3

The word 阅兵 has been used a lot the last couple of days, for obvious reasons, mostly for one specific activity. Dictionaries define as follows:

CC-CEDICT

to review troops

KEY

◊ review troops

zdic

[military review;review troops] 即检阅车马兵员装备等

but these don't really fit...

BBC Asia

bbc

calls it a

parade

and a

war show

  • What exactly does 阅兵 mean/translate as?

[we're talking about the "parade"/"show" here]

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3
  • Why would it not translate as 'military parade'? Or literally 'watching/inspecting the troops'.
    – imrek
    Sep 4, 2015 at 10:19
  • @DrunkenMaster military parade is pretty good, I just wasn't sure if there was a more appropriate term.
    – Mou某 ♦
    Sep 4, 2015 at 10:39
  • A military parade is, in its standard English meaning, a drill when it is done for practice, or a review of the troops when it is done to be seen-- either by officers or the public. Of course a circus parade or a parade of stars or what have you is quite a different thing. But a public military parade is a troop review, or in other words the public is watching/inspecting the troops.. See the helpful discussion at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_parade
    – Colin McLarty
    Sep 21, 2015 at 9:17

2 Answers 2

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11

Generally I think BBC is a good place to learn English. As "阅兵" is a pretty big event recently, you can see it on news in most English speaking countries. So, just take a look of a news title from BBC: China military parade commemorates WW2 victory over Japan.

"Military parade" looks good to me. However, if you are one of the officials, then you are in a different position. You would call it "review troops". But for outsiders like us, it's an event, a "military parade".

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-1

阅兵 should be always translated into "Military Parade". Period.

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