我们真不好意思走了

L3P

Senior Member
Russian,Ukrainian
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.
 
  • 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.
     
    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,我們就不好意思走了/我們走很不好意思。 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.
     
    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。”
     
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