相对而言

相對而言

xiāngduìéryán

phrase HSK 7 #28,719

Meanings

Literally 'comparing and speaking'

Xiāngduìéryán, jīnnián de dōngtiān bù tài lěng.

Relatively speaking, this winter isn't too cold.

Xiāngduìéryán, Zhōngwén bǐ Yīngwén nán xué.

Comparatively speaking, Chinese is harder to learn than English.

grammar

相对而言 is a set phrase typically placed at the beginning of a sentence. It's interchangeable with 相对来说 (xiāngduì lái shuō), but slightly more formal.

相 xiāng

对 duì

而 ér

言 yán