May 18, 2008

A Little Boy's Birthday

Today is my godson's 4th birthday.  I just got off the phone with him, and boy is he wound up!

My godson is half Chinese Singaporean, and half American.  His parents want him to learn Chinese, but it is hard for him to do so, not having the environment in the US.  Of course, the younger that he can learn it the better, so they try to find various methods to teach him.

His favorite so far is a cartoon about an American born Chinese boy.  He's picked up a number of phrases from the show, and especially loves to tell me, "Tai bang le!"  ("That's great/cool!")  

A few weeks ago, he was pretty cute.  I was on skype chatting with him, and it started raining where he was.  He told me, "It's raining," and I asked if he knew how to say that in Chinese.  He couldn't remember, so I told him, and he repeated it.  After a few seconds, he said, "Can you please ask me how to say 'umbrella' in Chinese now?"  When I did, he went about the house dancing and repeating "yu san," quite pleased with himself for knowing the answer to my question.


Posted by poetically challenged at 00:03:45 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

May 12, 2008

Deadly Delicious

Francis Ng and Yu Nan star in Deadly Delicious, a story about a man who cheats on his wife... and gets poisoned.

The film has a nice narrative structure.  It's not necessarily the best story I've ever seen, but it was told nicely, and I enjoyed that.  It is not an entirely linear structure, and that really adds to the interest of the movie.  It unfolds as you watch, rather than simply being placed before you.

The imagery connected to food and nourishment is very nicely put together.  Especially well done is how that notion of nourishment is shown to be closer than we often thing to poisoning.  It makes for a fun watch to consider this juxtaposition.
Posted by poetically challenged at 23:08:15 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

May 07, 2008

A Day in Shanghai

I wrote this "wenzhang" several weeks ago.  I think it is still the one that I am most pleased with, despite the fact that I've written half a dozen or so more since then.

The subject assigned was "A Day in Shanghai."

上海的一天

上海是一个非常繁华的城市。上海的人很多；到处都是人山人海。不习惯住大城市的人，如果第一次到上海，可能会觉得有一点不舒服。习惯住大城市的人会特别喜欢上海。

上海清晨的时候，路上的人已经很多了。学生们都去上学，大人们都去上班。从六点到十点，车上的人，地铁上的人，骑车的人，走路的人都很多。坐公交车的话，有时很难挤上去，肯定没有位子坐。走路也要挤来挤去，因为有太多人在走路。路边也有很多卖早餐的小摊。很多顾客买早饭时，会挡路。路边卖的早饭又便宜又好吃；难怪这么多人很愿意买。

十点以后，车上，地铁上的人才少了一点。十一点左右路上的人又多起来，因为吃午饭的时间到了。去哪儿吃都很难找位子。无论是去很贵的餐馆吃饭还是去吃很便宜的一碗面，都不容易找一个安静的地方。要等到一点多，人家都回办公室以后，才能看到一些人不太多的餐馆。

黄昏的时候，路上仍然有很多人，尤其是靠近学校的马路。如果路过一所小学的校门口，会看到很多老人在等孙子孙女放学。如果是中学的校门口，路上都是学生。他们最喜欢一边慢慢地走路一边大声地说话。碰见一大堆学生一边走路一边聊天，才知道”热闹“是什么。

晚上时，路上的人一般不是老人，也不是学生，而是刚刚下班的人。下班以后，上海人很喜欢和朋友一起去吃饭。所有的餐馆里都坐满了人。他们都穿得很漂亮，吃得很起劲，谈得很开心。

半夜的时候，上海的路上人才少了一些。在这方面，上海不像纽约，洛杉矶，或美国其它的大城市。这些地方半夜才热闹起来。上海半夜时，除了酒吧和便利店，整个城市都会睡觉了。在上海，只有大概晚上十二点到早上五六点才能看到空空的马路。

上海虽然是个非常热闹的城市，可是也有安静的时候。
Posted by poetically challenged at 12:27:54 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

May 03, 2008

E-books and Traditional Books

The topic I was given for my seventh assignment was "E-books vs. Traditional Books."  The question set for me was, "Do you think that e-books will replace the present format of books?"

My answer is below:

电子书会代替现在的书呢？

在我看来， 电子书和传统书各有优略。暂时前者不会代替后者。

纸质书即使看很久，眼睛也不会累。纸和墨的工艺已经很成熟了，所以先在纸书的品质很好。要在书上记笔记也很方便。可是传统书也有不好的地方。纸书很容易被损坏；比如被淋湿，被撕破等等，那样的话，书就不好用了。

电子书不会那么容易被坏损，即使坏了的话，只要在下载就可以了。电子书也没有纸那么重；去哪里都可以带很多本。可是他的坏处是电子书的技术现在还不是很发达。看电子书，眼睛容易累；在书上做笔记也不太方便。所以只有电子书的技术先熟起来，才能逐渐替代传统书。

总之电子书和纸书各有千秋，我认为电子书短时间不会代替纸书。将来肯定会有越来越多的电子书出现，可是纸书仍然会发挥作用。电子书只不过是给我们了一种选择。



Posted by poetically challenged at 14:37:18 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

May 02, 2008

Translation

Since I have been taking my most recent language course, I have been constantly reminded that there is much more to translation than simply being fluent in two different languages.  Language carries more than simply the bald definitions of words; it also expresses our culture, our thinking, and some things that might often feel like they are inexpressible.   Somehow, we manage to capture all of this in words, and in this way, words are loaded with more than just the meanings you find in a dictionary.  Translation is very much an art, and not so much a science.

New York based Eriksen Translations is a professional translation service that seems to have a very good grasp of this difference.  They offer excellent professional language translation, along with various other services.  The level of excellence in their translation work reflects their understanding of the need for more than just a good bilingual dictionary when translating.  It also requires a good understanding of the cultures in which the languages live.

Eriksen offers translation and interpretation, as well as other helpful services like cultural consulting, terminology management, and multilingual media services.  They have multilingual services in more than 100 languages, and ranging over a wide spectrum of fields.

I am currently working on an essay for my Chinese class about the difficulties of translation.  The topic is the relationship between culture and language, and how language is more than just a container of definitions, but it is the means by which we express everything that we know and experience.  That being the case, translating from one language to another is quite a tricky business.  I have a lot of admiration for the work done by Eriksen Translations.  It is certainly no easy task.
Posted by poetically challenged at 10:00:31 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

May 01, 2008

Spring Time in Shanghai

alt : http://www.youtube.com/v/6DQ8OJh_JQU&hl=en
Posted by poetically challenged at 12:06:59 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |