# 八零后(後)



## teacherlau

"八零后(後)" is one of the most popular topic in China recently.
As a native Chinese speaker, I want to know how to express that in English accurately.
thanks in advance.


--
Sincerely
 - teacherlau


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## Tsingtao

80's generation


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## teacherlau

Tsingtao said:


> 80's generation



thank you Tsingtao, is there any definite article in front of it when I actually use it?


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## englishelp

The prevalent translation is "post-80s", as shown in the following sentence from the latest issue of The Economist: 

"On January 1st thousands of the same “post-80s” generation had marched in support of universal suffrage."


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## Tsingtao

80's means you were born between 1980-1989, which exactly means *八零后* , why needs to add POST? Isn't that repetitive?


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## teacherlau

before i post this discussion, i googled and baidued.
It's basically two expression of 八零后, "80's generation" and "post-80s".
i consulted the Collins English Dictionary.
while post act as a prefix:
1. after in time or sequence; following; subsequent
    eg: postgraduate
2. behind; posterior to
    eg: postorbital
according to the dictionary, I think( in my opinion) both of your expressions are great.


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## Analgesia

post-80s is ok,I use this one


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## radlader

国外就没这个词，所以翻译没有标准


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## LQZ

Tsingtao said:


> 80's means you were born between 1980-1989, which exactly means *八零后* , why needs to add POST? Isn't that repetitive?


I am more in favor of what Tsingtao said.


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## indigoduck

Tsingtao said:


> 80's means you were born between 1980-1989, which exactly means *八零后* , why needs to add POST? Isn't that repetitive?


 
The difference between "The 80s" and "Post-80's"

1. Talks about the time that occured between 1980-1989

2. Talks about the time that occured after the time between 1980-1989. Therefore, anytime after Jan 1, 1990.


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## indigoduck

englishelp said:


> The prevalent translation is "post-80s", as shown in the following sentence from the latest issue of The Economist:
> 
> "On January 1st thousands of the same “post-80s” generation had marched in support of universal suffrage."


 
Ah ha ! This is where the confusion started ... 

I don't believe this is correct usage of "post-80's"

Post-80's is talking about two things = Post and "80's

Post = after
80's = Jan 1, 1980- Dec 31, 1989

Therefore, "post-80's" refers to the decade that occured after the decade of "1980-1989"...

Correct me if i'm wrong...
Post-80's = 九零后(後)

Whereas 八零后(後) ... i think this just means after Jan 1, 1980.

I think maybe you wanted to say "Post Jan 1, 1980". But i've never heard anyone say it like this ...

Post Jan 1, 1980 and Post-80's doesn't mean the same thing.


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## englishelp

Thanks for your input. So, in your interpretation, the ""post-80s” generation" are those born in the 1990s or later? 

Granted, from the sentence that I quoted from The Economist (On January 1st thousands of the same “post-80s” generation had marched in support of universal suffrage.), it is not possible to tell exactly what they mean by "post-80s" and therefore your interpretation is possible. 

However, I have here another published news article in which it is clearly stated that "post-80s" are those born in the 1980s. This is from Singapore's national newspaper: The Straits Times. Let me quote the whole article below. Please see the phrase in bold: 

_"
*HK's young demand to be heard*
      STIMES0020100202e6230002s
      Review - Editorial
      463 Words
      03 February 2010
      Straits Times
      English
      (c) 2010 Singapore Press Holdings Limited    

...__ They see the government leaning towards business in the rail and other projects, to the detriment of residents in a society where the income gap continues to widen.


It bears watching that many of the protesters were young people -* the 'post-80s generation' born in the 1980s*. They are more politicised than their elders, having grown up during the politically charged period of transition between the British colonial administration and restoration of Chinese rule. They are also less enamoured of unchecked growth, want more social justice and are prepared to make a stand on environmental issues.
... " _ 





indigoduck said:


> Ah ha ! This is where the confusion started ...
> 
> I don't believe this is correct usage of "post-80's"
> 
> Post-80's is talking about two things = Post and "80's
> 
> Post = after
> 80's = Jan 1, 1980- Dec 31, 1989
> 
> Therefore, "post-80's" refers to the decade that occured after the decade of "1980-1989"...
> 
> Correct me if i'm wrong...
> Post-80's = 九零后(後)
> 
> Whereas 八零后(後) ... i think this just means after Jan 1, 1980.
> 
> I think maybe you wanted to say "Post Jan 1, 1980". But i've never heard anyone say it like this ...
> 
> Post Jan 1, 1980 and Post-80's doesn't mean the same thing.


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## samanthalee

Just a thought. Perhaps "post-80s" is not a compound of "post" and "80s" (ie. 1980年代后); perhaps it is a compound of "post" and "80" (ie 1980年后 ) and the "s" is added behind to make it a plural.

Or perhaps it's simply a translation error. Whatever our thoughts on this, "post-80s" is the currently accepted translation for 八零后.


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## indigoduck

samanthalee said:


> Just a thought. Perhaps "post-80s" is not a compound of "post" and "80s" (ie. 1980年代后); perhaps it is a compound of "post" and "80" (ie 1980年后 ) and the "s" is added behind to make it a plural.
> 
> Or perhaps it's simply a translation error. Whatever our thoughts on this, "post-80s" is the currently accepted translation for 八零后.


 
I did some search on the net and this is "truly" what *everybody* is calling it.

可怜呀！可怜呀！

I have no idea who started it but it has spread and it has been accepted as the "label" for people born after Jan 1, 1980.

This is not proven, but whoever started it probably didn't know english very well and may have admit this by using "quotes" because they were unsure. Someone interpreted it and took it as verbatim, published it and from there an "english language virus" was born especially for people trying to learn correct english.

Please take note however that "Post-80s" is written by authors in chinese speaking (there is power in population numbers) areas or reference to certain topics that concern the "chinese community".

For the record, this, being a language forum:

For the rest of us, the correct way to say is "People born in the 80's (or later)"

In chinese speaking communities, the generally recognized way to say is "Post-80s".

This reminds me of the english found on signs in Mainland China. For the people who truly want to learn english, please take note of what you are learning.  Sometimes it is impressive to speak english but not if it doesn't make any sense.

Previously, when i couldn't recognize as many chinese characters as i do now, i would write the below. I am thankful for computers and the 联想 feature.

我的名字是... as 我的"明"字是...

If any of the above is inaccurate, may your voice be heard.


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## Tsingtao

I agree, I don't think people should follow so called "language authorities", just because an article got publised on a well-known magazine, even it might be a mistake, people still treat it as Bible. If it doesn't make sense, we should stand up and question it, challenge it, and as a lot of times happened in the history, EXPERTS were wrong.

POST means after, 80's means born between 1980/1/1 - 1989/12/31, how come AFTER+born between 1980/1/1 - 1989/12/31 still mean born between 1980/1/1 - 1989/12/31?

Before we start to blindly follow the so called experts' step, why don't we stop and ask ourselves this first :  DOES THIS EVEN MAKE SENSE TO ME?


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## englishelp

There are broadly two approaches when it comes to translating phrases from another language: one is a "faithful approach" in which the original linguistic/cultural flavor is maximally preserved ; the other is an "idiomatic approach" in which adaptations are made to suit the linguistic/cultural norms of the target language so that the translation reads as if it was originally written in that language.

The Chinese original "80后" is a neologism that does not just refer to someone born in the 1980s. More importantly, the use of  this phrase is to emphasize the characteristics/quirks commonly attributed to people born in that time. "80后" people might be thought to be self-centered, whereas "90后" might be thought to be decadent (for example). 

Now, two native speakers of English have voiced objections to "Post-80s Generation" as the accurate translation for "people born in the 80s". I am in no position to dispute their judgments in this regard. 

But given the explanation above, one might realize that "Post-80s Generation" is not supposed to convey merely the meaning of "people born in the 80s". There are cultural connotations associated with the Chinese original. For this reason, the more faithful translation (literal translation; word-for-word translation) is commonly adopted, hence "Post-80s Generation". In fact, the Straits Times article did a good job in going on to elaborate on the characteristics of the "Post-80s Generation" in Hong Kong (_They are more politicised than their elders, having grown up during the politically charged period of transition between the British colonial administration and restoration of Chinese rule_).

There are many direct translations in world's languages. For example, you have "snakeheads", "Bok Choy" in English. You don't dissect such words and try to figure out why they mean "human smugglers" and "Chinese cabbage" respectively. They are learned as "whole words". The same logic might apply to our phrase at hand. Just a thought.


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## indigoduck

englishelp said:


> There are broadly two approaches when it comes to translating phrases from another language: one is a "faithful approach" in which the original linguistic/cultural flavor is maximally preserved ; the other is an "idiomatic approach" in which adaptations are made to suit the linguistic/cultural norms of the target language so that the translation reads as if it was originally written in that language.
> 
> The Chinese original "80后" is a neologism that does not just refer to someone born in the 1980s. More importantly, the use of this phrase is to emphasize the characteristics/quirks commonly attributed to people born in that time. "80后" people might be thought to be self-centered, whereas "90后" might be thought to be decadent (for example).
> 
> Now, two native speakers of English have voiced objections to "Post-80s Generation" as the accurate translation for "people born in the 80s". I am in no position to dispute their judgments in this regard.
> 
> But given the explanation above, one might realize that "Post-80s Generation" is not supposed to convey merely the meaning of "people born in the 80s". There are cultural connotations associated with the Chinese original. For this reason, the more faithful translation (literal translation; word-for-word translation) is commonly adopted, hence "Post-80s Generation". In fact, the Straits Times article did a good job in going on to elaborate on the characteristics of the "Post-80s Generation" in Hong Kong (_They are more politicised than their elders, having grown up during the politically charged period of transition between the British colonial administration and restoration of Chinese rule_).
> 
> There are many direct translations in world's languages. For example, you have "snakeheads", "Bok Choy" in English. You don't dissect such words and try to figure out why they mean "human smugglers" and "Chinese cabbage" respectively. They are learned as "whole words". The same logic might apply to our phrase at hand. Just a thought.


 
There is way too much of this lazy translation in PRC... just look at the signage the next time you travel there.

I must admit this that when i was young, i spoke chinese in the english way of thinking ...

I think "Bok-Choy" is a little different from "Post-80s" because Post-80s can be easily confused to readers... whereas "Snakeheads" and especially "Bok choy", you will not find another english term or "usage of english" quite like it ...

Post-80's is a pseudo-literal translation of 80后 ... if someone had chose to be less "fancy" and said "80 after"... i would laugh and chuckle, but i would "maybe" have a better idea what they were talking about... only because I was fluent in Mandarin Chinese and English at the same time ....

Whoever coined this ... knew enough "english" based on the following formula (1) translate each chinese word into english (2) reverse the positions (3) reads a lot of magazines that is way too advanced for their english language level of ability ...

Whereas Bok-Choy is similar to the use of Latin names for Organic things, but using chinese names because we had the need to introduce it to the western culture first.

Granted, I have no idea what snakeheads means, but based on context, i'll know that it's not referring to "Snakeheads Highway" or something ... whereas "Post-80s" and the actually meaning intended ... now that's cause for confusion !!


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## philosophia85

You can see a list of generation names in English from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generations#List_of_generations

In America, Generation Y loosely represent 80后 in terms of year born.  

It also mentions 80后 as "after-eighty generation" under Eastern World.


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## indigoduck

philosophia85 said:


> You can see a list of generation names in English from Wikipedia:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generations#List_of_generations
> 
> In America, Generation Y loosely represent 80后 in terms of year born.
> 
> It also mentions 80后 as "after-eighty generation" under Eastern World.


 
That is a nice link !  Thanks 

A note to all "fortunate" readers of WR:

"After-80" and "After-80s" does not mean the same thing.

After-80 - After the year 1980
After-80's - After the 80s decade


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## Jerry Chan

Are we talking about 八零後　or 八十後?
八零後 -  I think this term has mainly been used in mainland China to refer to those born after 1980, when China introduced the one-child policy (1979, to be exact). People born in 70s or earlier tend to have suffered a lot "hardship", wheares these 八零後 have been "spoiled" by their parents.
八十後 - A term mainly used in Hong Kong? It only grew popular in 2009 when a number of protests and drastic political movements involving the 80s generation hit the headlines. 
I think it's just a term referring to those radical youths born in the late 70s, 80s or early 90s. (yes, similar to Generation Y)
There's another saying relating it to the "June 4 Incident". When the incident happened, these youths had not been born or were very little to know what was happening.
八十後 leterally means 八十年代後出生. I don't think it's logical in Chinese as well as the year becomes 1990 or later. That's why we got the awkward English translation.
Maybe when people used it, they got confused with 八零後

P.S. 
Illegal immigrants are called 人蛇 (human snake) in South China, where human smuggling is rampant, so 蛇頭 (snakehead) is a person in charge of smuggling these "snakes."
Bok Choy is what Cantonese call 白菜, just like Kung Hei Fat Choy from 恭喜發財. (As CNY nears, it's indeed time to say Kung Hei Fat Choy!)


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