"为什么人喜欢自拍？"

Translation: Why do people like taking selfies?

[yession]

I am a native Chinese speaker. This sentence in Chinese is unnatural. The word "people" would sound more natural if it is replaced by "人们" or "大家". Reported on 7/22/18

[FuCnSW]

I agreed with you. Sounds unnatural, though it makes sense.
If say "為什麼人喜歡...", maybe they're having a serious talk. It's just my feeling when I heard it. For example, 為什麼人總是喜歡做些浪費的事情? In this situation, I would say like that.

[Imnuts7]

It's probably because modern Chinese prefers double-character compounds to single characters.

[Leon343243]

Not where I live, everyone here would say it exactly like this

[jim140738]

narcissism

[Karoliina765050]

Good question.

[GabrielleR380587]

Is 自拍 strictly a verb? Or can this also be translated as "Why do people like selfies"?
I always thought it was a noun and that "take a selfie" would be "拍自拍“ even though it's redundant. Is that correct?

[FuCnSW]

Good question, in my opinion are both right. The words in Chinese aren't divised strickly, some words can be both verbs and nouns. So I think, you can say "selfies" or "take a selfie", it doesn't bother Chinese speaker. For us, it's the same.

[aquaticnocturna]

Apparently, 自拍 is the verb. 自拍照 (zì pāi zhào) is the noun. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Cud5JCUWug

[olihlt]

很好的问题。

[juanluisme845441]

why do the people like to take selfies... should be accepted

[Rabea733910]

While it should be correct as a translation, you cannot put "the" before "people" in english.

[AussieCrisp]

I feel that "Why do people like selfies?" Should also be accepted...

[aquaticnocturna]

I think that would be: "为什么人们喜欢自拍照？"

[OyYoong]

Why does people like to take selfies? Is it not the same meaning as above? What is the difference?

[Gabrielle145359]

It should be "Why do people..."

[dimwit720]

"Do" is plural, and "does" is singular. And, in English "people" is considered a plural noun, unlike .e.g. "gente" in Spanish which means the same thing but is treated as a singular form.

[dimwit720]

I replaced "why do" with the slightly more casual "how come" and it was marked incorrect, even thought it's a completely normal and natural way to say the same thing in English. Reported 13-01-2022