Now that the NTU teaching semester has ended, I have more time to get back to my Chinese language studies. I was reading the Zaobao media interview with outgoing PM Lee Hsien Loong and came across this sentence:
“当前纷扰的世界局势正扰乱多边贸易的开放常态，也引发各种区域安全隐患.”
1. I asked ChatGPT to “translate text into English”:
ChatGPT:
“The current tumultuous global situation is disrupting the normal state of open multilateral trade and is also causing various regional security risks.”
2. There are many different phrases in the sentence, so I told ChatGPT 4: “translate each term”.
It dutifully did so, like this:
- 当前: current
- 纷扰: tumultuous
- 世界局势: global situation
- 引发: causing
3. Now, I’m not familiar with how to use the phrase 引发, so I asked ChatGPT: “when do i use 引发”.
It then gave an in-depth explanation of how to use 引发 in different scenarios.
In 2021 BC (Before ChatGPT), I had to use Chinese websites like Baidu Translate or Baidu Encyclopedia to find the same explanations, but the text would be in Chinese. Now I can get similar guidance in English, with very clear examples using both Chinese and English sentences.
This is a great way to learn languages, and do also try it out for your own translation needs.