[quote=“Chris”][quote=“Dragonbones”]Here are some more:
台客 Tai2ke4[/quote]
I’ll take this one: “Taiwanese redneck”! Betel nut chawin’, Whisbih sippin’, Long Life smokin’, blue truck drivin’, flip-flop wearin’, Taiyu drawlin’ hick from the South![/quote]
That’s typical of you Taiwan-hating superiorist stereotyping Westerners. I believe Taike can also include the white souped-up Solio drivin’, hardcore techno listenin’, Special K takin’, Taiyu drawlin’ youngsters from all over the island. 
I’ve taken to calling American hicks “mei3ke4”. I have no idea whether anyone actually understands me, though. 
OK, Taffy, do you want to tackle one of these challenges?
[quote=“Taffy”][quote=“Chris”][quote=“Dragonbones”]Here are some more:
台客 Tai2ke4[/quote]
I’ll take this one: “Taiwanese redneck”! Betel nut chawin’, Whisbih sippin’, Long Life smokin’, blue truck drivin’, flip-flop wearin’, Taiyu drawlin’ hick from the South![/quote]
That’s typical of you Taiwan-hating superiorist stereotyping Westerners. I believe Taike can also include the white souped-up Solio drivin’, hardcore techno listenin’, Special K takin’, Taiyu drawlin’ youngsters from all over the island. [/quote]
Better include both, just for the sake of accuracy and completeness…heck, we get paid by the target count word, right??
Me? I am but an ant labouring in the foothills of the evil that is Mandarin Chinese. Having said that, I see Dragonbones slipped a couple of easy ones in there for us novices…
Taike - could be many different things depending on the context. As it’s dependent for its meaning on a whole raft of cultural knowledge, obviously it’s difficult to translate accurately. If you’re dealing with an English speaking audience familiar with Taiwan, then I would capitalise the pinyin and use it just like that - Taike. For general consumption it really depends on the tone of the piece. The problem is that the potential English translations also carry a lot of cultural baggage that distorts the intended meaning. I think in most cases the best way would be to use a compound like “Taiwanese hick”, but it still leaves a lot to be desired. Then for your scooter punk or wannabe gangster you’d need to find a different translation - something like the UK usage of “wide boy” to imply someone a little bit on the illegal side without being a major criminal (plus the additional meanings of dangerous driving and horrible fashion sense). Then there is the more recent “reclaimed” meaning of self-identification by those youngsters who are strongly in favour of Hoklo culture. In this case, although something like “nativist” sounds too academic, I can’t think of a better way to say it at the moment. Once again, cultural terms are often the most difficult to translate.
38 - again, seems to have different meanings in different contexts. For a girl it could be “ditzy” (again American, not “world” English) or “air-head(ed)”. I’ve also heard it used for effeminate men and as it’s slang a reasonable translation might be “camp”.
When I sit around at home in my boxers watching the football, listening to Led Zeppelin and drinking Boddingtons (they have it in 7-11 now - oh, the bliss!), my better half always refers to me as “Ingke”. 
I just call her “Taimei” and that shuts her up pretty quick. 
Translation paid by source character count:
因為 = “because”
Translation paid by target word count:
因為 = “in light of the fact that”
What do the rest of you think of “38”? Dragonbabe hurls it all the time, anytime something is silly, foolish, nutty, goofy or over the top. If I start doing a goofy little dance as I walk down the hallway, or suddenly start singing “Fish Heads”, I’ll get called sanba. I guess that’s in the ‘camp’ range, but we don’t say “you’re so camp!”. I’ll go for “[color=blue]silly, foolish, nutty, goofy[/color] or [color=blue]over the top[/color]”. 
Let me tackle this one
緣份 yuan2fen4: karmic bond, karmic affinity (or just “karma” for short).
A: Traci and I are so in love. It’s like we’re made for each other!
B: It must be karma!
In Taiwan, outside of a Buddhist context, this term is often used within the context of romantic love. In conversations like the above, we might use “destiny” in this context.
Unlike “destiny”, “yuan fen” implies that the two of you had a relationship in a past life, and were brought together again due to some kind of incompleteness in the past life. This is true in Buddhism, but it does not necessarily have to do with romantic love in this case. It means that two people are brought together to resolve a karmic debt that occurred in a previous life.
緣 is the Chinese Buddhist rendering of the Sanskrit “pratyaya” (“condition”), which is an ancillary cause or necessary condition needed for the cause (因) to bring about an effect (果). E.g., electricity causes a light bulb to light up, but a closed circuit is a condition to bring about the effect.
份 is “status”.
Other words for karma, used in various contexts:
因果 (cause and effect)
因果報應 (karmic retribution)
因緣 (cause and condition)
業 (works, deeds - the Chinese Buddhist rendering of the Sanskrit “karma”)
What do the rest of you think of “38”? Dragonbabe hurls it all the time, anytime something is silly, foolish, nutty, goofy or over the top. If I start doing a goofy little dance as I walk down the hallway, or suddenly start singing “Fish Heads”, I’ll get called sanba. I guess that’s in the ‘camp’ range, but we don’t say “you’re so camp!”. I’ll go for “[color=blue]silly, foolish, nutty, goofy[/color] or [color=blue]over the top[/color]”. [/quote]
Actually, that’s a fair point. I’ve heard it in the more restricted meaning of “camp”, but also in a broader sense of “off your rocker”. So I’d include both. 
What do the rest of you think of “38”? Dragonbabe hurls it all the time, anytime something is silly, foolish, nutty, goofy or over the top. If I start doing a goofy little dance as I walk down the hallway, or suddenly start singing “Fish Heads”, I’ll get called sanba. I guess that’s in the ‘camp’ range, but we don’t say “you’re so camp!”. I’ll go for “[color=blue]silly, foolish, nutty, goofy[/color] or [color=blue]over the top[/color]”. [/quote]
I get it too. I see it as meaning “silly” or “goofy” when women call their men “38”. But when applied to women it often means “ditzy” or “airheaded”, so it seems.
By the way, the ruins of St. Paul’s Cathedral in Macao are called 大三巴 by the Chinese. This seems to elicit the occasional giggle from Taiwanese tourists.
Translation paid by source character count:
因為 = “because”
Translation paid by target word count:
因為 = “in light of the fact that”[/quote]
:bravo:
Fresh out of university I worked as a German-English translator and companies would always try to stiff you by offering you the “source rate”. Compound nouns in German are the killler:
[ul]Lieblingsfreizeitfreiluftbeschäftigungen - favourite open-air free time activities
Schlussergebniserklärung - explanation of the final result
Rheindampfschifffahrtsgesellschaftskapitänsstellvertreter - Rhine Steamship Company’s vice-captain
[/ul]
For C-to-E, the source rate (per Chinese character) is better than the target rate (per English word) by about 50%, at least for modern “baihua” text. I’ve looked at samples of my translations and found that 1000 characters comes to between 650 and 670 English words. A lot of this is due to compound words and redundancies in the Chinese.
OK! Here’s one:
人文
There’s the dictionary definition, and then there’s the (questionable?) way people seem to use it in ordinary writing.
I’ve only seen it in the context of “humanities”. 
That’s how I’ve always regarded it, until I noticed there’s seemingly a recent trend to use it as a synonym for 文化 (culture).
Example: “Although I have never been to the US, I am confident that I will be able to adapt quickly to the American environment and 人文.”
Here, “culture” makes better sense than “humanities”. A year ago I never noticed this usage, but now it seems to be everywhere.
That strikes me as odd.
What, still no takers on 緣分 yuan2fen4, 撒嬌 sa3jiao1, or 吃豆腐 chi1 dou4fu? These are relatively easy ones. 
No takers on 隸定 li4ding4?
Here’s a new one: 流落 liu2luo4, as in 禮縣出土有銘銅器皆為盜掘品，[color=red]流落[/color]海外.
And I’m currently trying to figure out “點校本” dian3 jiao4 ben3, as in 《史記‧秦始皇本紀》（北京：中華書局[color=red]點校本[/color]），頁285。 :help:
[quote=“Dragonbones”]That strikes me as odd.
What, still no takers on 緣分 yuan2fen4, 撒嬌 sa3jiao1, or 吃豆腐 chi1 dou4fu? These are relatively easy ones.
No takers on 隸定 li4ding4?[/quote]
Hey, I did 緣分 (yuan2fen4) already! Take a look!
撒嬌 (sa3jiao1) means something like “act like a spoiled child to get one’s way”. Any more succinct way of putting it?
吃豆腐 (chi1 dou4fu) - doesn’t that mean “flirt aggressively”?
Oh, so you did! I missed that post, sorry. That was a great post, btw! 
Another option is ‘predestined affinity’, although that reads more like a dictionary definition. Or “it was written in the stars”, “it was in the cards” – basically, anything destiny related.
to act pettish, to suck up to, to butter sb. up?
Yup, although it’s often used in situations where the flirting isn’t really so aggressive. I like “to coquet” (from French coqueter, to flirt like a cock), too, although it’s not well known enough.
[quote=“Dragonbones”]
Yup, although it’s often used in situations where the flirting isn’t really so aggressive. I like “to coquet” (from French coqueter, to flirt like a cock), too, although it’s not well known enough.[/quote]
This term mostly applies to men, often implying that the man in question have something to gain at the expense of a woman. When used with women, it’s often 被吃豆腐 that’s being used. You can see examples in newspapers (entertainment section) where so-and-so female star 被吃豆腐, meaning she was probably on the losing end of some unwanted advance.
How about “come on strong”?