how do i know how to translate yaoqiu when the context doesn’t make it clear- here is the sentence: “guo qu hen duo ren yao qiu taiwan liang dang dui dalu minzhu fu zeren, ke shi fan dui taiwan duli.” thx
This is a fact about translating from Chinese (particularly in Taiwan): very often the context is not clear! Sometimes in my more frustrated moods I have the feeling that writers in Taiwan raise obfuscation to a fine art. The mainland Chinese tend to be better at expressing their meanings clearly, in my experience.
In the above sentence I personally would choose “demand”. By the way, the “yao” in “yaoqiu” is pronounced in the 1st tone.
it’s just a difference of degree. the “ren” in question don’t have authority to demand anything, so if you do say “demand”–and i would–it’s just rhetorical.
thx!
demand = 要求
request = 請求 ? sounds more polite, right?