Chinese word

一长一短

Pronunciation

Pinyinyī cháng yī duǎn

这件事有一长一短，你怎么看？zhè jiàn shì yǒu yì cháng yì duǎn nǐ zěn me kàn

This matter has both pros and cons; what do you think?

两种方案在现实中都有一长一短，需要综合考虑。liáng zhǒng fāng àn zài xiàn shí zhōng dū yǒu yì cháng yì duǎn xū yào zōng hé kǎo lǜ

Both options have pros and cons in practice, so we need to consider them together.

A side-by-side view that keeps a strength and a weakness in the same picture.

有利有弊yǒu lì yǒu bì: Having both benefits and drawbacks.
利弊参半lì bì cān bàn: Having benefits and drawbacks in roughly equal measure.

既有优点也有缺点，表示事物有好的一面和不好的一面同时存在。jì yǒu yōu diǎn yě yǒu quē diǎn biǎo shì shì wù yǒu hǎo de yí miàn hé bù hǎo de yí miàn tóng shí cún zài

一 (yī, "one") + 长 (cháng, "strength") + 一 + 短 (duǎn, "weakness") places one advantage beside one disadvantage in a balanced assessment.

English often separates praise and criticism into different statements, while this idiom presents both as part of one measured assessment.