a dog barked at a suspicous shadow

[GoodTaste]

Well, the expression "a dog barked at a suspicous shadow" is a direct translation from Chinese and I am not sure whether it makes sense in English.

Your editing will be appreciated.

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When a dog barked at a suspicous shadow, one hundred of dogs who hear the barking would bark as well. This Chinese proverb tells us that being eager to conform to others, even when the truth is murky, is a dark side of human psyche.


Source: My translation from Chinese. Bing Translator, which has adopted neuro-computing technology and sometimes performs great, has a disarstrous translation as below:

A dog barks, a hundred dogs bark, Chinese words, a dog will because of the suspicious shadow and shout, other dogs will hear the sound will follow the call. Means not to discern the truth, with the voice of the echo.

 

[emsr2d2]

[STRIKE]Well,[/STRIKE] The expression "a dog barked at a suspicious shadow" is a direct translation from Chinese and I am not sure whether it makes sense in English.

Your editing will be appreciated.

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When a dog barked at a suspicious shadow, one hundred [STRIKE]of[/STRIKE] dogs who heard the barking would bark as well. This Chinese proverb tells us that being eager to [STRIKE]conform[/STRIKE] believe, [STRIKE]to others,[/STRIKE] even when the truth is murky, is a dark side of the human psyche.


Source: My translation from Chinese. Bing Translator, which has adopted neuro-computing technology and sometimes performs [STRIKE]great[/STRIKE] very well, has [STRIKE]a[/STRIKE] the disastrous translation [STRIKE]as[/STRIKE] below:

A dog barks, a hundred dogs bark, Chinese words, a dog will because of the suspicious shadow and shout, other dogs will hear the sound will follow the call. Means not to discern the truth, with the voice of the echo.

Note my corrections above. I wouldn't use online translation tools for proverbs and sayings - they always mess it up!

Having said that, the translator did something I would have done - it put it all in the present tense. So I would say "When a dog barks at a shadow, a hundred dogs who hear it will bark as well". It wouldn't really be understood to mean the same as the Chinese version. It might be taken to mean that people are easily led, but it wouldn't suggest anything about the truth, murky or otherwise.

I've removed "Well" from your opening sentence. It had no place there. It's up there with native speakers pointlessly introducing sentences with "So".

 

[GoodTaste]

Does "eager to believe" naturally mean "eager to believe (other people)"?

If a man sees a middle-sized fish drop from the sky in a storm, he may believe that it comes from the river 2 miles away whipped up by the storm. Such believing is in fact an anlysis, not involving with other people.

 

[emsr2d2]

Does "eager to believe" [STRIKE]naturally[/STRIKE] mean "eager to believe (other people)"?

If a man sees a middle-sized fish drop from the sky in a storm, he may believe that it comes from the river 2 miles away whipped up by the storm. Such believing is in fact an analysis, not involving [STRIKE]with[/STRIKE] other people.

My "eager to believe" could refer to things that other people believe or other things. I'm eager to believe that I'll win every tennis match I play, regardless of what anyone else thinks. If I win two matches in a row, I'm more likely to believe that I'll win the next one/two/three. People are generally keen to believe the good stuff, with or without evidence. (Some people are inherently pessimistic, of course, and will believe negative things, with or without evidence).

To be honest, I could have left your original "conform" but I would have removed "to others" anyway.

With your fish example, it's different. The man might well think/believe/suspect that the fish came from a river he already knows is close by. Your proverb might work if the same man saw a fish fall from the sky, knew there was a river nearby but, when ten people standing nearby all told him the fish must have fallen from an alien planet, decided to go with their explanation rather than independently believing the more logical explanation that it came from the river.