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I was watching a Chinese student play pool against an American, and the American was getting destroyed, but ended up winning in the end by default (Chinese student scratched on the 8 ball).
So the American jokingly said "not even close".
And I was trying to explain to the Chinese student that it was just trash talking, but wasn't sure how to say that.
Bonus question, what would be an equivalent translation of "not even close", in a joking, trash-talking context?
In this case, what the American said was more a 風涼話 (the game was already over)
sarcasm; cynical remarks (made after the fact)
As for trash talk:
disparaging, taunting, or boastful comments especially between opponents trying to intimidate each other
It is similar to 吹牛皮 (boasting), 耍貧嘴 (babble with cynical words) or 耍毒舌 (taunting with mean and provocative words)
More importantly, the purpose of 'to trash talk' is 'to trash your adversary'
The most accurate translation of 'trash talking' should be: "自我吹擂，貶損對方 " (boast oneself and disparage the other)
A O wrote:
what would be an equivalent translation of "not even close", in a joking, trash-talking context?
It would be '差遠了'
Trash talking means to treat the other side as trash verbally.
So, we can say：
1. (attack) 霸凌語, 霸凌的話
2. (joke/mock) 嘲笑/譏笑/譏諷/嘲諷的話
3. (irony) 尖酸/挖苦/諷刺的話
"Not even close" means something is far away. So, we can say 差很遠 or 差很多.
Sometimes we also use 還差很遠的咧你. (The subject is intentionally moved to the end.)
I would say :"说/讲屁话" / "说/讲废话" / "在酸他"
屁话 is literally translates to "fart words", XD and is normally used when someone says something bad / rude / when you know someone well that when you say this they won't get offended.
废话 translates to useless words / may translate to trash talking (废 also means waste) and you can use it when someone says something that is obvious, or says something that is idiotic. In my country (Malaysia), we used to say 废话 when our friends are chatting about nonsense / stupid / not important / trivial matters. Talking gibberish if you'd prefer.
吹牛could be boasting.
For the story you can say the American 在酸那个华人, 酸 meaning sour -> to verbally pull one down in a sarcastic way because of their failure / weaknesses. Don't be that acidic guy.
I would say 一点都不靠近 for not even close, but it would sound weird ,long and awkward (you're supposed to be the cool winning guy but then suddenly say too much and it doesn't seem cool anymore.)
差得远would be better , since it's short and smooth, but it means long difference ( literall translation).
*I use simplified chinese and I use Malaysian style chinese
Trash Talking Definition:
All the above are formal or polite translations of trash talking. Besides, Cheryl0204's answer would be considered, erm... a bit rude, but it is not considered vulgar.
Since your tag is just translation, I would like to translate more on trash-talking in various Chinese Dialects (not for the "not even close"). For what I provided below are extremely informal, rude and impolite.
Following is the vulgar translate of trash-talking, just for references. Please do not simply say it to Chinese, or else you will be in troubles. XD
Cantonese: 撚話(nan2 waa6)、撚故(nan2 gu3) (Cock talk, Cock Story)
Hakka: 淋話(lin55 fa53) (Penis Talks)
Hokkien/Teochew: 爛交話（lan jiao ue）(Penis Talks)
You could say 休想, which means in your dreams..or never.
废话 means to trash talk.
Use this resource to determine what is most suitable..you can add negation to any of those terms and use a term like 进 to mean close/near.
Chinese has a lot of room to work with your meaning, so it really is up to you.
You can also call someone 牛B
