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How would you translate this expression to English?

云上蓝天万里

Is it correctly written? Does it sound weird for a Chinese speaker?

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  • What makes you think it's not correctly written? What do you think the translation of the phrase would look like?
    – Mou某
    Mar 11, 2020 at 23:10
  • Nothing wrong, but a bit hard on the tongue. Normally the 万里 comes first, like 万里长城. So, perhaps as a matter of taste, I would prefer 万里云天蓝. It rolls off the tongue because it has a neat metrical packet of 2 syllables + 3 syllables which is a common meter for Chinese sayings / idioms. So, you have 万里, 云天蓝 with the last 3 syllables giving a rhythmic finality to the phrase. IMHO, this sounds more Chinese. Mar 12, 2020 at 3:07

3 Answers 3

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The literal meaning of 云上蓝天万里 is simple: "Above the (dark) clouds, there are thousands miles of (bright) blue sky"

The figurative meaning needs some comprehension. "Break through the dark clouds above, and you can find a bright blue sky" --> "get pass the darkness and you will find hope"

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  • I intend to get this as a tattoo and now I can rest assured it's correct. Your interpretation of the literal and figurative meaning are exactly what I was going for! Mar 12, 2020 at 10:50
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I think yours is not wrong, but usually I see '蓝天白云 晴空万里' being used to describe clear, beautiful weather(clear blue sky with white clouds). Also '晴空万里无云' (clear blue sky without clouds)

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Not weird。

云上蓝天万里

Somewhere, over the rainbow,
skies are blue,
and the dreams that you dare to dream,
really do come true ...

(Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's version is marvellous)

Maybe a tad over-translated though.

More prosaic: There are a million miles of blue sky behind the clouds

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  • As a intend to get this tattoed, it's very important to me that it won't seem weird for a native speaker. I really like your interpretations, both the dreamy and the prosaic one, that's actually what I hope to trigger on people who read it (different levels of meaning, from the most literal to the more poetic). Mar 12, 2020 at 10:57

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