Hi, folks.
Sorry for the late-night post; I was kind of slack with entries today, so I thought I would do a make-up.
So, I was driving home tonight, listening to NPR's All Thing's Considered.
One of the featured stories was an interview with blogger Tian Tang, of HanziSmatter.com.
Tang's blog is all about chronicling the various misuses and abuses of Chinese characters by Westerners.
Now, you may be familiar with the other side of this -- Engrish.com, for example, is a site where people share sightings of humorously mistranslated English.
It's much the same with Hanzi Smatter, though it would appear that a lot more Westerners make their mistakes more prominent (and permanent), by tattooing Chinese characters on their bodies.
Now, just to be clear -- I can't read Chinese (or Japanese, or any other Asian language), though I can always ask my Mom to translate for me -- so I don't have any special expertise in this area.
From what I do know, though, is that there are a lot of ways to make mistakes when it comes to trying to convert Western concepts into Asian characters.
For starters, some people try stringing together characters, that when pronounced, kind of sound like English words.
Other times, people will combine characters that are direct translations of English words.
In both of these cases, the actual meaning to someone familar with Chinese will probably be nonsense, just as if someone started stringing random English words together.
Other mistakes include not drawing the characters properly; flipping the characters horizontally or vertically; or using the characters in such a way that the actual usage of the characters is a lot different from the intended meaning.
You can see examples of all of these kinds of mistakes (and more) on his blog.
Generally speaking, if you're going to get a tattoo or other work done in a language that you don't understand, you would be best served by asking a native speaker whom you trust to give you a translation.
Then, get a second opinion.
Thanks -- Joe
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3 comments:
Inconceivable! (Couldn't resist.) Actually, it's very conceivable, but it makes no sense to me that anyone would want to do this, even aside from the mistranslation problems. Why do people desecrate their bodies to have themselves inscribed with symbols they don't really understand?
Yeah, I know. I'm a fogey about stuff like this.
But maybe your head's up will at least help someone to make sure the inscription is the ntended one.
Karen
interesting joe
I have heard that Chinese is close to impossible to learn becasue of the 300 characters and because of the subtleties with the writing.
natalie
as someone who has extensive tattooing, and has worked as a "front-girl" in various shops across the US; I can tell you of many mishaps resulting from people using Kanji in incorrect ways. I always caution folks to be careful in all of their considerations of what to put on their bodies in any permanent situation, but especially where asian characters are concerned. For the very reason that you've highlighted in your entry, folks should seek advice from someone who is knowledgable in whatever language or symbol-system they choose. An excellent resource would be the local college/university, restaurant employees, and specialty store owners. That may sound strange, but many asian students who are working on their graduate degrees are available at the university. Some professors are from asia and know the language well. Often times the waitstaff at your local chinese restaurant may be chinese and the same logic holds true for the stores that cater to the asian population. g'luck, grins, debra
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