在未成氣候前

English translation: before it becomes a threat

08:15 Jul 17, 2011

Chinese to English translations [Non-PRO]
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters / Three Kingdoms

Chinese term or phrase: 在未成氣候前

Context:

黃巾賊不過是群鳥合之眾的群聚,在未成氣候前,必須加以殲滅.

I'm translating something that's basically a telling of the Three Kingdoms period and got stuck at this phrase. Apparently 未成氣候 on its own can mean "a dud"? And according to NJ Star 成氣候 means "to make good". Neither of those make any sense in this sentence though from what I get. With my understanding, the general gist of the sentence is that since the Yellow Scarves flock together like birds, then its best to get rid of them before....and this is where the phrase comes in and I'm not sure what I should put.

Any help appreciated :)

HankHill KudoZ activity Questions: 50 (none open) Answers: 80 United States
Local time: 22:06

English translation:before it becomes a threat

Explanation:
before it formulates into a serious situation (or, in such case, a threat)

Selected response from:

lin_vmi

Grading comment

Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

5 +1

before it gets full-fledged

Shouguang Cao

4 +2

before it becomes a threat

lin_vmi

Before its prevailing

Sherwin Zhou

before it became a full-blown phenomenon

pkchan

Answers

4 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

before it gets full-fledged

Explanation:
成气候 get full-fledged , get strong enough

Shouguang Cao
China
Local time: 13:06
Native speaker of:

Chinese

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

before it becomes a threat

Explanation:
before it formulates into a serious situation (or, in such case, a threat)

lin_vmi
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

Chinese,

English

Grading comment

Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

8 hrs confidence:

before it became a full-blown phenomenon

Explanation:
my suggestion.

pkchan
United States
Local time: 01:06
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

Chinese
PRO pts in category: 68

16 hrs confidence:

Before its prevailing

Explanation:
"在未成氣候前" is correspondent to "Before its prevailing"; and Lin_vmi's "before it becomes a threat" is also an exact version.

Sherwin Zhou
China
Local time: 13:06
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

Chinese

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在未成氣候前

English translation: before it becomes a threat

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在未成氣候前

English translation: before it becomes a threat

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