Search Results
September 4, 2022 @ 10:35 am
· Filed under Emojis and emoticons, Orthography, Writing, Writing systems
It'sssssssssssss finally out! ✨ The Hanmoji Handbook: Your Guide to the Chinese Language Though Emoji ✨ — by me, An Xiao Mina & @jenny8lee, published by @MITeenPress — appears in bookshops across the US and Canada today! pic.twitter.com/sTkudPAwxb — Jason Li (@jasonli) August 30, 2022
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May 14, 2022 @ 11:16 pm
· Filed under Language and food
Ingenious menu on the window of a restaurant: (source)
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May 8, 2022 @ 6:24 pm
· Filed under Language and medicine, Language and politics, Language and technology
As seen on Weibo: Shanghai residents go to their balconies to sing & protest lack of supplies. A drone appears: “Please comply w covid restrictions. Control your soul’s desire for freedom. Do not open the window or sing.” https://t.co/0ZTc8fznaV pic.twitter.com/pAnEGOlBIh — Alice Su 蘇奕安 (@aliceysu) April 6, 2022
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March 19, 2022 @ 2:00 pm
· Filed under Semantics, Writing systems
New article in the Wall Street Journal: "‘The Greatest Invention’ Review: Written communication was a remarkable breakthrough, made in many different places and at different times." By Felipe Fernández-Armesto, WSJ (March 11, 2022) There are a number of assumptions and speculations packed into just this title. When we look at the book itself, we find far […]
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January 23, 2022 @ 8:51 pm
· Filed under Diglossia and digraphia, Emojis and emoticons, Information technology, Language and computers, Language teaching and learning, Typing, Writing systems
Trying to clear up the confusion between the two is a battle we have been waging for decades, and nowhere is the problem more severe than in the study of Sinitic languages and the Sinographic script. The crisis (not a "danger + opportunity"!) has come to the surface again this month with the appearance of […]
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December 29, 2021 @ 4:35 pm
· Filed under Censorship, Language and politics, Language on the internets
Even those who are not China watchers will remember the savage satire directed against the pathetic River Crab (= Harmonious Society) and the Grass-Mud Horse (= *uck your mother"). There's always something the censors have to block on the Chinese internet. It wouldn't be the Chinese internet if a large part of it were not […]
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December 8, 2021 @ 9:48 pm
· Filed under Censorship, Language on the internets
Because of the scandal surrounding the illicit, involuntary relationship between female tennis star, Peng Shuai 彭帅, and top CCP official, Zhang Gaoli 张高丽, which became a hot button issue around the world beginning about a month ago, the Chinese government went into overdrive to censor all trace of it from the internet (see here). The […]
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December 2, 2021 @ 1:05 pm
· Filed under Borrowing, Language and fashion
When I first mentioned this remarkable video on Language Log nine years ago, it was buried in this post, "The Westernization of Chinese" (9/6/12), under "this phenomenal video". I always regretted that I didn't make it more accessible (didn't know how to post YouTubes directly back then), so now here is Miss Lin in all […]
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November 11, 2021 @ 9:33 am
· Filed under Signs, Style and register, Translation
From an anonymous colleague:
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September 25, 2021 @ 8:59 am
· Filed under Alphabets, Language and entertainment, Language and music, Writing systems
My first acquaintance with the word "karaoke" was back in the 1980s, when I was visiting my brother Denis, who was then a translator for Foreign Languages Press in Beijing. He lived in the old Russian-built Friendship Hotel, a very spartan place compared to today's luxury accommodations in big Chinese cities. There wasn't much unusual, […]
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July 27, 2021 @ 12:39 pm
· Filed under Language and computers, Writing systems
Phil H wrote these comments to "Uncommon words of anguish" (7/18/21): The anguish is very real. My wife had a character in her name that most computers will not reproduce ([石羡]), despite it being relatively common in names in our part of the world, and has been refused bank accounts, credit cards, and a mortgage […]
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July 23, 2021 @ 5:46 am
· Filed under Linguistics in the comics
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October 24, 2020 @ 7:49 pm
· Filed under Diglossia and digraphia, Reconstructions, Transcription
With notes on 兑, 說 / 説, 悦, 銳, 脱. From Stephen Tschudi: A colleague was watching a tuōkǒu xiù 脱口秀 ("talk show") online today, and was shocked when a well-known actress did not pronounce "duìxiàn 兑现" (vb. "cash [a check]; fulfill / honor [a promise / commitment]") correctly. She was even more shocked when, in the […]
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