"我想我的哥哥，想马上见他。"
Translation:I miss my older brother. I want to see him immediately.
28 Comments
"I miss my older brother and want to see him immediately" was rejected but should be accepted
Chinese native speakers:
Apart from the pause, is there any way to distinguish this sentence from "I think my older brother wants to see him right away"? Is this a legitimate interpretation of the Chinese?
Edit: The answers below now suggest both that my alternative translation is a legitimate interpretation and that it isn't. ;-)
I don't doubt it, but does Duo's sentence potentially give rise to the ambiguity I asked about?
34
Since it's colloquial, it all depends on how the speaker says it, so the meaning should be clear enough.
Understood, thanks, but to clarify it for my hard head, can you simply say yes or no as to whether my alternative interpretation of Duo's sentence is a valid possibility (without the comma, let's say).
Okay, thanks. So how would you say "I think my older brother wants to see him right away" in Chinese?
- 34
The best I can come up with now is 我［觉得/想］我（的）哥哥（会）（想）要马上见他。 Depending on context you can add the bracketed words: omitting 的 makes it more colloquial, adding 会 makes it sound more like a prediction, 想 could mean it is not under the elder brother's control.
So, from that, it looks like the simple addition of the word "要" would be sufficient to change the meaning.
Thanks again.
Edit: On further consideration, I don't think "要" would make a clear difference.
- 34
That is an interesting way of putting it. The thing is 想 here is the so-called colloquial form of the more formal 想念, so it clearly means missing someone.
You're welcome.
- 34
It seems I can only reply here. It helps to think of it as an idiom, so it is not something strictly logical but unique to the language， in a way. Or just something to remember. The "logical" meaning, would be the one you gave from Collins dictionary, which is correct as well. Duolingo likes to teach more colloquial language sometimes, which is how people speak so it is a good thing.
I'm aware that 哥哥 means 'older brother', but you never ever specify 'older' in English unless you have reason to. Can we just work with 'brother'?
But this a Chinese language course. They want to make sure that you understand the distinction between gege and didi.
Forgive my bring pedantic, but i have the feeling that a lot of the English translations in this lesson were possibly written by a non native English speaker. Might be an idea to go over them once more.
I wrote “I miss my older brother. I want to see him Immediately.” DL failed me. I guess “immediately” is too much of a mouthful. As one student wrote : “DL is too picky and frustrating!” Not only that, it is also inflexibly dictatorial. That is, if you don’t adhere to DL’s version, then you can’t progress. There is more than one route to the apex of Mt Everest.
Don't forget that this course is in beta, and reporting missing options helps improve it.
"Right" doesnt need to be in this sentence: I miss my older brother and I want to see him now. When? Right NOW!
- 538
The red box can not be moved anymore.. sometimes i want to review the left / missing words underneath. Was move-able before
