


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## RusskiPower

Ghabi said:


> Henan!? 看不中/看不上 "doesn't find (someone/something) attractive" is perfectly acceptable in Mandarin.
> 
> How come? It's standard English. I don't think any English speaker would misunderstand it.



Re. your 1st point: 
I dunno, my Chinese teacher, a native Beijinger, PhD in teaching Chinese  to foreigners at SOAS, says it's no good. What can I say?

Re. your 2nd point:
I concur.


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## RusskiPower

Thanks a lot, Ghabi and Viajero, I really appreciate your input.

感覺不怎麼樣 sounds very good, in the sense "do not think much of it".

By the way, that was for my oral presentation test, I passed it with flying colours!


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