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Please help translate these basic phrases!

Given names, nicknames, boxing monikers, tattoos

Moderator: acloudmovingby

Please help translate these basic phrases!

Postby Zanzapan » Sun Oct 19, 2014 3:46 am

Hey guys!

I'm backpacking around South East Asia and I've spent time in Thailand and Laos. I'm currently in Vietnam and plan to travel through this beautiful country and Cambodia for a couple more months. Then I will go back to Southern Thailand and I hope to get a tattoo. However, I want to make sure the phrase I want in Thai is translated correctly. Please can you help? I would be so appreciative :)
The two phrases I am considered are:
"Stay positive"
And
"Choose happiness"

Also I am wondering if there is a direct translation of the word "positivity"?

Thank you so much in advance!

Zanna
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Re: Please help translate these basic phrases!

Postby mmmparsley » Mon Oct 20, 2014 9:38 am

Hello,

1. "Stay Positive!" could be translated a few ways.

My best guess is that it would be translated most accurately as:

มองในแง่ดีเสมอไป - Which would be literally translated as:
"Always look at things from a positive angle."

2. "Choose Happiness" seems a little more straightforward

เลือกความสุขใจ - Which would be translated as:
"Choose Happiness"

Wouldn't mind somebody who is more expert than I making sure that my offered translations are the most precise ways to communicate both of these concepts.
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Re: Please help translate these basic phrases!

Postby DonSena » Mon Oct 20, 2014 9:36 pm

Zanzapan wrote:Hey guys!

I'm backpacking around South East Asia and I've spent time in Thailand and Laos. I'm currently in Vietnam and plan to travel through this beautiful country and Cambodia for a couple more months. Then I will go back to Southern Thailand and I hope to get a tattoo. However, I want to make sure the phrase I want in Thai is translated correctly. Please can you help? I would be so appreciative :)
The two phrases I am considered are:
"Stay positive"
And
"Choose happiness"

Also I am wondering if there is a direct translation of the word "positivity"?

Thank you so much in advance!

Zanna


"Stay positive": ต้องคิดบวกเสมอ or ทัศนคติในเชิงบวกเสมอ

"Choose happiness": เลือกความสุขทุกโอกาส
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Re: Please help translate these basic phrases!

Postby mmmparsley » Tue Oct 21, 2014 8:38 am

I'm not sure if "บวก" is the word that should be used for "positive". If I'm not mistaken, it means positive in the arithmetic sense of the word. It means non-negative. The "+" sign is also called "บวก" from what I can gather.

I think "แง่ดี" is more closely akin to the English word "positive. Also "ข้อดี", which after "มองใน, would mean "Look to the Upside".

"บวก" seems incorrect to me here. I like my translation until proven otherwise - because I am fallible and an intermediate, but not expert, speaker.
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Re: Please help translate these basic phrases!

Postby David and Bui » Tue Oct 21, 2014 1:05 pm

mmmparsley wrote:I'm not sure if "บวก" is the word that should be used for "positive". If I'm not mistaken, it means positive in the arithmetic sense of the word. It means non-negative. The "+" sign is also called "บวก" from what I can gather.

I think "แง่ดี" is more closely akin to the English word "positive. Also "ข้อดี", which after "มองใน, would mean "Look to the Upside".

"บวก" seems incorrect to me here. I like my translation until proven otherwise - because I am fallible and an intermediate, but not expert, speaker.


See, for example, http://www.thai-language.com/id/213069 .

From a newspaper article:

"ทัศนคติที่เป็นลบ ได้แก่ ดูถูกเพื่อนร่วมงาน เจ้านาย องค์กร หรือแม้แต่ตนเอง มองโลกในแง่ร้าย ไม่เคยมองใครในแง่บวก มองหาข้อติเตียนผู้อื่นอยู่เสมอ วิจารณ์ด่าว่าผู้อื่นในทางลบ"
A negative attitude mean that you look down on your friends, your boss, your organization, and even yourself. You look at the world from a negative perspective; you never see anyone in a positive light. You always look for reasons to denounce others and you criticize others in a negative manner.

From the Longo Dictionary

"การเปลี่ยนวิกฤตให้เป็นโอกาสนั้น ข้อสำคัญคือจะต้องมีความคิดในแง่บวกอยู่เสมอ"
[In order to] change crisis into opportunity it is important that you always maintain a positive attitude.

Another newspaper article:

"แต่ก็ยังมีการมองในแง่บวกอยู่ นั่นคือ ศักยภาพด้านการขนส่งสินค้ามากกว่าการให้บริการแก่ผู้โดยสาร"
However, there is a positive perspective [on this issue], that is, the potential for cargo transport is greater than for passenger transportation services.
David in Houston
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Re: Please help translate these basic phrases!

Postby Zanzapan » Tue Oct 21, 2014 11:25 pm

Thank you guys! I'm a bit confused by which translation to use though since they're different for both stay positive and choose happiness? Please can you clarify, thanks in advance! Much appreciated
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Re: Please help translate these basic phrases!

Postby DonSena » Tue Oct 21, 2014 11:56 pm

Zanzapan wrote:Thank you guys! I'm a bit confused by which translation to use though since they're different for both stay positive and choose happiness? Please can you clarify, thanks in advance! Much appreciated


I think, as based on evidence supplied by David, that you can use:

"Stay positive": ต้องคิดบวกเสมอ or ทัศนคติในเชิงบวกเสมอ

"Choose happiness": เลือกความสุขทุกโอกาส

The skepticism offered in one of the comments can be disregarded.
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Re: Please help translate these basic phrases!

Postby Tgeezer » Wed Oct 22, 2014 12:43 am

Zanzapan wrote:Thank you guys! I'm a bit confused by which translation to use though since they're different for both stay positive and choose happiness? Please can you clarify, thanks in advance! Much appreciated

This language has got to be loaded with single words which express your thoughts. Find a Thai and say what you want to convey avoiding words like positive and see what they come up with.
If you just want a bit of Thai as a souvenir then I would class an English translation as the equivalent of a model of The Tower of London made in China.
Tgeezer
 

Re: Please help translate these basic phrases!

Postby Thomas » Wed Oct 22, 2014 7:26 am

Zanzapan wrote:...stay positive and choose happiness? Please can you clarify, thanks in advance! Much appreciated


For me the problem with your question is that I personally have no idea how to choose happiness. My personal understanding of the English term "happiness" is that you are either happy, or you are not, but there is nothing to choose. Since I do not understand the sentence already in English, I have no clue how to translate this into Mandarin, Sanskrit, Spanish, or Thai.
There are three kinds of people: Those who can count and those who cannot.
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Re: Please help translate these basic phrases!

Postby Tgeezer » Wed Oct 22, 2014 9:13 pm

Thomas wrote:
Zanzapan wrote:...stay positive and choose happiness? Please can you clarify, thanks in advance! Much appreciated


For me the problem with your question is that I personally have no idea how to choose happiness. My personal understanding of the English term "happiness" is that you are either happy, or you are not, but there is nothing to choose. Since I do not understand the sentence already in English, I have no clue how to translate this into Mandarin, Sanskrit, Spanish, or Thai.

In "Be positive choose happiness" I think that happiness means 'contentment' Inner peace, which is under the control of the mind.
I mentioned this topic to a friend and the word เกษม cropped up. เกษมศานต์ ชึนขมยินดี are used to define it. My thinking is that if not this word, there will be some other word which defines think positively choose happiness in one word. Certainly I can't find it but a native speaker might.
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