Asia Blog » Language

iPhone Chinese-English dictionary

Elliott Back — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 23:07:09 +0000

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

Elliott Back — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 03:24:34 +0000

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

Elliott Back — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 02:15:12 +0000

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

Elliott Back — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 00:57:57 +0000

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

Elliott Back — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 02:10:28 +0000

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:

Leave a comment with your favorite chat smiley!

Xinhua’s Editorial Guidelines

Elliott Back — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 09:05:47 +0000

The kind folks at Work Unit have published a list of guidelines used by the editors and writers at Xinhua, China’s official newspaper. Surprisingly, most of the advice is to avoid racial stereotyping of the sort seen in America’s early days. Except, in our case where it was mostly black v.s. white, writers in China have to be aware of a huge number of ethnic minorities and their sensitivities.

Unfortunately, there are a number of politically sensitive editorial demands:

Don’t use “Islamic fundamentalism” or “Islamic fundamentalists.” Use “religious extremism” as a substitute.
It is strictly forbidden to refer to Xinjiang as “East Turkistan.”
The Diaoyutai Islands must not be called the Senkaku Islands.
The Nansha Islands must not be called the Spratly Islands.
Do not write “Tourists from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan visit China.” The proper use is “Tourists from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan visit the mainland.”

As you can see, most of these come from the desire to strengthen China’s claims on territory it contests with other nations, or territories which have their own seditious desires. Taiwan, HK, and Macau are given special attention; they must always be included as parts of China, not separate nations.

There are also a few completely strange guidelines, like “In all reports concerning persons who believe in Islam, pork must not be mentioned.” That’s about the same as saying, “In all reports concerning persons who like to wear socks, bare feet must not be mentioned.” Still, Xinhua gets a nod for their tact, even if it is overly sensitive.

非 – Fei – Very

Elliott Back — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 00:01:22 +0000

As far as I know, Fei by itself doesn’t mean anything, but as Feichang (非常) it means “very” or “particularly.” It’s so pretty, with two wings side by side.

Chinglish HK Subtitles

Elliott Back — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 03:44:15 +0000

This is pretty random, but here’s some awful subtitles used in real (probably Kung Fu) Hong Kong movies. My favorites are:

I am damn unsatisfied to be killed in this way.
A normal person wouldn’t steal pituitaries.
You always use violence. I should’ve ordered glutinous rice chicken.
Beat him out of recognizable shape!
The bullets inside are very hot. Why do I feel so cold?

Sexy & Dirty Chinese Words [NSFW]

Elliott Back — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 05:20:09 +0000

One of the things you want to know when learning a language is all the bad words and phrases. Besides knowing how to come on to someone, or swear really well, learning what a culture uses to express its strongest, most vehement word-forms can tell you a lot. That’s where this handy list in Swedish, Chinese, and English comes in.

For summary’s sake, here are the most useful terms:

性 xìng = sex
性生活 xìngshēnghuó = sex life
肏 cào = to f*ck (vulgar)
打炮 dă pāo = have intercourse
老屄 lăobī = old hag (vulgar)
牛屄 niúbī = really phat, way beyond cool (vulgar)
艺妓 yìjì = geisha

There are also a huge number of words to describe prostitutes, various parts of intercourse, STDs, and other such things.

However, when you look at some of the etymologies, barring things which are simply put together piecemeal in the expected way (性生活 being 性 + 生活), you can derive a more interesting cultural view. For example, 肏 is 入 + 肉, literally to enter meat, from which we learn that sex in China is defined by the language as a male-dominating act. This isn’t unexpected, but it’s interesting how language ties into culture, especially in these taboo waters.

Chinese Firefox Extensions

Elliott Back — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 02:58:01 +0000

Filination has an interesting entry which lists all the possible Chinese-language helper extensions you can get for Firefox:

ChinesePera-kun is an excellent tool that “will popup the pinyin reading and English definition when you mouse over Chinese in Simplified or Traditional characters.”

Sounds good–sign me up, mate!