# jet lag, jet-lagged



## Senordineroman

How do you say that someone "has jet lag" or "feels jet-lagged" in Chinese?  My Chinese language partner said that he would say something like "dao3 时差", but I don't know what "dao" would mean here. 

Anyone have any suggestions?


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## englishelp

He is totally wrong. 

"倒时差" literally means to "reverse time difference". It refers to a conscious effort to adjust to the local time, usually by staying awake for 24 hours, for example. 

I do not happen to know any neat phrase for "having jet-lag" in Chinese. I would say this: "我现在受时差影响" (I am now being affected by time difference). 




ChrisCashman said:


> How do you say that someone "has jet lag" or "feels jet-lagged" in Chinese?  My Chinese language partner said that he would say something like "dao3 时差", but I don't know what "dao" would mean here.
> 
> Anyone have any suggestions?


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## IDK

Some say 有時差。Just another suggestion.


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## KYC

We say 有時差.


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## DavidCornell

I don't think your language partner is wrong. I agree with him. The phrase is 倒时差, but the sentence structure should be different from the English "being jetlagged". In Chinese you can say， 我现在还在倒时差。It means "I am still trying to get used to the time here". But actually it means the same thing as being jetlagged.



ChrisCashman said:


> How do you say that someone "has jet lag" or "feels jet-lagged" in Chinese?  My Chinese language partner said that he would say something like "dao3 时差", but I don't know what "dao" would mean here.
> 
> Anyone have any suggestions?


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## englishelp

*Feeling jet-lagged* means "feeling tired and slightly confused after a long plane journey, especially when there is a big difference in the time at the place you leave and that at the place you arrive in" (Oxford Advanced Learners' Dictionary)

On the other hand, *倒时差 *means to adjust oneself to the local time after having traveled from a different time zone. 

Therefore, these two phrases denote different meanings and cannot be regarded as being equivalent in meaning. The former (feeling jet-lagged) refers to the *effect of traveling across time zones on one's sense of well-being*. The latter (dao3/4 shi2cha1) refers to *a conscious effort to adjust to the local time after traveling across different time zones. *

In reality, of course, these two will often go hand in hand. You feel tired and confused after having traveled from Los Angeles to Beijing and therefore may want to adjust to Beijing Time. But nonetheless, they do not mean the same thing. 





DavidCornell said:


> I don't think your language partner is wrong. I agree with him. The phrase is 倒时差, but the sentence structure should be different from the English "being jetlagged". In Chinese you can say， 我现在还在倒时差。It means "I am still trying to get used to the time here". But actually it means the same thing as being jetlagged.


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## avlee

That might be a mandatory adjustment to the local time after a long flight, no matter you intend to or not. But 时差影响 looks a bit better than 倒时差, though I don't know why.


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## DavidCornell

I know what it means. My point it that there is no equivalent way of saying "being jetlagged" in Chinese. The FUNCTIONAL equivalent is 倒时差。I think the thread starter wanted to know the FUNCTIONAL equivalent answer, but not the fine shades of difference between 倒时差 and "being jetlagged". 

Of course you can say 你还受时差影响吗？But that's not what we usually say in such a situation. It is not the most natural way of saying it. In Chinese, the most usual way is asking if someone is still trying to adjust to the local time, which is 你还在倒时差吗？你时差还没有倒过来吗？

If you want to say " I am still jetlagged", you can say 我时差还没有倒过来呢。That's much better than the literal translation of "受时差影响".



englishelp said:


> *Feeling jet-lagged* means "feeling tired and slightly confused after a long plane journey, especially when there is a big difference in the time at the place you leave and that at the place you arrive in" (Oxford Advanced Learners' Dictionary)
> 
> On the other hand, *倒时差 *means to adjust oneself to the local time after having traveled from a different time zone.
> 
> Therefore, these two phrases denote different meanings and cannot be regarded as being equivalent in meaning. The former (feeling jet-lagged) refers to the *effect of traveling across time zones on one's sense of well-being*. The latter (dao3/4 shi2cha1) refers to *a conscious effort to adjust to the local time after traveling across different time zones. *
> 
> In reality, of course, these two will often go hand in hand. You feel tired and confused after having traveled from Los Angeles to Beijing and therefore may want to adjust to Beijing Time. But nonetheless, they do not mean the same thing.


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## englishelp

Ok, I see your point now. 

I believe that these two phrases may be considered functionally equivalent by some, but not all, and certainly not by me. 

For me, "倒时差" foregrounds the effort to adjust to local time. You could start to"倒时差" even before you travel to a different time zone. 

That's just my opinion. 




DavidCornell said:


> I know what it means. My point it that there is no equivalent way of saying "being jetlagged" in Chinese. The FUNCTIONAL equivalent is 倒时差。I think the thread starter wanted to know the FUNCTIONAL equivalent answer, but not the fine shades of difference between 倒时差 and "being jetlagged".
> 
> Of course you can say 你还受时差影响吗？But that's not what we usually say in such a situation. It is not the most natural way of saying it. In Chinese, the most usual way is asking if someone is still trying to adjust to the local time, which is 你还在倒时差吗？你时差还没有倒过来吗？
> 
> If you want to say " I am still jetlagged", you can say 我时差还没有倒过来呢。That's much better than the literal translation of "受时差影响".


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## cerruti1881

englishelp said:


> Ok, I see your point now.
> 
> I believe that these two phrases may be considered functionally equivalent by some, but not all, and certainly not by me.
> 
> For me, "倒时差" foregrounds the effort to adjust to local time. You could start to"倒时差" even before you travel to a different time zone.
> 
> That's my opinion.




看来您没理解“倒”的意思。倒在北方汉语里有“换”的意思。你听说过“倒车”这个词吗？她的意思不是falling on ground的意思，她的意思是“换乘”。

倒时差也是这个意思，就是从一个时区的作息时间换到另一个时区的作息时间，她包括生理上的时间调整（换时区）。

所以楼主的汉语伙伴的说法是站得住脚的。呵呵。


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## englishelp

我没有否认“倒时差”是“从一个时区的作息时间换到另一个时区的作息时间，她包括生理上的时间调整（换时区）” 的意思。实际上，我对这个短语做出的解释和你的是一样的。

我说的是：英语中的 'feel jet-lagged' 指的是时差给人带来的疲惫和混淆的效应。这与 “适应当地的时间” 表达的意思不一样。 




cerruti1881 said:


> 看来您没理解“倒”的意思。倒在北方汉语里有“换”的意思。你听说过“倒车”这个词吗？她的意思不是falling on ground的意思，她的意思是“换乘”。
> 
> 倒时差也是这个意思，就是从一个时区的作息时间换到另一个时区的作息时间，她包括生理上的时间调整（换时区）。
> 
> 所以楼主的汉语伙伴的说法是站得住脚的。呵呵。


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## cerruti1881

englishelp said:


> 我没有否认“倒时差”是“从一个时区的作息时间换到另一个时区的作息时间，她包括生理上的时间调整（换时区）” 的意思。实际上，我对这个短语做出的解释和你的是一样的。
> 
> 我说的是：英语中的 'feel jet-lagged' 指的是时差给人带来的疲惫和混淆的效应。这与 “适应当地的时间” 表达的意思不一样。


怎么跟你说呢，语言是个非常复杂的东西。

从字面上讲你是对的。但中国人在用"倒时差"这个词的时候,一方面是强调"适应",另一方面也含有"正处于困倦,不习惯.."的含义.我想楼主的朋友想表达的就是第二个意思,所以,他朋友用"倒时差"这个词用得没错.

语言有时候是模糊的,尤其是中文,有时候表达的不够精确,如果细致研究,日常用语里有好多说不清楚的地方,但在我看来,这没什么对错之分,因为大家平时都是这么说的.赫和.


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## DavidCornell

No one said you were wrong. I think your translation is correct. But it is just a translation. It is not what the thread starter was asking for. He asked for an idiomatic expression to use in the same situation. If you are in this situation, will you use "我现在受时差影响" to your Chinese friends? (NOTE: No offense, but your sentence/translation "我现在受时差影响" is NOT even grammatical! ) That is the kind of question that we should ask. I mean if it is just a matter of translation, then the thread starter doesn't have to come here to ask us. He could simply look it up in a dictionary.



PS: I want to make it clear why 我现在受时差影响 is not grammatical, since it might not be obvious to some. These sentences are called Incomplete Sentences, and actually I prefer the terminology "Abstract Sentence", because they lack any specificatin of aspect. For example:

张三吃饭

it is normally an abstract sentence, and it is similar to English "John eat" [NOTE: it is not "John eats"]. You need to add aspectual specifications to these sentences. For example you can force a habitual/generic reading on these sentences, i.e. "John eats [NOTE: it IS "eats" here], and lions run" "张三吃饭、鱼游泳", but of course such readings are awkard, because the verb "eat" does not normally have a habitual/generic reading. So you need to add other aspectual specifications. E.g. John is eating, John has eaten. 张三吃了饭了，张三正在吃饭呢， etc.

It is the same case here with 我现在受时差影响. It is an abstract sentence. You can improve it by adding aspectual specifications. E.g. 我受了时差的影响，我现在还在受着时差的影响呢。But in spite of these measures for improvement, the so-called improved sentences are still awkward. Therefore it can hardly be an idiomatic Chinese expression. That's why I don't like literal translations. You need to find some other way of saying the same thing idiomatically.


englishelp said:


> Ok, I see your point now.
> 
> I believe that these two phrases may be considered functionally equivalent by some, but not all, and certainly not by me.
> 
> For me, "倒时差" foregrounds the effort to adjust to local time. You could start to"倒时差" even before you travel to a different time zone.
> 
> That's just my opinion.


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## DavidCornell

so your point is that “倒时差”is similar to "feel jet-lagged" EXCEPT that the English phrase has the extra meaning of being tired and confused? But as far as I know “倒时差”conveys all the inconveniences of being jet-lagged, including the fatigue and confusion.

But if you really want to translate the English to Chinese faithfully and idiomatically, why don't you just say 我时差还没到过来呢，整天都累，.... you can be specific about what inconveniences you are experiencing. But “倒时差”is indeed enough. Everyone knows what it means.



englishelp said:


> 我没有否认“倒时差”是“从一个时区的作息时间换到另一个时区的作息时间，她包括生理上的时间调整（换时区）” 的意思。实际上，我对这个短语做出的解释和你的是一样的。
> 
> 我说的是：英语中的 'feel jet-lagged' 指的是时差给人带来的疲惫和混淆的效应。这与 “适应当地的时间” 表达的意思不一样。


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## englishelp

> so your point is that “倒时差”is similar to "feel jet-lagged" EXCEPT that the English phrase has the extra meaning of being tired and confused?But as far as I know “倒时差”conveys all the inconveniences of being jet-lagged, including the fatigue and confusion.



Actually no. At the risk of being repetitive, "倒时差" to me primarily refers to a conscious effort to adjust oneself to a different time. If it also conveys the meaning of "being tired and confused", it must do so by inferencing, therefore a secondary meaning at best. A related point I raised is that one can actually "倒时差" EVEN BEFORE traveling to a different time zone. That should be further evidence that "倒时差" primarily refers to the conscious effort to adjust to a different time, rather than the effect of traveling through time zones (tiredness and confusion and all). 

To the extent that the primary meaning of "倒时差" is not the same as that of the English "feeling jet-lagged", I would hesitate to regard them as being equivalent. 

If someone says that he is "倒时差" to me, my knee-jerk reaction is *not *that they are fatigued and confused. I hope this makes the point abundantly clear. 

Of course, this may not be the same for every speaker of Chinese. That is a fact I acknowledge. 

Therefore at least for me, I would prefer the more direct Chinese translation to the "idiomatic" ready-made Chinese phrase, if I want the other person to know that I am feeling tired and confused from my long-distance air travel. 

Of course, there is a risk here - that I am not a native speaker of English. --My understanding of "jet-lagged" is based on the dictionary. 

Anyway thanks for your suggested improvements for my original translation.


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## BODYholic

ChrisCashman said:


> How do you say that someone "has jet lag" or "feels jet-lagged" in Chinese?  My Chinese language partner said that he would say something like "dao3 时差", but I don't know what "dao" would mean here.
> 
> Anyone have any suggestions?



Yes, that will be "倒时差" or "时差" although it is not a direct translation of jet lagged. The Chinese words implied it.

When asked why we looked tired or fatigue after a long flight, we normally reply with "时差吧" and this is usually a contract form of "因为时差*的关系*吧".

And to answer your question,  倒, in this case, means reverse but it has little meaning here since it only serves to reinforce the word 差(difference). Both "倒时差" and "时差" mean time difference.


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