I need help from a friend who is the Chinese expert.

What does this have to do with Lin?

 

ummm..my try,
Significant figures are getting fewer
Significant figures are getting more and more significant.
i'm no grammar expert btw,so i'm not sure whether to use "fewer" or "lesser" in this case.
The thing with translation is ,it does not need to be translated word by word,you just have to get your meaning across.
that being said,i'm no expert at chinese language either.just moderate.

may i ask your purpose for translating this 2 sentences?I've trouble thinking what kind of interviewer would ask this kind of question

 

by the way the word "significant"is really weird in this contest.doesnt sound rit.

why dont u try at chinese sites such as baidu?or chinesepod forum where guys have better chinese knowledge than i do?

 

contest

 

"Crucial people are declining in number, (but...)
Crucial people are becoming more and more important."

---> Crucial figures are increasing in rarity and significance.

The last one takes a lot of liberties in the translation, but might sound better to an english audience than a direct translation.

 

Just to be clear, "figures" in this context is referring to people (I assume so, since you use the word "who")?

I don't know Chinese, but based on the three English samples you've provided perhaps this sentence works for you:

"People of importance who are becoming increasingly significant are, at the same time, dwindling in number."

 

To translate both sentences it says to me.

"There are less and less important people, important people are getting more and more important"

It makes sense when you're saying it to somebody in mandarin, the grammar is just moved around when I translate to english.

 

Seems the Chinese Lin fans are only in the GARM, maybe try there.

 

BTW, what is meant by "important people are becoming more and more important"? I don't understand that phrase. More important for what?

 

For important things like importance.

 

prob meaning bcos people with significant impact/importance reduces,so they are more valued (bcos they are becoming a rarity)

If based on the quotes OP provided,I think ur "translation" are most accurate btw.

Just did a search ,the most similar quotes comes out as follows:
我们身边重要的人越来越少，而留在身边的人越来越重要 .
basically it means that our loved ones are getting lesser,and those who remained are getting more dear to us/important to us.(yeah i'm translating liberally)

With chinese proverbs /proverbs like quote,if you translate word by word,
you are likely to make a mess out of it.

 

I think the point of it is saying that there are less and less important people in the world, while the important people becomes even more important.

aka the most important people are getting stronger

 

I see. Then I would amend my previously suggested translation to:

"As people of significance dwindle in number, they become increasingly important."

 

The two original phrases in Chinese seem like an output from google translate. There's no "since" nor "therefore" between the two phrases so they are not necessarily related.
Technically they are two independent phrases. But if you are instructed that they form a sentence, then Durvsa's translation is the best.