# to be blind



## yuechu

大家好！

I know some people who are blind and I was wondering how to talk about it in Chinese. For example, if I wanted to say "She is blind.", should I say any of the following?
她是失明的？
她是盲的？
她是盲人？(or does that sound too much like 忙人?)
(or would you say something different?)

Thanks!


----------



## ovaltine888

他是盲人
他眼睛看不见
他是瞎子 this one is more offensive

Usually we do not say 忙人 but 大忙人
e.g. 他是个大忙人。

[edit]removed the unwanted 眼


----------



## yuechu

Oh ok! Thanks again, Ovaltine888! Actually, (他(or 她）是盲人) is what I already usually say but just wanted to check!

EDIT: typo resolved


----------



## ovaltine888

yuechu said:


> Oh ok! Thanks again, Ovaltine888! Actually, (他(or 她）是盲人) is what I already usually say but just wanted to check!
> 
> 
> Are there supposed to be two "眼" there?


no ,
typo


----------



## SuperXW

In addition to oval's answer, in a written context, it is also common to say 他失明了 / 他双目实名 etc.
In a rude way, one may also say 他眼瞎.


----------



## SimonTsai

SuperXW said:


> it is also common to say 他失明了 / 他双目实名 etc.


I think that 雙目失明 is what you meant, right?


> In a rude way, one may also say 他眼瞎.


Remarkably, 他眼盲 is totally acceptable.

The rudeness that native speakers may feel on hearing 眼瞎 does not have to do with the extreme brevity of the sentence, but instead, it stems from the verb being used. 瞎 is often collocated with derogatory, offensive, or abusive expressions. E.g., '你他娘的是不是瞎了狗眼! 老子的女人你也敢碰!' Or '這理由一整個瞎到不行, 說謊拜託也說得合理點!'


ovaltine888 said:


> 他眼睛看不见


This is in an everyday register and is what I would normally say. Or, '他眼盲, 看不見.'


----------



## skating-in-bc

She is blind (她視障, 看不見) ≠ She has gone blind (她失明了 She has lost her sight).

客服: 要兩個單人床還是一個雙人床?
旅客: 兩床.  我和我朋友分開睡.  她視障/她是盲人 (She is legally blind), 看不見, 所以需要帶個導盲犬.
客服: 有寵物的話, 須繳額外三十元加幣.
旅客: 您誤會了, 我是說她看不見, 所以需要我陪著她, 當她的導盲犬.


----------



## yuechu

Thank you all for your additional help! 😃


----------



## SuperXW

skating-in-bc said:


> She is blind (她視障, 看不見) ≠ She has gone blind (她失明了 She has lost her sight).


You are right. 失明 = have lost one's sight.
她失明了 implied that she was not born blind.

About 視障, is this usage common in Taiwan? Is this equal to "blind"?


----------



## SimonTsai

SuperXW said:


> About 視障, is this usage common in Taiwan? Is this equal to "blind"?


Yes, it is a common and neutral word here. And yes, roughly speaking. 視障 is the abbreviation of 視覺障礙.


----------



## SuperXW

查了一下Wiki，
視力障礙[5][6]（visual impairment，vision impairment）又稱視障、視力受損、視力損失（vision loss）[7]，是指視覺下降到一定程度，導致無法以一般的方法如眼鏡來矯正[1][2]，也包括那些因為無法配戴或擁有眼鏡、隱形眼鏡，而視覺能力下降的人[1]。視力障礙的定義，通常是指視力跟最佳矯正值相比差到20/40或20/60[8]；而失明 （blindness）或目盲的定義，通常是指接近完全或完全的視力喪失[8]。


----------



## SimonTsai

That's why I said that it's a _rough_ equivalent.  Most people are not professionals and they use it anyway.


----------



## skating-in-bc

SuperXW said:


> 查了一下Wiki, 視力障礙...


視力障礙, 顧名思義就是視力有障礙, 障礙程度有重有弱, 依情境而定。我給的語境是: "她視障, 看不見, 需要帶個導盲犬。" ==> 顯然, 視障程度已到了 "看不見" (不是僅僅 "看不清"), 而且需要 "導盲犬", 這樣的"視障"不就形同"blind"? 為什麼我給的建議不是直接說她瞎眼看不見, 而是這麼委婉? 因為我覺得我平時向一個陌生人(e.g., 旅館服務員)指出自己朋友的殘疾時, 就會這麼 "politically correct", 以維護朋友的自尊為主要考量。


----------



## SuperXW

skating-in-bc said:


> 視力障礙, 顧名思義就是視力有障礙, 障礙程度有重有弱, 依情境而定。我給的語境是: "她視障, 看不見, 需要帶個導盲犬。" ==> 顯然, 視障程度已到了 "看不見" (不是僅僅 "看不清"), 而且需要 "導盲犬", 這樣的"視障"不就形同"blind"? 為什麼我給的建議不是直接說她瞎眼看不見, 而是這麼委婉? 因為我覺得我平時向一個陌生人(e.g., 旅館服務員)指出自己朋友的殘疾時, 就會這麼 "politically correct", 以維護朋友的自尊為主要考量。


人都變犬了，還政治正確維護自尊呢……舔狗嗎？ 😹
好好舉例子別鬧……給語境講邏輯的話，我說的失明也可以等於盲啊……😹


----------



## skating-in-bc

你說的不是 “失明”，而是 “失明了”（e.g., “你失明了，還是失聰了，還是腦子被狗咬了！”）==》“失明了“ 的 “了” 才是問題所在.


----------



## SuperXW

skating-in-bc said:


> 你說的不是 “失明”，而是 “失明了”（e.g., “你失明了，還是失聰了，還是腦子被狗咬了！”）==》“失明了“ 的 “了” 才是問題所在.


不觉得……但不在这争了，yuechu问题已经解决了。反正一开始我就同意关于失明了，你翻译得对😹


----------

