Here’s how this game works. I start with a word in Chinese, and I translate it into English. The English word will have multiple meanings, so I’ll translate it into a different Chinese word. The Chinese word will have multiple meanings, so I’ll translate it into a different English word, and so on and so forth, until we reach a word so specific that it can’t be translated in two different ways.
游戏规则：从一个汉语词开始，地二把它翻译成英文。这个英文词有多个含义，地二取其中一个译回汉语。这个汉语词又有多个含义，地二取其中一个译回英语，如此往复，直到找不出多义词为止。听上去有些困难，但是汉语和英语多义词都很多，而不同语种的两个语言，每个词的外延经常不完整覆盖，所以形成一个长链条其实很容易。
This may sound a bit difficult, but both Chinese and English have lots of homonyms, and their definitions rarely overlap exactly, so it’s not entirely challenging to form a reasonably long chain. What better word to start with than game:
游戏
游戏 is the most straightforward translation of game. It goes with 玩; to play a game is 玩游戏. A word game is 文字游戏, which, without context, typically refers to the dishonest practice rather than the innocent fun. Board games are often abbreviated to 桌游, and video games are called 电脑游戏 if played on a computer, or 街机游戏 (lit. street machine games) if played on an arcade machine.
既然是做游戏，那就从“游戏”这个词开始。游戏一般翻译成 game。桌游叫做 board games，文字游戏可以翻译成 word games。汉语里提到文字游戏，一般是指咬字眼纠细节那种不诚实行为，但是诸如成语接龙等文字类的游戏也可以称作 word games。电脑游戏，一般叫做 video games（很少叫 △ computer games），但 video games 也指在游戏厅玩的那种街机游戏。
Game
Game 的含义太多了。可以是形容词（I’m game，这事我乐意做），可以是动词（gaming the system，钻空子），但这里地二取一个名词义：比赛。奥林匹克运动会，英文就叫做 The Olympic Games。说白了，运动比赛不过就是一场游戏。
Game has too many meanings in English. You could say I’m game, or gaming the system, and they all have to be rephrased in Chinese (I’m willing to do it, or I’m exploiting a loophole). It’s obvious that The Olympic Games are not the same sort of games as, say, Red Dead Redemption, and it’s no wonder that in Chinese, such games have a different word:
比赛
Literally, ‘compare and compete’, this is the standard translation for competition. It’s often shortened to just 赛: a championship is 锦标赛 (lit. trophy competition), a cross country race is 越野赛 (lit. cross wilderness competition), and all kinds of races have the word 赛 in it: 赛跑 (running), 赛马 (horse racing), 赛艇 (rowing).
体育比赛，英文中要么不翻译“比赛”两个字（比如锦标赛就叫做 championship），要么叫做 race。与时间赛跑，英语叫做 racing against time。Race 还有种族的意思，地二这里不再展开。单独说比赛，最简单的翻译就是：
Competition
Competition，动词 compete，可以表示各种竞争比拼。商业上反竞争的行为，英语里叫做 anti-competitive practices/behaviors。除了指竞争/比赛本身，competition 也可以指竞争/比赛对手。
Competition has many synonyms: a race, a match, a contest. Here, we’ll continue the chain with the person you’re competing against (as in I like to check out my competition before the race):
竞争对手
This is one of those words that are heavily compounded in Chinese. 竞争对手 literally means “compete opponent”, but 对手 can be further broken down into “oppose hand”. 手 is a frequent suffix for “the person who …”: an assistant is 助手 (lit. assist hand), a beginner is 新手 (lit. new hand), and a sharpshooter is 神枪手 (lit. god gun hand). 神 doesn’t mean god exactly, but this is a long conversation that we don’t have time for right now.
Competition 一般泛指竞争对手这个概念。比如，比赛前看看其他选手都准备的怎样了，这叫做 checking out the competition。如果具体到一个你赢我输的比赛，实际对抗的那个人，一般称为：
Opponent
比如两人辩论或者下棋，就可以互相称为对方的 opponent。Opponent 是 oppose 的名词；oppose 单独拿出来，最常见的意思是反对。比如英国的议会里，执政一方叫做 government，在野一方就叫做 opposition。这种含义下，opponent 就不再是友谊第一比赛第二的比赛对手，而是可能要拼个你死我活的反对一方。
Opponents can be friendly, such as in a game or a contest. Or they can be fierce, such as in a political debate. To oppose someone not because you happen to sit on the opposite side in a game, but specifically because you disapprove of their ideas, in Chinese you would say:
反对
Yeah I cheated a little. 反对 is usually a verb that means to oppose or to object, so it’s not exactly a translation of “opponent”. Eh, close enough. 反 usually means “return” or “backward”; for example, 反问 could mean asking a question in response to a question; a rhetorical question is called 反问句. And if someone put on their sweater backwards, you’d say 他衣服穿反了. In the context of voting, 反对 could also mean (voting) against.
不好意思，稍微作了个弊。Opponent 指的是“反对一方”，“反对”是动词应该翻译成 oppose 才对，不过差不多啦。根据上下文，反对可以翻译成别的词，比如同意/反对中的反对，一般用 for / against。我同意或者我反对，可以说 I’m for it / I’m against it。投票时候有五人赞成四人反对，可以说 there are five votes for, four votes against。
Against
Against 可以翻译成很多个词，共通之处是“对着用力”。比如投反对票，就是逆着议题用力。很多含有对抗含义的词，往往后续 against，比如 discrimination against (someone) 就是针对某人的歧视，或者 insurance against (something) 就是为了预防某事而上的保险。Against 除了这种概念上的“对着用力”，也可以指字面上的“对着用力”。比如，靠着墙站，就是 stand against the wall。
What all the meanings of against have in common is a vague sense of “pushing backward”. You can discriminate against someone, or insure against something, or even literally stand against the wall. This last against has a special word in Chinese:
靠
For example, 靠着墙(站) means (to stand) against a wall. Unlike against in English, 靠 doesn’t have this sense of “pushing backward”; instead, it has this sense of “in the vicinity of”. At airport check-in, you might be asked if you want your seat 靠窗 or 靠过道 (next to the window or next to the aisle). If you travel to a new country, make sure to know whether they drive 靠右 or 靠左 (on the right/left, lit. near right/left). It also means “to depend on”, probably a figurative sense derived from “stand against the wall”. 靠别人不如靠自己 is a common saying that means “depending on others is not as good as depending on yourself”.
除了“靠着墙”这个意思，汉语里的“靠”还可以指“信赖”（靠得住、靠不住），或者“依赖”（靠着施舍生存）。表示信赖，英语里一般用 trust，比如这个人靠得住，可以说 he can be trusted。如果是借钱，说这个人肯定会还钱的，口语里也可以说 he’s good for it。依靠，可以说 rely on，也可以说：
Depend on
语境清晰的情况下，depend on 后面不用再加动词。比如汉语会说“靠别人养活”，英语只要说 depend on others 就可以了，“养活”根据上下文理解。如果一定要说清，可以说 depend on others for survival，注意这里加的是名词，不是动词。Depend on 还可以表示“取决于”，比如 it depends on the weather 这事得看天气。“这事得分类讨论”/“这事不一定”，英语可以简单的说成 it depends。
To depend on something could mean to rely on that thing, or it could mean it’s determined by that thing. It’s the difference between “depending on others for survival” and “depending on the weather”. In Chinese, the second one is called:
取决于
Literally “take decision from”. Alas, this is the end of our chain. 取决于 is so specific that there’s not a meaningfully different way to translate it, but I leave you with an example sentence: 今天去哪，取决于天气，也取决于心情。(Where are we going today? It depends on the weather and also our mood.)
“取决于”只能翻译成 depend on 或者类似说法（比如 is determined by），链条到这里就是终点了。Depend on 也可以说成 depend upon。Upon 是 on 更正式更华丽的说法，一般用 on 的地方都可以换做 upon，当然语气是否合适需要自己考量。有一些固定用法必须用 upon，比如 once upon a time （很久很久以前），换用 on 就会很滑稽。
D. R. Whispers 