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Someone offered two options for saying "mental strength" in Cantonese, but neither seems quite right.

Here were the two options suggested:

1) 腦力 2) 精神腦

What's the right way to say "mental strength"?

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  • the first one is right. 。。。。。。。。。 Commented Feb 17, 2015 at 10:52

2 Answers 2

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You could also say 精神力/精神力量.
腦力 is literally correct, but 精神腦 is absolutely wrong, where it means something like 'mental brain'.

EDIT: Sentence like "You have dealt with a lot of adversity. You are clearly very mentally strong." could be translated into:

你面對/戰勝好多逆境, 明顯有強者的心態

面對: facing
戰勝: won
逆境: adversity
明顯: clearly
強者的心態: the mental of a strong person

Hence instead of saying a person is mentally strong; It is convey as a strong person's mentality.

Another close definition you could use is willpower - 意志力

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  • None of these feel very Cantonese though ... is there no analog to "mental strength" in normal Cantonese conversation? Thanks for the contribution! :)
    – Crashalot
    Commented Feb 17, 2015 at 21:15
  • There are terms for mentally strong / weak, but I believe mental strength isn't a common phase in normal cantonese.
    – Alex
    Commented Feb 17, 2015 at 21:54
  • OK, what conveys the same concept of "mental strength" since the term doesn't exist in Cantonese?
    – Crashalot
    Commented Feb 18, 2015 at 0:13
  • @Crashalot it depends on where / how you're using it. It's easier if you provide a sentence with it, and gives you the whole sentence
    – Alex
    Commented Feb 18, 2015 at 17:57
  • Sure, how about this: "You have dealt with a lot of adversity. You are clearly very mentally strong."
    – Crashalot
    Commented Feb 18, 2015 at 19:54
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It is not good to take things out of context. Try to explain what you mean by 'mental strength', then translate that. Do you mean 'great intelligence, intellectual prowess' or 'a robustness of character which helps the person deal with any problems in an unperturbed way'

The former may be 天才, the latter you could approach from 四大皆空 or 波澜不惊。

当然以后需要翻译用粤语。

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  • The latter, i.e., a term for someone who deals well with adversity.
    – Crashalot
    Commented Feb 18, 2015 at 0:42

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