<p>That should be a translation convention in monarchies and constitutional monarchies (e.g. Uk, Japan, or historical monarchies) and is in fact officially used by Chinese government and press when referring to &quot;minister&quot;.</p>
<p>e.g.
Uk     - Chancellor of the Exchequer 英国财政大臣</p>
<p>Japan  - Minister of Finance 日本财务大臣</p>
<p>Meanwhile, similar position in other non-monarchies use &quot;部长&quot; more often:
France - Minister of the Economy and Finance 法国财政部长</p>
<p>(I might want to refer to official translation convention book for this)</p>
<p>For 长官 and 首长, in my sense they are more militarized words refering to military leaders. 长官 gives me the sense as the direct leader of a soldier (e.g. in movie translations we often see &quot;yes sir&quot; being translated to &quot;是，长官&quot;), while 首长 refers to a quite high position like general.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-10-30T04:05:09.440Z
2023-10-30T04:05:38.263Z
2023-10-30T04:05:38.263Z
Johnny Wu
<p>You don't directly address a high ranking official in the UK government as minister, either. Right?</p>
<p>The issue with using 长官 or 首长 is only applicable when used by a direct subordinate. Also, not every high ranking official is a 首长.</p>
<p>There is no clear and concise anwser as addressing an official is all situational dependent. I think the term 大人 used by the Chinese courts of the old days is probably the best.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-10-30T08:35:16.270Z
As far as I know, 大臣 is an identity, but not a title or an address. For example, 诸葛亮 is a 托孤大臣, but that is not his official title. His title is 丞相. Another similar example is that Chinese official titles seldom use the word官 to indicate the same, that's why I am a little surprised to see the official title 香港特别行政区行政长官, which could have been in other words like 区长 or 主席.
NanningYouth
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-10-31T02:26:25.730Z
大臣 is an office (or role if you will). It's in the same vein of secretary or minister.
fat penguin
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-10-30T03:49:27.383Z
2023-10-30T03:49:27.383Z
fat penguin
<p>It is sad to learn former Chinese prime minister H.E. Li Keqiang died unexpectedly at a still young age, but I am much impressed by his translation work which was done with his wife, a book in original titled Yes, Minister, which they made it as 《是，大臣》, according to online news.</p>
<p>But it looks like 大臣 is not used to address an offical right in his face, and that it is not an offical rank either. Perhaps the closest should be 是的，长官 or 是的，首长.</p>
<p>What do you say?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-10-30T03:49:39.727Z
“yes minister”  nostalgia lah  it was “部長大人” in taiwan, “大臣你想點” in hong kong. those were the 1980s 
水巷孑蠻
<translation>
Is 大臣 a direct address to an official?
# Is 大臣 a direct address to an official?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-10-30)

It is sad to learn former Chinese prime minister H.E. Li Keqiang died unexpectedly at a still young age, but I am much impressed by his translation work which was done with his wife, a book in original titled Yes, Minister, which they made it as 《是，大臣》, according to online news.

But it looks like 大臣 is not used to address an offical right in his face, and that it is not an offical rank either. Perhaps the closest should be 是的，长官 or 是的，首长.

What do you say?

**Tags:** translation

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: “yes minister”  nostalgia lah  it was “部長大人” in taiwan, “大臣你想點” in hong kong. those were the 1980s   

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2023-10-30. Score: 1

That should be a translation convention in monarchies and constitutional monarchies (e.g. Uk, Japan, or historical monarchies) and is in fact officially used by Chinese government and press when referring to "minister".

e.g.
Uk - Chancellor of the Exchequer 英国财政大臣

Japan - Minister of Finance 日本财务大臣

Meanwhile, similar position in other non-monarchies use "部长" more often:
France - Minister of the Economy and Finance 法国财政部长

(I might want to refer to official translation convention book for this)

For 长官 and 首长, in my sense they are more militarized words refering to military leaders. 长官 gives me the sense as the direct leader of a soldier (e.g. in movie translations we often see "yes sir" being translated to "是，长官"), while 首长 refers to a quite high position like general.


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### Answer by username_3 on 2023-10-30. Score: 0

You don't directly address a high ranking official in the UK government as minister, either. Right?

The issue with using 长官 or 首长 is only applicable when used by a direct subordinate. Also, not every high ranking official is a 首长.

There is no clear and concise anwser as addressing an official is all situational dependent. I think the term 大人 used by the Chinese courts of the old days is probably the best.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: As far as I know, 大臣 is an identity, but not a title or an address. For example, 诸葛亮 is a 托孤大臣, but that is not his official title. His title is 丞相. Another similar example is that Chinese official titles seldom use the word官 to indicate the same, that's why I am a little surprised to see the official title 香港特别行政区行政长官, which could have been in other words like 区长 or 主席.  
> **username_3**: 大臣 is an office (or role if you will). It's in the same vein of secretary or minister.  

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