Την ίδια ώρα, στην Κίνα...

[bernardina]

Noμίζω ότι το πρόβλημα είναι ότι ανοίγουν το λεξικό και παίρνουν την πρώτη λέξη που βλέπουν στα αγγλικά, οπότε προκύπτουν εκφράσεις όπως το νέο κατσίκι στο μπλοκ ή τα ζωντανά φώτα της μέρας (τίτλος ταινίας του 007, σε αντίθεση με τα ψόφια φώτα της μέρας).

Πράγμα που με κάνει να αναρωτιέμαι τι λεξικό άνοιξαν και πού στην οργή βρήκαν εκείνο το arrogant in vinegar (sic!!!) που αντίκρισαν τα ωραία και μεγάλα μου μάτια στο μενού ενός ουζεριού ουζερί της Ραφήνας.

Three guesses για το ποια ελληνική ντελικατέτσα "μετέφραζαν" μ' αυτό τον τρόπο! Ο ευρών αμειφθήσεται εις είδος.

 

[Costas]

Εκτός από τις προφανείς περιπτώσεις, τα τυπογραφικά (crap αντί για carp, cock αντί για coke), μερικά είναι μυστήρια. Αυτό το hand grenade (灭火瓶), ας πούμε, δεν προκύπτει από πουθενά, τόσο που αναρωτιέμαι μήπως είναι πλαστό. Γιατί το κινέζικο λέει, σε μετάφραση, extinguish fire bottle/vase/pitcher. Πώς στο καλό από αυτές τις τρεις κινέζικες λέξεις μπορεί να προκύψει το hand grenade? Πρωτότυπο και μετάφρασμα δεν συναντιούνται πουθενά.

To Rape When Greenstuffs, επίσης, δεν αντιστοιχεί σε κανένα σημείο του κινέζικου κειμένου, τουλάχιστον όσου φαίνεται στη φωτογραφία.

 

[SBE]

Three guesses για το ποια ελληνική ντελικατέτσα "μετέφραζαν" μ' αυτό τον τρόπο! Ο ευρών αμειφθήσεται εις είδος.

Σύμφωνα με αυτό εδώ,

Spoiler

ο γαύρος

(πώς προέκυψε άραγε; )

 

[nickel]

(πώς προέκυψε άραγε; )

Spoiler

Τη σωστή μετάφραση του γαύρου / γάβρου την έχουμε εδώ.
http://lexilogia.gr/forum/showthread.php?2935-γαύρος-γάβρος-anchovy-hornbeam

Στα αρχαία ελληνικά γαύρος ήταν ο περήφανος. Σε απόσπασμα που διασώθηκε από τον Φιλοκτήτη του Ευριπίδη έχουμε «οὐδὲν γὰρ οὕτω γαῡρον ὡς ἀνὴρ ἔφυ» (=δεν υπάρχει τίποτα πιο αλαζονικό από τον άντρα). Στα σημερινά έχουμε το ρήμα γαυριώ «καμαρώνω». Άνοιξαν λοιπόν κάποιο λεξικό, είδα γαύρος arrogant, και μας το σερβίρισαν.

 

[bernardina]

Άντε, ελάτε. Κερνάω γαβράκι μαρινάτο.

 

[drsiebenmal]

Άντε, ελάτε. Κερνάω γαβράκι μαρινάτο.

Ορίστε και παραλλαγές...

 

[bernardina]

Ορίστε και παραλλαγές...

Σε ένα τάπερ, κατά προτίμηση γυάλινο...

Σόρι για το οφτόπικ, αλλά το βρήκα πολύ χαριτωμένο.

 

[Costas]

An Anatomy of Chinese: Rhythm, Metaphor, Politics (Perry Link) - Reviewed by David Porter
MCLC Resource Center Publication (Copyright August 2013)

(...)
The puzzle that motivates the book’s first section has to do with the origins and purpose of characteristic rhythmic features of modern Chinese prose. We normally think of rhythmic patterning in language as belonging to the realm of poetry, where, like rhyme, it contributes to the experience of formal coherence and self-conscious artistry distinctive to this genre. Ordinary language we tend to imagine as being considerably less artful and more pragmatic, concerned, as it is, with the prosaic business of communicating ideas in a reasonably efficient and straightforward manner. Link offers dozens of examples, however, to demonstrate how even the most ordinary of ideas in modern Chinese very often find themselves expressed in phrases that adhere to deep-seated rhythmic rules and patterns. A sign urging pedestrians to look both ways before crossing a busy street takes a rhythmic form dating back to poetry of the Han dynasty (206 BC-220 AD). A standard list of kitchen staples—kindling, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea—turns out to use exactly the same rhythm. The literary origins of such metrical patterns are easy to discern within China’s rich poetic heritage. Considerably more tangled are two questions Link dwells on at considerable length. Why, first of all, should these patterns have the staying power that they do, especially in a society whose revolutionary heritage has so often entailed an explicit repudiation of “traditional” or “feudal” cultural forms? And second, what does the invocation of such age-old poetic rhythms contribute to the meaning of a seemingly colloquial statement?
(...)
While the idea of passing from consciousness to unconsciousness is imagined in terms of spacial movement in both Chinese and English, for example, Chinese speakers are more inclined to think of this transition in terms of a coming or going across a divide, whereas English speakers speak of “falling asleep” or “sinking into a coma.” While similarities in basic conceptual metaphors in the two languages outnumber the differences, a number of distinctive metaphorical predilections in Chinese make good food for thought. Idiomatic uses of the verb chi ‘eat’ in Chinese, for example, are far more prevalent than in English, so that one can describe the enjoyment of popularity, for example, as “eating fragrance,” male flirtation as “eating tofu,” accepting blame as “eating crime,” or feeling jealous as “eating vinegar.”
(...)
(...) ontological metaphors—the abstract nouns we fashion out of verbs and adjectives in order to manipulate and express ideas at a remove from concrete experience. It turns out that speakers of European languages are far more inclined to rely on these second-order nominalizations than are speakers of Chinese, so that the former habitually speak of, say, “inflation,” “energy,” “existence,” “patience,” “confidence,” or “truth,” whereas Chinese renderings of corresponding ideas are more likely to rely on verb and adjective constructions. Whereas others who have noticed this difference have sometimes presented it as evidence of a structural lack in Chinese methods of reasoning, Link turns the tables to reflect on the possibility that habitual nominalization has tended to lead thinkers working in Indo-European languages down all manner of blind alleys that are, in reality, nothing more than metaphorical fictions. To what extent does our belief in the real existence of “government,” say, or “the good,” and our willingness to devote centuries of debate to their description and analysis, derive from the mere linguistic quirk underlying our propensity, as speakers of English, to traffic in nominalized abstractions?
While broad generalizations of this kind will no doubt raise red flags for some readers and bring to mind significant counter-examples for others, Link’s deployment of an observed cultural difference to invite linguistic self-consciousness and unsettle complacencies represents one of the more responsible and productive uses one can imagine for comparative work of this kind.
(...)
(...) the richly homophonic nature of spoken Chinese opens up endless possibilities for punning, which has often been used, along with parody and double entendre, to satirize the hypocrisy of official speech and to dodge the effects of widespread censorship. For all the comic relief offered by occasional acts of resistance, however, Link is understandably pre-occupied with what the long-term effects on public culture might be of several generations of Chinese living and breathing a language so severely twisted and constrained by the machinations of a repressive one-party state. While he does not underestimate the difficulty of recognizing, let alone breaking free of a tainted or impoverished language, he sees cause for guarded optimism in the opportunities for greater freedom of experimentation and self-expression that technology has made available in recent years.
(...)
The characteristic formulations he associates with Maoist propaganda, for example, would appear to share a common lineage and, presumably, common rhetorical strategies with moralizing tracts in the Buddhist and Confucian traditions. And surely the dangers of becoming trapped within the confines of a dominant ideology are not limited to authoritarian states, though they are obviously more pronounced there.

Το ζήτημα των οντολογικών μεταφορών, που θίγεται πιο πάνω, μου θύμισε ένα κείμενο που είχα διαβάσει παλιά, το οποίο έλεγε ότι οι αρχαίοι Έλληνες χρησιμοποιούσαν λίγα αφηρημένα ουσιαστικά· συνήθως χρησιμοποιούσαν έναρθρα επίθετα στο ουδέτερο γένος, το ελεύθερον κλπ. Και το κείμενο εκείνο έλεγε πως ο Κικέρωνας στάθηκε εκείνος που πήρε αυτά τα επίθετα και τους κόλλησε ένα -tas, ανοίγοντας το δρόμο για τις δικές μας -ότητες. (Πρέπει να το 'χω ξαναγράψει αυτό κάπου)

 

[Costas]

Translating the Ancient Classics in China and the West: 1950 and Beyond
University of South Carolina - 16th Annual Comparative Literature Conference
February 26-March 2, 2014

Which type of appropriations/adaptations occur on the linguistic level during the translation of Hellenistic and Latin classics into the modern Chinese language? In which way do the translation and interpretation of Plato and Aristotle become a way to address various issues of modernity in China? Does the current reception of the Straussian reading of Plato go in line with the reading guidelines set in the May Fourth movement? What are the differences in the respective readings of Western classics in the West and in China?

 

[Earion]

Σε ένα τάπερ, κατά προτίμηση γυάλινο...

Σόρι για το οφτόπικ, αλλά το βρήκα πολύ χαριτωμένο.

Εννοεί πιρέξ με πλαστικό κάλυμμα.

(Συγγνώμη κι από μένα).

 

[Costas]

Πολλά λινκ για τη δίκη τού Μπο Ξ(Σ)ιλάι στο Sinocism.

---------------------------
China’s two greatest Internet rumor mongers and “black PR” philanderers arrested (Danwei)
Έχει μεγάλη πλάκα η ανάγνωση αυτού του άρθρου: Κατασκευή Φημών ΟΕ. Το ωραίο είναι ότι:
Most of these rumors are traceable back to their source, but water army companies [ΣΣ. βλ. σώμα άρθρου] operate openly on the Chinese Internet and seem to be tolerated if they keep out of political trouble. Indications are that Qin crossed the line in April this year when he published a much-forwarded post attacking Chinese Communist Party propaganda role model Lei Feng 雷锋 as being corrupt and profligate, with contentious if hilarious phrases as: “In 1959, Lei Feng would have needed 90 yuan to afford his high-grade leather jacket, woolen pants, and black leather boots, but his monthly pay was only 6 yuan!” Qin was apparently reported by netizens to the Beijing Public Security Bureau for “making rumors slanderous to the image of Lei Feng”.

Πάτησα και μερικά γαργαλιστικά λινκ του άρθρου· ωραίο μανατζάρισμα κάνει η μάνα στην κόρη! Αναφωνείς "μάνα μου!" και δεν ξέρεις σε ποιαν αναφέρεσαι...

 

[nickel]

Πριν από τέσσερα χρόνια είχε ανακοινωθεί αυτό:

Ειδικά αυτό με τα ανοιχτά πόδια και το στριγκ, πολύ με άρεσε.

Διχάζει την Κίνα το «πάρκο
του Σεξ»

Ακόμα και πριν ανοίξει τις πύλες του, το πρώτο θεματικό πάρκο για το σεξ στην Κίνα έχει προκαλέσει έντονες αντιδράσεις, κυρίως για τα μεγάλου μεγέθους γυμνά αγάλματα, τα ομοιώματα γεννητικών οργάνων, αλλά και το εργαστήρι τεχνικής για το σεξ.

"Η χώρα του έρωτα" θα αρχίσει να λειτουργεί τον Οκτώβριο στην Σονγκτσίνγκ της νοτιοδυτικής Κίνας, αλλά οι πολέμιοι του πάρκου ελπίζουν ότι αυτή η ημέρα δεν θα έρθει ποτέ, γράφει η αγγλόφωνη εφημερίδα China Daily.

Εκτός από μια έκθεση για την ιστορία της σεξουαλικότητας και τις ερωτικές τεχνικές, στο πάρκο εκτίθεται ένα τεράστιο γλυπτό που παριστάνει το κάτω μισό ενός γυναικείου σώματος σε μια στάση που, σύμφωνα με πολλούς, προκαλεί: πόδια ανοικτά και στρινγκ...Μάλιστα το γλυπτό αυτό βρίσκεται σε μια βάση που περιστρέφεται.

Ο διευθυντής του πάρκου Λου Σιαοτσίνγκ τόνισε πως "η χώρα του έρωτα" δημιουργήθηκε για το καλό του κόσμου, για να βοηθήσει τους ενήλικες να έχουν μια αρμονική σεξουαλική ζωή. "Το σεξ είναι ένα θέμα ταμπού στην Κίνα, όμως οι άνθρωποι έχουν πραγματικά ανάγκη από περισσότερες πληροφορίες για το θέμα αυτό", τόνισε ο Λου.

Αν βγάλατε εισιτήρια να επισκεφτείτε το πάρκο και ακυρώθηκαν, εδώ είναι η εξήγηση:

Love Land would have been the first sex theme park in China; the PRC Government suspended its construction in Chongqing in May 2009 and ordered it demolished. The park was to include displays of giant genitalia and naked bodies, and host an exhibition on the history of human sexuality along with sex technique workshops. It was originally due to be opened in October 2009, but was demolished in May 2009, as it was deemed to be a negative influence on Chinese society.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Land_(China)

 

[Costas]

Fish Habitat Near Collapse on China’s Upper Yangtze, Study Says (Bloomberg)

“We now use 60 percent less energy per unit of G.D.P. than we did in 1973,” explained the energy economist Philip Verleger. “If the trend continues, we will use half the energy per unit of G.D.P. in 2020 that we used in 2012. To make matters better, a large part of the energy used will be renewable. Then there is the increase in oil and gas production.” In 2006, the United States depended on foreign oil for 60 percent of its consumption. Today it’s about 36 percent. True, oil is a global market, so what happens in the Middle East can still impact us and our allies. But the urgency is gone. “The Middle East is China’s problem,” added Verleger. (NYT)

The death of independent cinema in China - Chinese independent cinema: an obituary (Time Out Beijing)

 

[Costas]

The Chinese Migrants Who Shocked Singapore: A WSJ Investigation (WSJ)
This story of a strike by Chinese bus drivers in Singapore offers a close-up look at a major issue facing the Southeast Asian city-state today: The growing number of migrant workers who underpin Singapore’s economy and the social tensions that their presence can generate.
What happened over two days in late November 2012 rattled the foundations of Singapore’s economic success – its business-friendly governance and industrial harmony – and prompted a robust response from the government.
The strike, a rarity in Singapore, resonated across Asia, where other countries are grappling with a growing dependence on foreign labor, too. And it provided a window into ordinary lives seldom-seen: the migrants who fan out from China in search of a fatter paycheck abroad.

 

[Costas]

Law Professor Suspended from Teaching for Pro-Constitutionalism Expressions (China Change)

Last September, Dr. Zhang was temporarily suspended from teaching his undergraduate courses for his support of Hong Kong students and parents fighting the implementation of the so-called “national education” course in Hong Kong schools. Subsequently, Dr. Zhang issued a statement withdrawing his CCP membership, saying that “due to differences in principles between myself and the Chinese Communist Party over the treatment of Marxism and the political future of China, I would be conflicted between my loyalty to the country and my loyalty to the Party if I continue to stay in the organization.”

Earlier this year, Dr. Zhang was among the first college professors to reveal “Seven No Mentions” (“七不讲”), instructions banning the teaching of universal values, press freedom, civil society, civil rights, CCP’s historical mistakes, oligarchical capitalism, and judiciary independence on college campuses.

 

[drsiebenmal]

Μεγάλης κλίμακας επίθεση κατά του κινεζικού Ίντερνετ

 

[Costas]

Αφαίρεσαν τα μάτια του μικρού - Έμποροι ανθρωπίνων οργάνων απήγαγαν εξάχρονο αγοράκι στην Κίνα (in.gr)

Στο ρεπορτάζ της τηλεόρασης μίλησαν και οι γονείς του παιδιού, που κατάγονται από φτωχή, αγροτική περιοχή. Αφηγήθηκαν ότι αρχικά νόμιζαν ότι το παιδί τους έπεσε και χτύπησε — μέχρι που αντιλήφθηκαν ότι του είχαν αφαιρεθεί και τα δύο μάτια. «Είχε αίματα σε όλο το πρόσωπο, τα βλέφαρά του ήταν γυρισμένα και από κάτω έλειπαν τα μάτια του», είπε ο πατέρας.
Αστυνομικοί εντόπισαν τους δύο οφθαλμούς από τους οποίους είχε αφαιρεθεί ο κερατοειδής χιτώνας. Η αστυνομία ανακοίνωσε ότι προσφέρει αμοιβή 100.000 γουάν (περίπου 12.200 ευρώ) σε όποιον μπορεί να βοηθήσει στον εντοπισμό μιας γυναίκας που θεωρείται βασική ύποπτη στην υπόθεση. Το παιδί έπασχε εκ γενετής από λαγωχειλία και ενδεχομένως αυτός να ήταν ο λόγος που το επέλεξαν οι απαγωγείς του.

 

[Costas]

Γενική σούμα της δίκης του Μπο Ξ(Σ)ιλάι, από τους δημοσιογράφους της Νew Υork Τimes: Political Staging in Trial of Fallen China Official

 

[Costas]

Άλλο ένα άρθρο για τη ματαίωση του Φεστιβάλ Ανεξάρτητου Σινεμά του Πεκίνου (το άλλο είναι στο νήμα για τον κινηματογράφο) (China Digital Times)


Police Break Up Beijing Independent Film Festival

The 10th Beijing Independent Film Festival (BIFF) was effectively cancelled on Friday according to Time Out Beijing’s Simon Zhou, who reported that police eventually made a deal with pleading festival director Wang Hongwei:

A deal had been struck. The directors, jury, and invited guests of the festival, among them those who had taken the train from Xinjiang or been flown in all the way from Sweden and Iran, would be handed out DVDs containing the entire programme of films. We would be permitted to watch them, on computer screens or televisions, in groups of two or three, but no more than five.

We would have to sign contracts promising to abide by these conditions, or face the consequences. If the organisers didn’t agree these conditions, and tried to go ahead with the festival anyway, the electricity from the entire village of Songzhuang would be cut, and Wang Hongwei would be put in prison. Fifteen years ago, Wang played the eponymous role in Jia Zhangke’s seminal film The Pickpocket (pictured). [Source]

Time Out Beijing added that festival goers experienced a similar disruption last year due to a sudden power outage:

This is, of course, a triumph for the authorities, for whom BIFF always looked too much like an uncontrollable hotbed of potential sedition: unapproved talk about unapproved films by unapproved persons. Last year’s mysterious power cut could theoretically have had the double result of breaking up the community while – being an act of god – ensuring that nobody could be blamed. The result, however, was that that same community pulled together, spreading the weight of the festival by screening films in homes, studios and other private spaces. [Source]

See netizen comments on last year’s power cut and Austin Ramzy’s report from 2011′s event via CDT.

At P.I.G. China, Samantha Culp outlined the careful preparations that had been taken in the hope that this year’s festival, unlike the last two, would be left alone:

This time around, the organizers have purchased an electric generator, but are also trying other strategies to help the events run smoothly. Screenings have been scheduled not only in Songzhuang, but in more central Beijing venues ranging from a hip Gulou cafe to 798’s Ullens Center for Contemporary Art. With a wider geographic scope, artistic director Dong Bingfeng hopes the festival can be protected from interference and “can attract audiences of different backgrounds”. The programmers have included two programs of films from outside China, namely Iran and Indonesia, to drive more international discourse, and the festival will also emphasize the importance of a counterintuitive platform for cinema – books. Several forums will center on the Li Xianting Film Foundation’s new publication initiative. “Over the past 20 years, mainland China has generated a lot of independent films, but there’s still a lack of theory and criticism about them,” says Dong. “This year we’ll premiere three new books as case-studies on the international film artists Yang Fudong, Tsai Ming-Liang and Raqs Media Collective.” [Source]

Art critic and BIFF funder Li Xianting had his film school, the Li Xianting film school, shut down by authorities earlier last month.
(...)

 

[Costas]

China orders nation’s journalists to take Marxism classes
China has ordered its entire press corps back to school in an effort to shore up ideological unity. The nation’s 307,000 reporters, producers and editors will soon have to sit through at least two days of Marxism classes, the Communist Party’s Propaganda Department has announced along with the press association and the state press regulator.
The announcement comes a week after Xi Jinping called for increased unity in a much publicised speech and amid a widening crackdown on online dissent. (South China Morning Post)

China sets down standards for Chinese characters
An official list standardizing the appearance of commonly used Chinese language characters has been published, the Ministry of Education revealed Tuesday.
The 8,105 characters included in the list were chosen based on their frequency of use from hundreds of thousands of characters that have emerged since ancient times, according to the expert team that compiled the list. (xinhua)

China’s Original Social Media: Bathroom Graffiti (Tea Leaf Nation)
The list, which took a decade to compile, aims to regulate the appearance of these characters, most notably in print form, and also adopts many rare characters that occasionally appear in names.