be there just to make up the number/pretend to be an expert

濫竽充數(shù)

During the Warring States Period (475-221BC)， the King of the State of Qi was very fond of listening to yu ensembles. He often got together 300 yu players to form a grand music.

戰(zhàn)國(guó)時(shí)，齊宣王喜歡聽竽，通常是三百人的大合奏。

The king treated his musicians very well.

齊宣王給予樂(lè)師們非常優(yōu)厚的待遇。

A man named Nanguo heard about that and he managed to become a member of the band， even though he was not good at playing the instrument at all.

所以有一個(gè)叫南郭的人盡管并不擅長(zhǎng)吹竽，也設(shè)法混進(jìn)了樂(lè)隊(duì)。

Whenever the band played for the king， Nanguo just stood in the line and pretended to play. Nobody realized he was making no sound at all. As a result， he enjoyed his treatment just as the other musicians did.

當(dāng)樂(lè)隊(duì)演奏時(shí)，他就站在隊(duì)伍里假裝也在吹。沒(méi)有人注意到其實(shí)他連一點(diǎn)聲音也沒(méi)吹出來(lái)，所以南郭也享受到和其他樂(lè)師一樣的待遇。

When the king died， his son became the new ruler who also liked the music played on the yu. However， he preferred solos so that he ordered the musicians to play the yu one by one. Therefore， Nanguo had to run out of the palace.

齊宣王死后，他的兒子繼承了王位。他也喜歡聽竽，可是他喜歡聽獨(dú)奏，所以他讓樂(lè)師一個(gè)個(gè)吹給他聽，于是南郭不得不逃跑了。

The idiom “be there just to make up the number” is used to mock someone who pretend to be a specialist. You can also hear people saying it about themselves to show their modesty.

“濫竽充數(shù)”這個(gè)成語(yǔ)用來(lái)嘲笑那些沒(méi)有真正才干，卻混在行家里的人。人們有時(shí)也用“濫竽充數(shù)”來(lái)表示自謙。

其實(shí)“濫竽充數(shù)”的意思與“不懂裝懂”是相近的，那在英語(yǔ)中就可以表達(dá)為“pretend to be an expert”，其中“pretend to be/do”的意思就是“假裝是……”或者“假裝做……”，而“expert”也就是“專家”的意思，所以“pretend to be an expert”也就是“假裝自己是一個(gè)專家”的意思，那也就是“濫竽充數(shù)”啦~

有一本書的名字就叫做“Don‘t Pretend to be an Expert - Become One!”，那就可以翻譯成“與其濫竽充數(shù)，不如學(xué)著吹芋”之類的。