One of my favorite books for everyday living is Irma S. Rombauer's Joy of Cooking. The author's cheerful approach to her craft in the kitchen is similar to my jubilant upāya उपाय ("expedient pedagogical means; skill-in-means; skillful means" > fāngbiàn 方便 ["convenient"]) in the classroom. In my classes, especially Introduction to Literary Sinitic / Classical […]
I received the following letter and observations from the editor of a science journal: I am an editor of a scientific journal (Geophysical Journal International) andam writing to ask for a suggestion on communicating with some Chineseauthors on what I think is a linguistics issue. (I am also a long-term readerof Language Log, and have […]
[This is a guest post by Lizhou Sha] As a long-time reader and fan of Language Log, I'd like to call your attention to an unusual appearance of reconstructed historical Chinese pronunciations in the newly released Age of Empires IV, the latest of a popular real-time strategy (RTX) game series by Microsoft. I found an […]
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, […]
[This is a guest post by Denis Christopher Mair] Regular character versions of the Yijing (Classic / Book of Changes) use the character 旡 instead of 無 for wú ("none; no; not; nothing; nihility"). So 旡 is not really a simplified character. I have seen 旡 in Daoist contexts. The character 旡 evokes an atmosphere of […]
This one amounts to a Sinitic spoonerism. In his major July 1 speech celebrating the 100th anniversary of the CCP, Xi Jinping wanted to impress people with this set phrase: yízhǐqìshǐ 頤指氣使 / 颐指气使 lit. "chin / jaw / cheek — point out / at [with a finger] — haughty attitude / bearing — command […]
Tom Mazanec saw an announcement of a course in Hong Kong, in which the teacher, Dr. Lai Chi Fung 黎智豐, proposes to teach Classical Chinese by focusing on vocabulary for everyday use, just as if one were learning a foreign language. So you learn greetings, introductions, and the like. The idea intrigued Tom, especially since […]
After reading "Bad poetry, bad translation" (6/18/21), Zihan Guo wrote: Thank you for sharing this post. While reading it, its comments, and all the selected readings related to it, I could not help but feel that translating classical Chinese poetry is the way to make sure one really understands it. Back in middle school and […]
I recently got hold of an electronic copy of this book: Zhōngguó chuántǒng wénhuà guānjiàn cí (Hàn Yīng duìzhào) 中国传统文化关键词(汉英对照) (Key Terms of Traditional Chinese Culture / Key Concepts in Chinese Culture [original English title] [Chinese-English]) Beijing: Wàiyǔ jiàoxué yǔ yánjiū chūbǎn shè 2019 外语教学与研究出版社 2019 (Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2019) Here is […]
Just out, a stimulating new book from Brill (2020): Mareshi Saito. Kanbunmyaku: The Literary Sinitic Context and the Birth of Modern Japanese Language and Literature. Series: Language, Writing and Literary Culture in the Sinographic Cosmopolis, Volume: 2. Editors: Ross King and Christina Laffin; translators: Alexey Lushchenko, Mattieu Felt, Si Nae Park, and Sean Bussell From […]
[This is a guest post by Leanne Ogasawara] After reviewing David Hinton’s latest book, China Root, for the Asian Review of Books, a friend pointed me to this discussion at LL. I was so happy to see old friends (Hi Bathrobe!) and wanted to leave a comment. Sadly, because I was so late in the […]
The whole world knows about BLM (Black Lives Matter). Native speakers of English (at least American English — I can't vouch for other varieties) instinctively know what the innately idiomatic intransitive verb "matter" means in this construction. But, even for native speakers, it's not easy to define in one word. I suppose, in the expression […]