How to express "tend to ~" in Chinese?

Question

According to a dictionary, tend to ~ is translated into the following words:

• 倾向
• 易於
• 走向
• 有～的倾向

But I think all of them are not used as often while reading, and thus is very awkward if I use them in writing. So there should be other expressions that mean tend to ~ in Chinese, for example in the following examples:

The developed countries tend to have less children.

Women tend to take jobs related to education, childcare, and health.

But in these cases, I think the words above are a bit awkward; I have never seen 易於 or 走向 are used while reading. So what words or expressions should I use to express tend to ~ in Chinese?

Answer 1

For tend to in normal everyday colloquial conversation just use: 一般.

In your two given sentences 一般 would be a perfectly good fit for tend to. You'll find that English has a lot of different nuanced words that often just translated into the one same Chinese word. This is especially true in normal, everyday, conversation devoid of literary language (书面语).

倾向于, is, as others have already mentioned, okay. 倾向于 is probably best translated as having a tendency to [...do something...].

Answer 2

Both 倾向于 and 偏向于 can be used for 'tend to'

• 倾向于 (lend toward/ tend to) - consciously/ subconsciously choose to

• 偏向于 (bias toward/ tend to) - consciously / subconsciously choose to

Both 倾向 and 偏向 can be noun (tendency) or verb (lend toward/ bias toward)

易於 = easily

有～的倾向 = have the tendency of ~

Answer 3

The developed countries tend to have less children.

谷歌翻译：发达国家的子女往往较少。

这句话用 “往往” 比 “倾向” 要好，“倾向” 有点拗口。 “倾向”给我的感觉更多的是表达心理活动。“走向” 可以表示股票、经济的走势。

我觉得字典解释了“tend to”在汉语中的意思，翻译的时候并不一定要用那些词。 就像刚才那个例子，用“往往”比那些词要好。

Answer 4

We actually often use 倾向于 but not 易于 or 走向.