Forum Rocket Chinese Chinese Culture and Travel please leave a message when you hear the tone

please leave a message when you hear the tone

Robert-C7

Robert-C7

How would you say on your answering machine "please leave a message when you hear the tone" in Chinese. Google translate thinks it should be this: qǐng liúyán, dāng nín tīng dào tíshì yīn 请留言,当您听到提示音 I am wondering if a better translation might be this: nín tīng dào tíshì yīn de shíhòu, qǐng liúyán 您听到提示音的时候,请留言
Chance-E

Chance-E

After studying the two different translations, I think that the second translation (nín tīng dào tíshì yīn de shíhòu, qǐng liúyán) is the better one.
Robert-C7

Robert-C7

I am thinking maybe an even better translation might be something that uses an "after" construct. nín tīng dào tíshì yīn yǐhòu, qǐng liúyán 您听到提示音以后,请留言 In English, it is implied that right after we hear the tone, we are to leave a message.
maha266

maha266

no clue with Chinese but don't trust google translate in any way :P
Robert-C7

Robert-C7

Google translate works OK if you give it short expressions with no subordinating clauses. To get what I got from Google, I helped it along by providing this: When you hear the tone please leave a message nín tīng dào tíshì yīn de shíhòu, qǐng liúyán 您听到提示音的时候,请留言 If I give it the actual sentence that I want it to translate (please leave a message when you hear the tone), I get this: Qǐng liúyán, dāng nǐ tīng dào tíshì yīn. 请留言,当你听到提示音。 Here I think Google Translate is trying to force English grammar and sentence structure onto Chinese.
bi-ai-sheng

bi-ai-sheng

Yea, I wouldn't trust Google either. Most of the time they are way off.

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