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When I look for a dictionary translation of "feelings", I see two translations: 情怀 and 情面.

Which of these two would be better suited to translate the following sentence

The woman rhetorically replied to her partner, "Are my feelings not important?"

or

You should watch what you say as you may hurt the child's feelings.

I'm most concerned with how to translate the the word "feelings" that would be appropriate for conversational usage (as opposed to textbook or academic terminology).

3 Answers 3

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The woman rhetorically replied to her partner, "Are my feelings not important?"

那女子质问她的同伴:“难道我的感受就不重要?”

You should watch what you say as you may hurt the child's feelings.

你说话可得注意了,可别伤了孩子的心。

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  • Should there be a 吗 at the end of the first translation you provide?
    – MarkE
    Mar 27, 2013 at 8:05
  • @MarkE: it is optional to add 吗, 嘛, 啦, 喽 etc at the end of rhetorical questions. With those characters coming at the end, rhetorical questions sound a lot less strong. After all, rhetorical questions are statements expressed in the form of a question. Sometimes ?! is used at the end of rhetorical questions in writing to show the strength visually. Mar 27, 2013 at 20:35
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Neither; 感情 is the most appropriate for your two examples.

This is a common problem with any language; there are multiple words that seem to mean the same thing but are appropriate for different cases. Using words that mean the same thing but are inappropriate for the situation is a dead give-away for whether someone is a natural or fluent in that language. For an English example, you would usually say "I am mad" or "I am angry", but never "I am enraged".

For completeness, 情怀 is more akin to "mood" or "temperament", and 情面 has an element of "face" or "sensibilities".

  • 情怀: 高尚情怀 - "noble temperament"
  • 情面: 不讲情面 - "insensitive (to feelings)"
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  • +1 for "I am enraged"!
    – MarkE
    Mar 27, 2013 at 8:01
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I think for the first sentence, there are two choices, one is "感情" ,the other is "感受". It's dependent on the situation.

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