I'm trying to translate the following sentence into Chinese:
My friend has invited me to New Years in Copenhagen. I'm taking the train and I will be there at 5 pm.
Google Translate gives me
我的朋友邀请我参加哥本哈根的新年活动。 我坐火车，我将在下午5点到那里。
Is that correct?
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(Nuked a whole bunch of comments.)– Becky 李蓓 ♦Jul 30, 2021 at 11:59
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4 Answers
Your translation is accurate and correct. Here's my version for your reference. It's more colloquial. I guess it is what a native speaker would say in a daily conversation.
My friend has invited me to New Years in Copenhagen. Im taking the train and I will be there at 5 pm.
我朋友邀请我去哥本哈根过新年。我坐火车去，下午5点到。
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Agreed. That's probably what I, as a natively speaker, would say. The other translations are more or less awkward.– ALifeOct 20, 2021 at 21:22
I wasn't too happy with the English, so I changed it a little, hope you don't mind.
Which New Year are you talking about, the Chinese New Year or the Western New Year?
My friend invited me to spend New Year's Eve with her/him in Copenhagen.
我朋友邀请我和她/他一起在哥本哈根度过除夕/元旦前夜。
I'm going by train, so I should be there at 5 pm, all being well.
我要乘火车去，一切顺利的话, 我会下午5点到了。
I think this is more complete.
我的朋友邀请我去哥本哈根過年。 我打算坐火车去，将於當天下午5点到達那里(or 将於當天下午5点抵達)。
Note the OP didn't say for what reason he was invited and invited for which "new year", but obviously he is invited to spend the new year holidays with his friend. Therefore "過年" is sufficient and appropriate, as it does not involve guessing.
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Among native speakers, esp. those traditional ones, 过年usually refers to celebrating the spring festival (or chinese/lunar new year). Within this context, 过新年is probably better in the sense that it implies the Gregorian new year or does not specify. The difference is subtle and not a clear cut though.– ALifeOct 20, 2021 at 0:53
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@ALife Why 过新年? Maybe they were celebrating the lunar new year, then "舊歷年" is more specific?– r13Oct 20, 2021 at 1:16
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that's just the way how people imply. 过新年may mean both chinese new year or gregorian, but more likely the latter. This is similar to the original text: it could mean chinese new year, but in english, w/o additional specification, it probably implies the gregorian. As for why it's developed this way, my guess is that originally (before interaction with the west), there is only one 年, ie. the chinese new year, and 过年always means celebrating the chinese new year. The new usage 过新年is for the new 年，ie G. Probably similar in english: "new year" means G unless we explicitly say "chinese new year"– ALifeOct 20, 2021 at 14:13
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@ALife So what's wrong with 过年? I don't quite follow your argument. Since OP didn't say which new year he was invited to celebrate with, so 过年 is a better choice for "no need to guess" on our part but covers both. This is my stance, period.– r13Oct 20, 2021 at 16:34
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as I mentioned earlier, 过年strongly implies "celebrating chinese new year", while the original text earlier either left the ambiguity open, or implied gregorian new year.– ALifeOct 20, 2021 at 18:38
The translation is correct, but can be improved.
My translation: 我的朋友邀请我去哥本哈根过新年。我将在下午五点坐火车到达。
