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I am trying to write a gift card to my TCM grandmaster, but don't know if this is correct.

棋聖葉富坤

這盆景代表我尊重你的慷慨,人性和古老的知識.

Could an immigrant Chinese person understand this?

Thank your for your time.

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  • Is Mr. Yip a 棋聖 in Go? I play Go too, If you have a grand master as a teacher, your level should be way above mine.
    – Tang Ho
    Feb 16, 2017 at 22:37
  • It depends on what you want to say.... If you write in English, people can better help you. Tang Ho's rendition is not necessarily correct, because he cannot tell for sure what you mean by that. Feb 18, 2017 at 5:24
  • Chinese rarely use a professional title when refer to a person name.
    – mootmoot
    Feb 20, 2017 at 11:05
  • @TangHo, no, no Go!
    – egidiocs
    Feb 20, 2017 at 12:15
  • Can you elaborate in English what are you trying to express, with special regards to 1. why you want to call this person 棋圣 (chess grandmaster)? 2. what do you mean by 人性 (humanity)? 3. what do you mean by 古老的知识 (ancient knowledge)?
    – NS.X.
    Mar 13, 2017 at 4:02

3 Answers 3

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Could a Chinese person understand this?

Yes, with a little guess work, we can. However, your writing can use some improvement.

棋聖葉富坤

這盆景代表我尊重你的慷慨,人性和古老的知識.

  • First, you have to put the title after the name when you address to the person directly. I mean it is okay to mention 棋聖葉富坤 as a third person, but not appropriate to call him that to his face. It is like calling 陳律師 as 律師陳

  • 人性(human nature/humanity) is not the right praising word. For "kindness/humanity" the correct term in Chinese is "人道"

  • 古老的 means 'ancient'. It implies 'out dated'. A better word is 'deep'(深遠) as in "deep knowledge"(深遠的知識)

  • There is no object in your sentence. When you use the verb 代表(represent), you should follow it with an object at the end. In this case, the object should be "respect" (as a noun). You should also translate "respect" as 尊敬(admire/ respect), not 尊重(respect/value)

  • Finally, using his full name is more formal than just using his family name. If you are close to him, you can use just his last name and call him 葉棋聖 to show your fondness to him.

葉富坤棋聖:

這盆景代表我對你的慷慨,人道和深遠知識的尊敬.

*If he is your teacher, you should address him as 葉老師 or 葉富坤老師

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  • Tang Ho, thank you very much for that, I really appreciate your post. He is my acupuncturist.
    – egidiocs
    Feb 20, 2017 at 12:23
  • Generally, we should not use 棋聖 as a title, you can just say 導師,恩師。 Mar 28, 2017 at 5:36
  • If 棋聖 referred to the '棋聖 Go championship' title, then one have to be the current holder to use it as his title; if 棋聖 is an honorary title awarded by the Go community, then one can use it as a title at all time.
    – Tang Ho
    Mar 28, 2017 at 6:01
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I think it's better for you to write down what you want to say in English and then you can let a Chinese help you translate.

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  • This bonsai represents my respect for your generosity, humanity and ancient knowledge.
    – egidiocs
    Feb 20, 2017 at 12:17
  • @egidiocs 这盆景代表着我对您慷慨,博爱和博古通今知识的尊敬。
    – Maocai Yan
    Feb 20, 2017 at 12:26
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I don't think 棋圣 is correct. 棋圣 means someone who masters Go or chess (or any other games of this kind).

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