"Shi"


    http://www.shistudio.com (thanks to Jonathan for the photo)

    Well designed business cards are necessary to attract potential clients’ attention. Shi Studio recently passed out these cards at a Toronto art show. According to their website, “Shi means poems in Chinese”.

    That is absolutely correct.

    Unfortunately, that is not what is printed on their cards.

    The character on the card is 禅 (or 禪), which means “meditation”, and “shi” (or "poem") should be 詩 (or 诗).

    Luckily, they did not make the mistake of printing 屎, which is also pronounced as "shi" but with third tone, on their cards. (Hint: This "shi" does not mean "poem.")


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Associated Press: Lost in Translation

"Death Wish"

"Fraud Blessing"

"Gratitude"

Raven's Lazy Eye


    http://www.raven-eye.com/kanji_disks_1.htm

    権 or 權 does not mean "balance", rather it means "authority" and "rights".

    乾 in modern Chinese is commonly used to represent "dry" or "dehydrated". There was a Chinese emperor named 乾隆. In the book of Yi Jing (易經), it is used to represent "heaven".

    Although any celebration would be a joyous occasion, 慶 does not mean "joy", it means "to celebrate".


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"Think"

"Sisters"


    http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A51116/high/bmepb166883.jpg

    The top character 姉 is a Japanese specific character for "elder sister". Its equivalent in Chinese are 姊 and 姐.

    The bottom character 妹 means "younger sister". If the order of two horizontal stokes in 未 partical are reversed and changed the character to 妺, it would mean "wife of the last ruler of the Xia dynasty".

    Both characters are somewhat recognizable, but I am astonished by the mangled left partial 女.


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"Peter"



    If you ever needed a reason to prevent yourself from tattooing your own name onto your leg in a language you don't understand nor speak, i.e. Chinese, this would be a good one.

    Peter wanted his name in Chinese to be tattooed on his leg. Too bad, Peter was too trusting or naïve, and did not get a second opinion on the translation. He has put all his trust in the hands of his tattooist and tattooist’s unconfirmed flash book.

    The tattoo does not say “Peter”.

    But, there is a Chinese electronics company called 貝德爾.


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"Katherine"

Shawn Marion - The Matrix


    (thanks to Brandon for the photo)

    According to a news report on NBA’s website:

    “Sept. 24, 2003: Shawn Marion will be sporting a new look beyond the added pounds he piled on in the weight room this summer. A tattoo down his right leg in Chinese lettering which translates to ‘The Matrix’ was added to his body art early in the off-season.”

    The three “Chinese lettering” Mr. Marion sporting does not really translate as “The Matrix” in Chinese.

    魔 = demon, evil spirits; magic power
    鳥 = bird
    樟 = camphor (a plant where its chemical exact is used for making moth balls)

    The movie “The Matrix” is translated as 黑客帝国 (“Hackers’ Empire”). “Matrix”, as in mathematical and logical condition, is translated as 矩陣.

    Although, this tattoo could be a Japanese phonetic translation of “The Matrix” (マトリックス), many Chinese-speaking fans would probably snicker at Shawn “Demon Bird Moth Balls” Marion.

    PS. Even his action figure has this tattoo on it.


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Asian Font Gibberish



    According to reader “Quaz”:

    “It is a picture of a tattoo taken by some racist, who apparently just downloaded an ‘Asian’ font from the Internet, wrote ‘SAY NO TO NIGGERS’ with that font and let somebody to tattoo it in his back. Of course, since languages don't work that way - which apparently is too much to comprehend for our little white supremacist here - the message is completely incomprehensible, as it actually is just finish with a strange font.”

    The tattoo is complete gibberish.

    Update: The tattoo shown here is suppose to be Finnish of “SANO EI LAKUPEKOILLE”, which is the English equivalent for “say no to niggers”. The owner of the tattoo used an “Asian” font to mimic the alphabets. What the fool did not realize is that the Chinese do not use alphabets. Way to show your racial superiority by using another culture's language.

    Racists are idiots.

Einstein Wants to Know




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Ultimate Mandarin Chinese

    book / ultimate mandarine chinese

    Textbook is one of the basic tools for someone to learn a foreign language. When there are typos in a beginning-intermediate level Chinese textbook, usually students would assume they are “correct” and move on.

    I wonder how the editors of “Ultimate Mandarin Chinese” would feel after reading this post, especially when the slogan on its cover says “The Most Complete and Up-to-Date Program Available”.

    How about recheck your book with a dictionary?

    人 = person
    入 = enter

"Forever Cherish"

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