Monterey Language Services' Blog » Humor

On the Chinese Language & Culture

MLS — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 00:08:51 +0000

At Monterey Language Services, we are always searching for interesting tidbits to lift our spirits. Here is one good example.

Deborah Fallows has a Ph.D. in linguistics. She decided to immerse herself into Chinese culture by learning Chinese. In her new book, Dreaming in Chinese: Mandarin Lessons in Life, Love and Language, Fallows provides intriguing insights into how Chinese think and act as reflected in their language. We found a delightful interview she had with NPR in which she explains why Chinese talk to each other so bluntly.

http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=129552512&m=129556812

Mistranslation Can Have Embarrassing Results

MLS — Tue, 04 May 2010 04:14:44 +0000

An article today in the New York Times talks about efforts by the Shanghai Commission for Management of Language Use to combat the rise of “Chinglish,” a mangled version of English used by Chinese, which has resulted in some hilarious mistranslations–quite an embarrassment for this cosmopolitan city which is hosting Expo 2010.

Funny? Maybe. But translation is no laughing matter.

References:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/03/world/asia/03chinglish.html

http://en.expo2010.cn

Translation of Japanese Haiku

MLS — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 19:27:00 +0000

Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry. In contrast to English verse typically characterized by meter, Japanese verse counts sound units (moras), known as “on“. The word on is often translated as “syllable”, but there are subtle differences between an “on” and an English-language “syllable”. Traditional haiku consist of 17 on, in three metrical phrases of 5, 7, and 5 on respectively.

Robert Hass, a Pulitzer Prize winning American poet, reads on TV his translations of selected haiku by Kobayashi Issa. This is part of the Poetry Everywhere project airing on public television. Produced by David Grubin Productions and WGBH Boston, in association with the Poetry Foundation. Filmed at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival. For more information, visit http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/poetryeverywhere.