Have you tried the Google Translate app on your phone? It has a camera tool that automatically translates text that you point it to, but it looks like it needs some work for Mandarin… I tried to translate a bag of chinese rice crackers using google translate and these are some of the ingredients it […]
These days I'm getting so many greetings like this: Chūnjié jiànkāng, niú zhuǎn qiánkūn. 春节健康，牛转乾坤。 "May you be healthy at this time of the Spring Festival, when the ox turns heaven and earth (the universe)." The first part of this Lunar New Year's (February 12, 2021) greeting is transparent and easy to understand, but the […]
This has been making the rounds: 1. Go to Google Translate. 2. Set the input language to Spanish. 3. Paste in "soy milk" 4. Set the output language to English or X language. 5. Hilarity ensues. The obligatory screen shot:
The multilingual part of this message from the President of Taiwan comes near the end of this 2:26 Twitter video: Here’s my Lunar New Year message to the people of #Taiwan, my fellow Taiwanese living overseas, & everyone around the world celebrating this holiday, including our friends in Hong Kong. Take care & let’s turn […]
"Archaeologists Uncover 2,000-Year-Old Buddhist Site In Pakistan", by Neil Bowdler, Radio Mashaal (2/3/21). When I watched the embedded video in that article, it sounded to me as though the archeologists were speaking Urdu or something close to it (e.g., I heard them repeatedly use the word matlab مَطْلَب ["meaning; purpose; motive"; Hindi spelling मतलब]) and […]
Where is this picture from? I tried Google Image Search without useful results.
In the unlikely event that you've missed it — "The latest thing on Zoom meetings: A live goat": At this point in the pandemic, Zoom fatigue is universal. But one woman has a solution you never knew you needed: a live goat on the call. Cronkshaw Fold Farm in Lancashire, England, has been offering up […]
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[This is a guest post by Ross King, replying to "On the origin of the term 'hanzi'" (2/3/21)] This is very interesting. I am particularly pleased to see the caution against the term “Sinosphere.” In a related vein, and as a sort of teaser for the edited volume I am just now finishing (Ross King, […]
Marjorie Taylor Greene: "I was allowed to believe things that weren't true." This sentence deserves a place in the Museum of the Passive Voice. I'm honestly in awe of how MTG thought she could avoid any personal responsibility whatsoever *even for the thoughts in her head.* — Steve Silberman (@stevesilberman) February 6, 2021
[This is a guest post by Conal Boyce] The following was drafted as an Appendix to a project whose working title is "The Emperor's New Information" (after Penrose, The Emperor's New Mind). It's still a work-in-progress, so feedback would be welcome. For example: Are the two examples persuasive? Do they need technical clarification or correction? […]
From Tali Aronsky, a spokesperson at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem: While scientists and historians have long surmised that etchings on stones and bones have been used as a form of symbolism dating back as early as the Middle Paleolithic period (250,000-45,000 BCE), findings to support that theory are extremely rare. A recent discovery by […]
In Australia, anyhow — "The Macquarie Dictionary Word of the Decade winner is…", 2/4/2021: