Could anyone give a proper English translation to "干货”？

Question

Here "干货” means something useful, informative rather than "dehydrated goods" or "dry goods", which basically means some informative materials or knowledge... I've consulted this question from many of my English teachers yet neither of them were getting the point.

Here are some alternative answers (yet not the most suitable word/phrase) :

Like "real shit" (sounds rude) Like " real stuff" (not an idiomatic expression?) Some even recommends this word "bone" which is unique to drugs field( means high purity drug)

I still doubt about it. Could someone give me a better translation?

Answer 1

"干货" means solid, useful, practical and concise information with no fluff.

Answer 2

"干货" recently becomes a "Internet words" means evidence.

When somebody talking about rumor without any evidence, some other may ask like this "来点干货"

Actually he is asking evidence like pictures, references or so

Answer 3

干(乾) means dry here, like 干果(乾果) means dry fruit. Here, 干货(乾貨) means dry foods. It means something like an opinion, a speech, or an article is helpful, pragmatic, practical, but not vacuous, theoretical, nonsensical, in Internet circles.

Answer 4

Well, to explain 干货, we have to mention its opposite 水货, which is an older expression.

水货 means food that contains nothing but water which is not nutritious at all. Its original meaning is rarely used, but it is usually used to describe a person that does not make any contribution. 这人是个大水货 Means that man does not do any real work. When used for messages, it means there is no real information. 全文都是水货 means beating around the bush for all the passage. The expression 水 is more commonly used as a verb these days. For example 水视频，水论文. Which means publish something that does not contains real information.

The opposite, 干货, means full of useful information. It is usually used to describe a piece of writing or video or speech, but not people. 这篇文章里全是干货。全文都是干货。干货满满。

Translation could be a "condensed" or "concrete" passage.

Answer 5

In a word, it means substantial stuff.

Answer 6

As the commenters suggest, there are many possible English translations depending on the context. Context is particularly important here because speakers who use 干货 are asserting that they are presenting the facts without any additions or misrepresentations. (Cf. the oath which a witness takes to tell "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth".) This sort of statement obviously contains a lot of implicit judgements about what is true and what is important, not to mention moral and emotional overtones.

The most suitable translation depends on the age, region, ethnic background, and social class of the speaker and the hearer, even beyond the usual definitions of register. A middle-aged, middle-class, Caucasian like me might use any one of the following terms:

• the plain truth
• the unvarnished truth
• the bottom line
• just the facts
• the heart of the matter
• the name of the game.

An American in their 20s or 30s, by contrast, would be more likely to use the terms "the real shit", "the dope" or "the nitty gritty". This sort of language is not rude when used among peers.

Hope this helps!

Answer 7

Perhaps "the real deal" if you are after an idiomatic English expression.

This conveys the sense of "legitimate" or "honest", i.e. "not fake".

Answer 8

Maybe you can use "meat". Like

He's got some meat in the post.

Answer 9

干货 originally means a category of food, i.e. dry fruit. Recent years it is used vastly for 'dense information'.

Answer 10

It is a metaphor for things like knowledge that is concentrated, without any adjective words or miscellaneous which gives out the information or point directly to study or understand. So it is 'food' that are dried because the water was not necessary in the dry foods.

Answer 11

Originally, 干货 is a generic name for edible dry goods, which includes all kinds of food, that is plentiful in one local but scarce at others, after the drying process for preservation, ease of stocking, and transportation. The frequently seen 干货 are seeds, beans, mushrooms, seaweeds, small fish, small edible fruits (棗子,梅子...).

The term may have extended uses as others have pointed out.