Does '到现在' imply a recent change?

Question

Chinese-to-English dictionaries seem to translate '到现在' as 'up to now' or 'until now'. In English this often implies a recent change in conditions rather than a continuation of conditions; however, in Chinese I don't seem to see this same implication.

Is this correct, that does '到现在' not imply a recent change? can it ever imply this by itself? If not, how would I convey the English logic (implied recent change) in Chinese?

Examples in English:

We haven't heard from him until now.

Up to now, we hadn't heard from him.

Both imply we just heard from him today or very recently.

Answer 1

No, it does not imply a recent change.

「到現在」does literally translate to until now, but their usage is different, as you've already noted (a continuation of conditions).

• In English, until now means practically the same thing as until recently.
• In Chinese,「到現在」means something like up to this very day in English.「到現在我還在...」means up to this very day, I'm still...
• To say the equivalent of English until now (that is, implying a change in condition), you should say something similar to「到目前爲止...」.「爲止」is an explicit statement that stops the otherwise implied continuation.

Answer 2

Better you have your examples and explain how English works.

In Chinese, '到现在' can implies either a recent change or a continuation of a condition depending on how you use it.

For example,

你怎么到现在才来 // a recent change - he showed up now.

你怎么到现在还不承认 // a continuation of a condition (不承认)