An American translator in Beijing reflects on the word niubi and what makes it so difficult to translate, and it’s a delightful read.

一位在北京的美國譯者反映，“牛逼”一詞實在難翻，下面就來看看人家是怎么解釋“牛逼”的，很有意思哦！

On the face of it, niubi is not untranslatable at all: the characters niu and bi can be rendered into English with great precision by the words – and I beg your pardon – ‘cow pussy’, niu being the zoological reference, bi the anatomical. But though the denotation of niubi is embarrassingly plain, it’s connotations are far from obvious.

從表面上來看，牛逼一詞并非不可譯，把兩個漢字一一對等直譯成英語的話，就是“母牛的生殖器”(翻譯需要，請原諒我的不文明)。牛是動物學術語，逼是解剖學術語。雖然牛逼的字面意思有點讓人尷尬，但很清楚。不過，牛逼的深層含義就有講究了。

Niubi is a term of approbation, perhaps the greatest such term in colloquial Chinese. Niubi is an attitude, a lifestyle: a complete lack of concern over what other people think of you, and the resulting freedom to do whatever you please. It is knowing exactly what you’re capable of, making the decision to act, and to hell with the consequences. It is the essence of ‘cool’, but taken to the nth degree, and with a dirty word thrown in.

牛逼是一種溢美之詞，可能是漢語口語中夸人的最好說法了。牛逼是一種態度，一種生活方式，完全不在意別人是怎么看待你的，因此你可以愛做啥做啥。牛逼的人對自己的能力了若指掌，自己決定要做什么，完全不計后果。牛逼從本質上來說就是“酷”，不過比“酷”要酷上N倍，更何況牛逼里還帶個臟字呢！

Of course, like all great philosophical concepts, niubi has an inverse side - an excess of niubi leads to self-importance, arrogance, hubris, imperiousness, and very dangerous driving.

當然，和其他的哲學概念一樣，牛逼也有其不好的一面。一個人太過牛逼就會自以為是 ，不可一世，狂妄自大，無動于衷，就連開車都要飆到危險駕駛才罷休。

小編：牛逼一詞作為2008年的年度熱門詞匯，曾經遭到無數人的追捧，直到現在，這股B風潮還未見消褪。下面，小編就為大家盤點一下關于“牛逼”一詞的其他譯法，僅供參考：

最創意譯法：newbility，詞根為newby，其變化形式有，比較級newber，最高級newbest，名詞newber。

Eg: There is no newbest, only newber。

沒有最牛B，只有更牛B。

最中規中矩譯法：very strong，excellent，stunning，cool

Eg: What a stunning idea!

這主意太牛B了！

最地道譯法：hot shit

Eg: That hot shit. You are a wild man。

簡直太牛B了，你是個強人！

最中國式譯法：NiuBi

Eg: How can you be so NiuBi?

你怎么能這么牛B呢？

最簡單譯法：NB

Eg: I think that song is very NB!

我覺得那首歌很牛B！

最直接譯法：cow pussy