iPhone Chinese-English dictionary
Qǐngwèn is an application for iPod Touch and iPhones which allows quick and easy Chinese-English and English-Chinese dictionary lookups. Take a look at Karan Misra’s site which has more information about the free application. Here’s some screenshots of my own:
The thing I like most is that you can type a word, in either English, Chinese, or pinyin, and get back the right translations and context that word can be used in. Once you’ve translated from English to Chinese, you can also use the search features to find other words containing said character. It’s a great application!
Note that Qingwen uses a modified version of CC-CEDICT as its dictionary.
Cold Stone Ice Cream in China
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.
Malaysian English Impossible To Understand
I was checking out the new site Overheard in Malaysia when I realized that I don’t understand it all, although it appears to be written in English. Check out this random post about … well, I’m not sure:
MrBf: Blah blah blah.. why you damn clown? Don’t know how to look where you’re going ah? *lecture lecture*
naeboo: *gives hard look*
MrBf: Why you give me one kind look? Not happy isit?? What look is it ar?
naeboo:YATT LOOK! One look! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.. *layan sendiri* I’m sucha smartass!
MrBf: -_______________-”
The Flesch-Kincaid grade level of this text is 4. The first thing currently on Overheardinnewyork scores a (still low) 7. Apparently there is a class-split around the use of English in the Malaysian educational system.
“Fuck Bush” Chinese T-Shirt
This is old, but I love this Fuck Bush t-shirt that Peking Duck points out:
It literally says “去你马的,Bush” which literally means “Go to your mother’s [implied], Bush.” It’s equivalent to the english “motherfucker” literally, which in this context I find quite charming! How better to voice your opposition of the Western influence in China!
Japanese Emoticon List
Here’s a pretty cool list of the top 30 or so Japanese Emoticons. Asian emoticons generally seem to come in the following form:
emoticon ::= ear (eye mouth/nose eye) ear
The trick is that you have to visualize a face laid out horizontally instead of vertically, after which the Asian-style emoticon directly resembles a human face:
- (^_^)
- (>_< )>
- (^_^;)
- (ToT)
- m(_ _)m
- (^^;)
- （￣ー￣）
- (≧∇≦)
- （￣□￣；）
- (#^.^#)
I like the last one best (#^.^#) Some other lists of emoticons can be found below:
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