0

In an app's description, I found the following sentence:

The game is full of happy moments when the main character overcomes his encounters one by one.

Is something missing here? The phrase "overcomes his encounters" seems to be incomplete.

The main character is a lonely man who is looking for the love of his life. He meets many other characters some of whom give him heartbreaks.

3
  • 3
    I'd be prepared to bet any money your cited source isn't a native Anglophone, because few if any native speakers would use full of happy moments like that (but it does strike me as a stereotypical "translation" of what, for example, Far Eastern speakers might say). So I don't see much point in us trying to "explain" why such a person would talk about overcoming encounters (as opposed to more normal usages such as overcoming adversity, enemies, etc.). Oct 2, 2018 at 12:26
  • Adding to Fumble's comment above, "encounters" is being used in a neutral way, either positive or negative, as opposed to "adversity, enemies, etc" which are negative-only.
    – wetcircuit
    Oct 2, 2018 at 16:13
  • Given that the protagonist is looking for love, I assumed that encounters referred to sexual/romantic encounters that either went badly (and must therefore be overcome) or were non-consenual. Oct 2, 2018 at 19:14

1 Answer 1

1

It sounds like a poor translation. While an encounter can be taken in many different ways, I would say it's more commonly neutral than either positive or negative.

A more likely translation is:

The game is full of triumphant moments when the main character overcomes his obstacles one by one.

Although even that sounds a bit odd, the specific words I changed at least make it sound better.

There is nothing missing from overcoming his obstacles.

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.