Asia Blog: China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam

Would you name your child the literal “@” symbol? In the US there’s probably no law against it. In Chinese, the name “at” even sounds a little bit like 爱他, or “love him.”

However, a Chinese couple who wanted to do so ran afoul of 国家语委, the national language commission. Chinese last names, recently expanded to four characters, have the unique problem of having 129 of 23,000 surnames accounting for 87% of the population.

I thought that Clever Ice Cream Names at Cold Stone Creamery was worth a link, if you’re interested in translation and Chinese language.

Apparently a cold stone opened in Shanghai and translated the English menu in some clever and amusing ways. I think I like 草莓美莓 the best.