<p>This is a good question as it involves not just issues of language, (or cross translations thereof), but human thought processes and manifestation of such thoughts into actions or the taking of specific decisions resulting therefrom.</p>
<p>&quot;没主见&quot; &amp; &quot;没想法&quot;, what difference?</p>
<p>OP asked, &quot;Is it correct to translate&quot;没主见&quot; or &quot;没想法&quot; as opinion, idea, or thoughts?&quot;</p>
<p>Yes and no, which was why @Sanchuan said these are interchangeable, and he is right if we confine ourselves to just OP's Google translations which, being non-contextual, would be limited in its helpfulness.</p>
<p>Why yes and no?</p>
<p>First some well worn sayings about &quot;thoughts&quot; and &quot;actions&quot; which is what the whole discourse is about.</p>
<p>(1)  Every action is preceded by thought. If we want to control our actions, we must control our thinking.</p>
<p>(2)  A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds.</p>
<p>(3)  You'll never plough a field by turning it over in your mind.</p>
<p>(4)  Think like a man of action and act like a man of thought.</p>
<p>Running through all these quotes is the consistent idea of the inextricable relationship / connection / fusion between &quot;thought &amp; action&quot; So too is the bond and the differentiation between &quot;没主见&quot; &amp; &quot;没想法&quot;</p>
<p>What is the &quot;bond&quot;? The bond is it all involves the germ of an &quot;idea&quot;, a &quot;germ of a thought&quot; Whether it is &quot;没主见&quot; &amp; &quot;没想法&quot; some thought processes are involved, (it has to be because &quot;Every action is preceded by thought&quot;), and hence the overlapping nature of definitions leading to their interchangeable usages.</p>
<p>However to suss out the differences we need to examine what these root words, 主 and 想 mean in their individual context.</p>
<p>主 has multiple meanings, but for our purposes, I think &quot;primary&quot; in the sense of having some defining core quality or value is what I would choose.</p>
<p>In 主见, where 见 here means a &quot;certain view / outlook&quot;</p>
<p>Thus 主见 would be, for our purposes, &quot;to hold a primary point of view&quot;, i.e. an &quot;opinion&quot;</p>
<p>However, in order to have any kind of &quot;opinion&quot; formed, there has to be some preceding / initiating &quot;thought process&quot;, i.e. 想法.</p>
<p>So, 主见 &amp; 想法, what difference? The difference is 想法 is the invisible thought process, and 主见 is the observable manifestation, an outward expression of that thought process, whether in the form of a physical action or an uttered opinion.</p>
<p>We then have 没主见 &amp; 没想法.</p>
<p>没主见 would be in the context of OP's question, someone who has not displayed, or failed to display, any kind of views or opinion worthy of serious or estimable consideration. Hence the negative connotation, in contradistinction to the &quot;strong silent type&quot; which display other positive qualities.</p>
<p>没想法 would be in the context of OP's question, someone who do not have much or at least noticeable thinking, analytical skills, thus having &quot;no idea&quot; in solving problems because 法 in our context means a &quot;way&quot; a &quot;method&quot; of doing things, and someone who is 没想法 is someone who lacks any form of sensible method, (in a sense &quot;way-less&quot;), in doing anything leading to a lack of thinking, analytical skills.</p>
<p>In conclusion, both &quot;没主见&quot; &amp; &quot;没想法&quot; involves a commonality of initiating thought processes, but diverge in that one is a visible manifestation of the other.</p>
<p>Hence we get common, interchangeable English definitions like &quot;opinion, idea or thoughts&quot;, because to have an opinion you need to first have an idea, a thought, and an opinion is nothing but an uttered thought.</p>
<p>When it comes to usages of the terms, well, context as always is king, thus giving us secondary meanings like, &quot;indecisiveness&quot;, &quot;thoughtlessness&quot; etc.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-09-03T03:31:41.473Z
2024-09-03T06:59:18.333Z
2024-09-03T06:59:18.333Z
Wayne Cheah
<p><strong>Edit:</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p>How to translate &quot;没主见&quot; or &quot;没想法&quot; to English?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The definitions of the two phrases have been listed here, The answer to your question is &quot;<strong>Depends on context</strong>&quot;</p>
<p>Many phrases contain meanings that overlap. That doesn't mean they are interchangeable, it just means they are interchangeable in some instances - depending on the context</p>
<p>Example:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>這人從不思考，對一切都<strong>沒有主見</strong> = This guy never thinks and has <strong>no</strong> (independent) <strong>thought</strong> on anything</p>
</li>
<li><p>這人從不思考，對一切都<strong>沒有想法</strong> = This guy never thinks and has <strong>no thought</strong> on anything</p>
</li>
<li><p>這人只跟大隊，對一切都<strong>沒有主見</strong> = This guy just follows the group and has <strong>no opinion</strong> (of his own) on anything</p>
</li>
<li><p>這人只跟大隊，對一切都 <strong>沒有想法</strong> = This guy just follows the group and has <strong>no opinion</strong> on anything</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>~~</p>
<p>没主见 - blindly follow/ no independent thoughts/ indecisive</p>
<p>没想法 - no thought/ no opinion</p>
<p>Examples:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>我對瑪沙沒有想法 - I have no thoughts on Masha</p>
</li>
<li><p>我對同性婚姻應否合法沒有想法 - I have no opinion on whether same-sex marriage should be legal</p>
</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-09-02T03:44:01.257Z
I think "blindly follow = 盲從", an indirect attribute to 没主见.
r13
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-09-02T01:20:03.753Z
2024-09-02T19:12:43.003Z
2024-09-02T19:12:43.003Z
Tang Ho
<p>没主见</p>
<p>没主见是指一个人缺乏自己的想法和意愿,<br />
没主见 refers to a person who lacks his or her own opinions and aspirations,<br />
容易受到他人影响,<br />
who is easily influenced by others,<br />
对他人的想法和意见过于以来，<br />
who depends too much on other people’s way of thinking and ideas<br />
没有自己的判断和决定缺乏自信心的表现，<br />
who does not possess his or her own judgement or decision-making ability,<br />
缺乏自信心的表现。<br />
who lacks self-confidence.</p>
<p>The meaning of 没想法 depends on the context.</p>
<p>没想法：no idea, can’t be done, not understand</p>
<p>What’s for dinner tonight?<br />
今晚晚餐吃什么？<br />
No idea!<br />
我没有想法。</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-09-02T04:16:32.973Z
2024-09-02T04:16:32.973Z
Pedroski
<p>My thinking:</p>
<p>没<strong>主见</strong> - lack/without <strong>own idea</strong>/<strong>set of view</strong>. For a person easily persuaded/manipulated by others.)</p>
<ul>
<li>他是一個<strong>没主见</strong>的媽寶 - He is a &quot;mama's boy&quot; without his own ideas/set of views.</li>
</ul>
<p>没<strong>想法</strong> - lacks <strong>thoughts</strong>/<strong>ideas/opinion</strong> about things.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>我此事対<strong>没想法</strong> - I have never put/given thought to this./I've no opinion on this.</p>
</li>
<li><p>他対任何事都<strong>没(自己的)想法</strong> - He always lacks (own) thoughts/ideas/opinions about everything.</p>
</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-09-01T23:50:24.163Z
2024-09-02T19:19:05.970Z
2024-09-02T19:19:05.970Z
r13
<p>There are many ways to translate 没主见/没想法 literally, as suggested in other answers, and they will be understandable in most contexts.</p>
<p>However, based on the example sentences you provided, you could also consider using one the following idiomatic expressions:</p>
<ul>
<li>he doesn't know what he wants</li>
<li>he's neither fish nor fowl</li>
<li>he's (such / a bit of) a big girl's blouse</li>
<li>he's (such / a bit of) a milquetoast</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-09-02T10:25:47.567Z
Could you tell us which English expression relates to which Chinese phrase?
Wayne Cheah
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-09-02T15:39:17.403Z
Only if you can tell us the difference between 没主见 and 没想法! To my mind, they're all interchangeable in the kind of context mentioned in the OP.
Sanchuan
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-09-02T18:43:03.487Z
@Sanchuan Quote "To my mind, they're all interchangeable in the kind of context mentioned in the OP." -- It happens when two phrases contain meaning that is overlapping. That doesn't mean they are interchangeable, it just means they are interchangeable in some instances
Tang Ho
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-09-03T02:06:23.243Z
@Sanchuan  Yes, it is quite tricky to differentiate the two, which was why I asked for the relationship, if any. Anyhow, since you asked me for differentiation, I might as well answer OP's question as it would be too long for a Comment.
Wayne Cheah
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-09-02T08:31:28.377Z
2024-09-02T08:31:28.377Z
Sanchuan
<p>How to accurately translate  &quot;<strong>没主见</strong>&quot; or &quot;<strong>没想法</strong>&quot; to English? These two usually has a bad connotation, as they are usually used to speak ill of someone.</p>
<p>Example for &quot;<strong>没主见</strong>&quot;:
中文 Chinese: 他是一个没主见的人，女生不喜欢他。
英文 English: He is a person who has no opinion of his own, that is why girls don't like him.</p>
<p>Example for &quot;<strong>没想法</strong>&quot;
中文 Chinese: 他没有自己的想法，总是跟随别人的指令。
英文 English: He has no opinion of his own，always following the order of other people.</p>
<hr />
<p>Is it correct to translate&quot;<strong>没主见</strong>&quot; or &quot;<strong>没想法</strong>&quot; as no <strong>opinion</strong>, <strong>idea</strong>, or <strong>thoughts</strong>? These are what google translate gave me. I feel that there could be a better translation than these to express what is said in Chinese, please provide some suggestions such as adjectives and nouns. Thank you</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-09-07T12:30:26.473Z
This is a synonym of "优柔寡断".
KaiserKatze
<translation><word-choice><word-requests><adjectives><google-translate>
How to translate "没主见" or "没想法" to English?
# How to translate "没主见" or "没想法" to English?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-09-01)

How to accurately translate "**没主见**" or "**没想法**" to English? These two usually has a bad connotation, as they are usually used to speak ill of someone.

Example for "**没主见**":
中文 Chinese: 他是一个没主见的人，女生不喜欢他。
英文 English: He is a person who has no opinion of his own, that is why girls don't like him.

Example for "**没想法**"
中文 Chinese: 他没有自己的想法，总是跟随别人的指令。
英文 English: He has no opinion of his own，always following the order of other people.

---

Is it correct to translate"**没主见**" or "**没想法**" as no **opinion**, **idea**, or **thoughts**? These are what google translate gave me. I feel that there could be a better translation than these to express what is said in Chinese, please provide some suggestions such as adjectives and nouns. Thank you

**Tags:** translation, word-choice, word-requests, adjectives, google-translate

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: This is a synonym of "优柔寡断".  

---

## 5 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2024-09-03. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

This is a good question as it involves not just issues of language, (or cross translations thereof), but human thought processes and manifestation of such thoughts into actions or the taking of specific decisions resulting therefrom.

"没主见" & "没想法", what difference?

OP asked, "Is it correct to translate"没主见" or "没想法" as opinion, idea, or thoughts?"

Yes and no, which was why @username_6 said these are interchangeable, and he is right if we confine ourselves to just OP's Google translations which, being non-contextual, would be limited in its helpfulness.

Why yes and no?

First some well worn sayings about "thoughts" and "actions" which is what the whole discourse is about.

(1) Every action is preceded by thought. If we want to control our actions, we must control our thinking.

(2) A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds.

(3) You'll never plough a field by turning it over in your mind.

(4) Think like a man of action and act like a man of thought.

Running through all these quotes is the consistent idea of the inextricable relationship / connection / fusion between "thought & action" So too is the bond and the differentiation between "没主见" & "没想法"

What is the "bond"? The bond is it all involves the germ of an "idea", a "germ of a thought" Whether it is "没主见" & "没想法" some thought processes are involved, (it has to be because "Every action is preceded by thought"), and hence the overlapping nature of definitions leading to their interchangeable usages.

However to suss out the differences we need to examine what these root words, 主 and 想 mean in their individual context.

主 has multiple meanings, but for our purposes, I think "primary" in the sense of having some defining core quality or value is what I would choose.

In 主见, where 见 here means a "certain view / outlook"

Thus 主见 would be, for our purposes, "to hold a primary point of view", i.e. an "opinion"

However, in order to have any kind of "opinion" formed, there has to be some preceding / initiating "thought process", i.e. 想法.

So, 主见 & 想法, what difference? The difference is 想法 is the invisible thought process, and 主见 is the observable manifestation, an outward expression of that thought process, whether in the form of a physical action or an uttered opinion.

We then have 没主见 & 没想法.

没主见 would be in the context of OP's question, someone who has not displayed, or failed to display, any kind of views or opinion worthy of serious or estimable consideration. Hence the negative connotation, in contradistinction to the "strong silent type" which display other positive qualities.

没想法 would be in the context of OP's question, someone who do not have much or at least noticeable thinking, analytical skills, thus having "no idea" in solving problems because 法 in our context means a "way" a "method" of doing things, and someone who is 没想法 is someone who lacks any form of sensible method, (in a sense "way-less"), in doing anything leading to a lack of thinking, analytical skills.

In conclusion, both "没主见" & "没想法" involves a commonality of initiating thought processes, but diverge in that one is a visible manifestation of the other.

Hence we get common, interchangeable English definitions like "opinion, idea or thoughts", because to have an opinion you need to first have an idea, a thought, and an opinion is nothing but an uttered thought.

When it comes to usages of the terms, well, context as always is king, thus giving us secondary meanings like, "indecisiveness", "thoughtlessness" etc.


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2024-09-02. Score: 3

**Edit:**

> How to translate "没主见" or "没想法" to English?

The definitions of the two phrases have been listed here, The answer to your question is "**Depends on context**"

Many phrases contain meanings that overlap. That doesn't mean they are interchangeable, it just means they are interchangeable in some instances - depending on the context

Example:

* 這人從不思考，對一切都**沒有主見** = This guy never thinks and has **no** (independent) **thought** on anything
* 這人從不思考，對一切都**沒有想法** = This guy never thinks and has **no thought** on anything
* 這人只跟大隊，對一切都**沒有主見** = This guy just follows the group and has **no opinion** (of his own) on anything
* 這人只跟大隊，對一切都 **沒有想法** = This guy just follows the group and has **no opinion** on anything

~~

没主见 - blindly follow/ no independent thoughts/ indecisive

没想法 - no thought/ no opinion

Examples:

* 我對瑪沙沒有想法 - I have no thoughts on Masha
* 我對同性婚姻應否合法沒有想法 - I have no opinion on whether same-sex marriage should be legal

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: I think "blindly follow = 盲從", an indirect attribute to 没主见.  

---

### Answer by username_5 on 2024-09-02. Score: 2

没主见

没主见是指一个人缺乏自己的想法和意愿,  
没主见 refers to a person who lacks his or her own opinions and aspirations,  
容易受到他人影响,  
who is easily influenced by others,  
对他人的想法和意见过于以来，  
who depends too much on other people’s way of thinking and ideas  
没有自己的判断和决定缺乏自信心的表现，  
who does not possess his or her own judgement or decision-making ability,  
缺乏自信心的表现。  
who lacks self-confidence.

The meaning of 没想法 depends on the context.

没想法：no idea, can’t be done, not understand

What’s for dinner tonight?  
今晚晚餐吃什么？  
No idea!  
我没有想法。


---

### Answer by username_4 on 2024-09-01. Score: 2

My thinking:

没**主见** - lack/without **own idea**/**set of view**. For a person easily persuaded/manipulated by others.)

* 他是一個**没主见**的媽寶 - He is a "mama's boy" without his own ideas/set of views.

没**想法** - lacks **thoughts**/**ideas/opinion** about things.

* 我此事対**没想法** - I have never put/given thought to this./I've no opinion on this.
* 他対任何事都**没(自己的)想法** - He always lacks (own) thoughts/ideas/opinions about everything.


---

### Answer by username_6 on 2024-09-02. Score: 1

There are many ways to translate 没主见/没想法 literally, as suggested in other answers, and they will be understandable in most contexts.

However, based on the example sentences you provided, you could also consider using one the following idiomatic expressions:

* he doesn't know what he wants
* he's neither fish nor fowl
* he's (such / a bit of) a big girl's blouse
* he's (such / a bit of) a milquetoast

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: Could you tell us which English expression relates to which Chinese phrase?  
> **username_6**: Only if you can tell us the difference between 没主见 and 没想法! To my mind, they're all interchangeable in the kind of context mentioned in the OP.  
> **username_3**: @username_6 Quote "To my mind, they're all interchangeable in the kind of context mentioned in the OP." -- It happens when two phrases contain meaning that is overlapping. That doesn't mean they are interchangeable, it just means they are interchangeable in some instances  
> **username_2**: @username_6  Yes, it is quite tricky to differentiate the two, which was why I asked for the relationship, if any. Anyhow, since you asked me for differentiation, I might as well answer OP's question as it would be too long for a Comment.  

---

