Meaning of " Well,..."

[Thomas]

I did a Vietgle translation for: Well, enjoy it while you can. Vietgle returned: Ừm, thích nó trong khi bạn có thể .


The mystery? LV does not have the word – ừm – in the dictionary.

I tried – ưm and um – with all possible combinations of dấu and still got nothing approaching the meaning of . . . ‘well’.

Any ideas?


While we’re on the subject, in the context given what VNese word would you use for – well? Đấy/nào/thôi/????? ? Trying to find the right word is very elusive!

Thanks.

[obaasan]

Hi Thomas,

Thanks for bringing again another interesting subject.

In those days, we’ve been more concentrating on vietgle translator than on mtd, so, mtd is a little bit behind the times.

Ừm is a synonym of ờ, ừ, vâng, đúng rồi, but it is a more slightly grunting in throat exclamation expressing agreement than being a word with meaning.

How do you think?

[emcungyeukhoahoc]

While we’re on the subject, in the context given what VNese word would you use for – well? Đấy/nào/thôi/????? ? Trying to find the right word is very elusive!

Hi Thomas,

Many thanks for your topic. It is very interesting and useful.


In my opinion, the context you gave is not really enough to guess the right translation . So I may translate it as:

Well, enjoy it while you can.
Vậy/nào/thế thì/ (...), hãy tận hưởng (nó) khi bạn có thể.

The context was too short to guess what the word "well" means. Could you expand it a bit more please?

[kid_the_chef]

ờ, thì khi nào rảnh thì mày chơi (ăn...)

tạm dịch vậy thôi....

[vietcarlo]

Great to see u here again! now it's time concentrated on working out your problems. hum...u know i'm impressed by the terms "thôi nào, thôi nào" or "thôi được rồi" translated from the dialogue sentences of HBO or Starmovies film's characters such as: "well, calm and sit down", "well well well..." respectively. i'd like to focus on two key points here. Firstly, it's no doubt you can't check the word "ừm" in LV, because "ừm" is just a variant of the word "ừ", i bet u u can use many more variants of "ừ" like "ờ", "ờm", even "òi", etc. ) with the same meaning nuance and the distinguished sounds. But in formal written form, we prefer to use only "ừ", other variants belong to spoken one. Secondly, referring to your question in term of the Vietnamese corresponding words for "well" in given context. I totally agree it's not only elusive but complicated, 'cus in just five minutes, i've related to hundreds of appropiate words in respective context: "thôi được rồi", "thôi nào", "ừ được rồi", "ừ cứ thế đi", "nếu vậy thì", etc. Vietnamese people are creative in making a new personal expression based on the same meaning so it's not surprised. Anyway, i suggest u translate "well" to some usual terms like "ừ", "thôi được rồi", "vậy thì".

[Thomas]

Please read again. The word in question is - ừm (có dấu huyền) – not . . . ưm (kg có dấu).

[obaasan]

Thomas,

I'm sorry for not thinking carefully your question.

Ừm, in this case, is used to introduce or resume something (used to introduce a comment or statement, or to resume a conversation).

Ừm , in other cases, is also a synonym of ờ, ừ, vâng, đúng rồi, but it is a more slightly grunting in throat ... as I told above.

Hope this explanation will satisfy you.

All you have to do is learn this new word and its meanings.

Thank you very much, again, for asking many interesting questions.

[Thomas]

Hi,

In this usage of 'well' the context can be very short:

"I'm going skydiving."

"Well, enjoy it while you can."

Or it can be very complex:

You been married for 15 years. You just return from a 2 week business trip to find a short note from your spouse, dated 2 weeks ago. "I don't love you anymore. I love your good friend and we have ran away to be together. You can have everything (house, cars, bank account, etc.)."

Knowing your spouse and your good friend you muse out loud, "Well, enjoy it while you can."

Then you smile as you look at the $50,000,000 winning lottery ticket you just bought 3 days ago and your spouse . . . will not get even $1 of it!

In the sentence position and context - well - could be used as an introduction word for a sentence; resuming a conversation; gain time (while you quickly think); impatience; sometimes just a little drama!

Introduction: Well, enjoy it while you can.

Resuming a conversation: Well, what were we talking about? Oh yeah, what are we going to have for dinner.

Gain time: Well, I don't know where your $10,000 is.

Impatience: Well, what did you expect? You didn't call so I went out with someone else!

Drama: Where's my birthday present? Well, I'm not going to tell you. :~}

'Well' is often used as the first word in a sentence and can have many nuanced and intriguing meanings - depending on the context of the surrounding conversation.

Meanwhile, 'well' is an often used word having many completely different meanings than the above. You can check it out at: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/well

Hope this helps.

[Thomas]

Hi All,

Looks like I have a double post on this topic. Hihi, no, I'm not sure why or how.

Sorry. Still trying to find my way around in here . . .

[emcungyeukhoahoc]

Thank you very much, Thomas.

I am very happy to see your reply, it is very useful for me. Now I understand the interjection "well" more clearly.

Hope to see you more often here.