Skip to main content
Chinese Language

Return to Question

Commonmark migration
Source Link
Community Bot
Community Bot
  • 1

I found this sentence and its translation on tatoeba.org. Is there a better way to translate it into English?

這是外行的想法。

 

That's a layman's idea.

I looked up 外行, and it does mean amateur or layman, but I've never heard anybody use the phrase "layman's idea" in English. Perhaps a better translation would be as simple as, "That's a dumb idea." Or does the Chinese phrase emphasize that it's a bad idea because the person is inexperienced? If so, perhaps it would be best to translate as, "That's a rookie mistake."

I found this sentence and its translation on tatoeba.org. Is there a better way to translate it into English?

這是外行的想法。

 

That's a layman's idea.

I looked up 外行, and it does mean amateur or layman, but I've never heard anybody use the phrase "layman's idea" in English. Perhaps a better translation would be as simple as, "That's a dumb idea." Or does the Chinese phrase emphasize that it's a bad idea because the person is inexperienced? If so, perhaps it would be best to translate as, "That's a rookie mistake."

I found this sentence and its translation on tatoeba.org. Is there a better way to translate it into English?

這是外行的想法。

That's a layman's idea.

I looked up 外行, and it does mean amateur or layman, but I've never heard anybody use the phrase "layman's idea" in English. Perhaps a better translation would be as simple as, "That's a dumb idea." Or does the Chinese phrase emphasize that it's a bad idea because the person is inexperienced? If so, perhaps it would be best to translate as, "That's a rookie mistake."

Tweeted twitter.com/#!/StackChinese/status/223863585158332416
Source Link
Don Kirkby
Don Kirkby
  • 3.4k
  • 2
  • 24
  • 48

Does 外行的想法 mean "rookie mistake"?

I found this sentence and its translation on tatoeba.org. Is there a better way to translate it into English?

這是外行的想法。

That's a layman's idea.

I looked up 外行, and it does mean amateur or layman, but I've never heard anybody use the phrase "layman's idea" in English. Perhaps a better translation would be as simple as, "That's a dumb idea." Or does the Chinese phrase emphasize that it's a bad idea because the person is inexperienced? If so, perhaps it would be best to translate as, "That's a rookie mistake."