我们真不好意思走了

[L3P]

Hello!

Context:
Two guys are visiting their friend,and his daughter wanted them to stay longer,but they decided to go anyway.Then she sang a song called "远方的客人请你留下来"。

Then comes a sentence I can`t seem to work out: 她唱完歌儿，我们真不好意思走了。

My ideas: 1) 'They felt embarrassed but still they went home'
2) 'They felt so embarrassed that they couldn`t go home and stayed longer'


Thank you.

 

[retrogradedwithwind]

Well I cannot translate that 不好意思 to English......

They were so 不好意思 that they would not leave directly, but it cannot be speculated that if they left eventually.

 

[Messquito]

不好意思+Verb = feel embarrassed to V = find it difficult to V
e.g. 我不好意思問她幾歲。 I feel embarrassed to ask how old she is.
她唱完歌儿，我们真不好意思走了 (Now that) she is finished with the song, we felt embarrassed to go/find it difficult to go. (Meaning the song made them feel ashamed if they leave.)
It has nothing to do with actually doing it; it only means that you would feel embarrassed if you do it. (But there's a big chance that they wouldn't do it(-->they stayed))

'They felt embarrassed but still they went home'
It would be: 她唱完歌儿，我們就不好意思地走了/我們走得很不好意思。 She being finished with her song, we left with embarrassment./ After she finished her song, we left, feeling embarrassed.
地＝-ly (to form an adverb)
得 is used to introduce an additional fact. "We left" is the main event. "Feeling embarrassed" is additional.

 

[L3P]

Thanks,retrogradedwithwind and (especially) Messquito. No questions left.

 

[ElGarcia]

不好意思+Verb = feel embarrassed to V = find it difficult to V

I wouldn't use "embarrassed" in this context. "Find it difficult to" might be more appropriate. Here the girl didn't sing to make her guests embarrassed; she just further expressed her wish for them to stay so that they become reluctant to disappoint her. So, 不好意思 doesn't always suggest embarrassment. Sometimes it's just a courtesy in Chinese that would sound weird if translated as "embarrassed" in English.

E.g.
"这顿饭我请吧。” “不要了，那多不好意思。”
“（After receiving a favor）不好意思麻烦你了。” “没关系，（这是我）应该（做）的。”