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Janet Williams L197 R02 tutor

What's a Daigou?

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Edited by Janet Williams, Saturday, 29 Oct 2016, 10:03

BBC reported an industry in Australia - Daigou. Chinese people buying products from Australia, and selling them to clients back in China.

These agents are called Daigou. In Chinese, Daigou is written as: 代购 Dàigòu

代: means to replace, to represent.

购 is a formal word for 'to buy' 买 (mǎi).

Daigou news China BBC

Shopping in Australia, while in China - BBC News

Early this year, I also read about this interesting news: Family Business Sells Bottled Air To China

Professor Victor Mair has this brilliant analysis on Language Log: Daigou: a Mandarin borrowing-in-progress in English
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Janet Williams L197 R02 tutor

美国 America

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Edited by Janet Williams, Monday, 24 Oct 2016, 10:29

Yesterday I came across a mistranslation.

The Traditional Chinese text says "Beauty is a form of release' (in Simplified Chinese: 美是一种释放), but look at the tragic English translation on Facebook: "America is a kind of release"!

However I know how the mistake was made.

USA: 美国 Měiguó
Beauty: 美 Měi

mistranslation

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Janet Williams L197 R02 tutor

Bob Dylan

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Edited by Janet Williams, Saturday, 15 Oct 2016, 15:56

Ladies and gentlemen, just to say these translated names refer to the same person.

  • (In Taiwan) 鮑勃迪倫 Bào bó dí lún
  • (In China) 巴布迪伦 Bā bù dí lún
  • (In Hong Kong, Malaysia) 卜迪倫 Bo dí lún
  • (Also in Hong Kong) 卜戴倫 Bo dài lún
Bob Dylan



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Janet Williams L197 R02 tutor

Trending in China: BBC - iPhone 7?

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Edited by Janet Williams, Thursday, 6 Oct 2016, 14:35

BBC Trending published a very interesting article: iPhone 7? You're fired! - BBC News


A firm, Yongkang Medicine Company in Nanyang, Henan (河南) province of China, issued a notice to its workers telling them not to buy the iPhone 7 or Iphone 7 Plus. "If you break this rule, then just come to the office straight way to hand in your resignation," the notice read.

Most newspapers don't seem to report what the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th paragraphs said.

BBC news China iPhone Henan province

I've translated them. See below:

 "Dear employees, if we are well off, and if we are financially capable, we should pay more attention to the health of our parents, care more about the upbringing of our children, value more about the preciousness of life, and care more about the prosperity or destruction of our nation. Only when we contribute for these will our happiness last. Please do not toil for luxury that only drains our sweat from hard work."

“This is the unforgettable day for all Chinese people - the 18th of September (Note: the date refers to Mukden Incident - Wikipedia). Don’t forget the humiliation of our nation. Let’s remember our history. Boycott foreign products and let’s start from ourselves.”

“Though we can’t protect our country by going to the battlefields, we strive to do our best with dedication to do our job well. In our everyday life, we should boycott vehemently Japanese and American products. We should use our action to protect our national products. Only when we have a country will we have our home."
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Janet Williams L197 R02 tutor

Translation: Machine translation is just a bad idea

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Edited by Janet Williams, Saturday, 17 Sep 2016, 23:48

Returning from Cornwall during the spring holiday, I noticed a notice board at a train station.

The message is about 'Unattended Luggage', and the message is translated into 6 languages, including Chinese.

The Chinese translation doesn't make sense, as it's a literal translation.

I have a feeling the Chinese text is machine translated, as it smells like one.

I can't verify if other languages (French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese) in this notice make sense, or if they are correctly translated.

As a good citizen, I informed Great Western Railway, and got a 'thank you and we'll look into it' reply.

Unattended luggage translation Great Western Train station

I shared this sign with Language Log, a site for languages and linguistics, and the blog post has attracted more than 30 comments.

Language Log by Prof V Mair: Unattended luggage
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