Ears and Eyes, how to say when others subtly influence you in Chinese?

Cathy
1 min readDec 2, 2022

A part of our identity can be the product of others’ influence. Learn to use this idiom when you observe a person is influenced by his/her family.

耳濡目染 (ěr rú mù rǎn): means often heard, seen, and thus profoundly affected unconsciously.

Equivalent in English could be: subtly influenced, osmosis

Photo by CDC on Unsplash

Example

  1. 因為母親是音樂家,她從小耳濡目染,所以音樂底子不錯
  • Yīnwèi mǔqīn shì yīnyuè jiā, tā cóngxiǎo ěrrúmùrǎn, suǒyǐ yīnyuè dǐzi bùcuò
  • Because her mother is a musician, she has been influenced by her ears since she was a child, so she has a good foundation in music.

2. 小明父母是美術工作者,他平時耳濡目染,從小就喜歡繪畫

  • Xiǎomíng fùmǔ shì měishù gōngzuò zhě, tā píngshí ěrrúmùrǎn, cóngxiǎo jiù xǐhuān huìhuà
  • Xiao Ming’s parents are art workers. Consequently, they have influenced him greatly and have liked painting since childhood.

3. 也許是耳濡目染的關係,相處久了,我竟發現自己的價值觀深受他的影響。

  • Yěxǔ shì ěrrúmùrǎn de guānxì, xiāngchǔ jiǔle, wǒ jìng fāxiàn zìjǐ de jiàzhíguān shēn shòu tā de yǐngxiǎng.
  • Maybe it’s what we called osmosis. After getting along for a long time, I found that he deeply influences my values.

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Cathy

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