Some things just don't stand up well to translation. Anyone who has read the Bible in Dutch may realize this. There are, never-the-less, a large number of key phrases which by all means must be traduced into other languages.
This way to the egress.
Keep away from children.
Don't eat this.
My hovercraft is full of eels.
That last one, in the original scriptural Greek, was "min luftkussenfartzug es fold med ale". It's the last thing that king Rehoboam of Judah said before syphilitic squamosis ripped him from the living.
Sometimes scripture drops a bomb.
I was reminded of this little fact when a customer of a coffee shop at which I enjoyed a delicious repast urgently wished to use the bathroom. Earlier I had seen an aged gentleman go in, but I had not yet seen him come out. The customer was baffled at the door not co-operating with his frantic yanking.
What I wished to say was "there's an old fossil in there, has been for at least ten minutes, no I don't know why, the best possible scenario is that he's fallen asleep, let us NOT discuss the worst possible scenarios, of which there are two, both equally bad. Are you sure you need to go?"
Unfortunately, my Cantonese is not fluent. I know, I really should do the research and construe the phrasing so that the very next time someone occupies the crapper overlong in another language I am not left hanging. For the benefit of my fellow man, as it were. One should always be helpful, and increase good in the world.
"That old wreck has been in there for twenty minutes at least! For the love of Christ, let's pray he hasn't had an episode! Or that we're long gone before emergency services opens that door!"
Or that he's crawled out of the window, because he wanted to take a shortcut, or he saw his ex-wife just enter this coffeeshop.
Look on the bright side!
Much of the classic movie 'The Big Lebowski' is like that.
The inherent welt-anschauung does not translate.
It elucidates primarily to Americans.
Everyone else is baffled.
Somewhat.
我哋聽日返嚟，切斷你嘅.....
[國：我們明天回來，切斷你的.....]
You know, for the life of me I have no idea how to suitably translate the term 'Johnson' as it is used in that scene with the marmot. The sound, connotations, context, hue, and mood of that word at that time shout volumes to native speakers of our language, along with the since then internalized phrase "no, Donny, these men are nihilists; there's nothing to be afraid of."
It's a locutionary Grand Canyon.
'Ngo-tei teng-yat faan-lei, chit-duen neige.....'
[Mandarin: Wǒmen míngtiān huílái, qiē-duàn nǐ de..... ]
"We tomorrow return-come, chop-separate your...."
Johnson?
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4 comments:
Finally visited Occidental. Once on Saturday and again yesterday (Monday) and planning to visit again tonight. During both visits I encountered pipe smokers, one a gentleman named Tom who apparently works at Telford's and another gentleman whose name has escaped me. We waxed on our mutual bemusement over tobacco snobs and then spoke like tobacco snobs ourselves.
Evette is a gem.
I wish Occidental sold pipe tobacco, however an absence of clientele would seem to preclude the logic of stocking any. I suppose I will have to visit The Humidor in the FiDi until I can make the trek to Mill Valley.
I was surprised that while you seem to be generally well-known to the patrons there, no one seems to have read your blog, which I have enjoyed quite a bit over the last few years. Perhaps I will run into you at some point.
Cheers,
- Myles
why do you never provide tones for cantonese, but always for mandarin?
"why do you never provide tones for cantonese, but always for mandarin?"
Largely because I never bothered to study the tones in Cantonese, secondarily because Google translate shows Mandarin pronunciation and tones whenever I paste the Chinese characters.
Of course, Google translate does a berserk job on Chinese meaning, veering into surreal gibberish.
Hi Myles,
I was there on Saturday evening. Which is one of my usual nights. Frequently I also go there on Thursdays. I'll see you there one of these days I'm sure.
Till then, I hope you continue to enjoy the place. There are some remarkable people who hang out there.
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