Chinese translator Hai Cheng shows a new Chinese character, graphically depicting a nasty Spanish phrase. Not sure if this article is a joke or not:
In a desperate attempt to adapt to Spanish culture and language, Chinese immigrants have found it necessary to create a new character to represent, via an unique pictogram, the Spanish expression “I shit in your mother’s fucking skull son of a bitch come here if you have balls so I can break your fucking face”.
The new sign, which has required five months of work and the supervision of the best Chinese linguists, has been presented to the press at the Confucius Institute in Barcelona.
“The first character signifies ‘in the ass’ and comes from the ideogram which signifies ‘fuck you’, to which were later added some strokes signifying ‘you have no balls’ and ‘I’m going to kill you’,” explained translator Hai Cheng to the press, pointing out the various aspects of the new pictogram and recognizing that many aspects were lost in translation. The symbol “is not able to embody on paper the authentic threat which is represented by a phrase so complex and full of subtleties as ‘I shit in your mother’s fucking skull son of a bitch come here if you have balls so I can break your fucking face’.”
These works of translation and representation in Chinese of Spanish expressions will allow Chinese immigrants to communicate in their own language phrases which can be heard every day in Spain. “Many of these Chinese citizens go back to their country of origin having learned very long phrases which, in the majority of cases, represent insults or bad-sounding expressions and which, right now, Chinese language and culture are unable to assimilate normally,” the expert explained.
The Confucius Institute announced that now they will begin translation work to find a pictogram which signifies “I will slap the shit out of you so hard, your teeth will do motocross”.
Translation mine.
I don’t doubt that Chinese immigrants have a tougher time than most adapting to Spanish language and culture (and they probably face quite a bit of unsubtle racism, too). But I also can’t help laughing…and wondering if these characters for ugly talk are some kind of a leg-pull. Can anyone help me out here?
Es una parodia. Chinese characters aren’t actually ideograms, they stand for syllables. (technically they’re morphosyllables)
When words are borrowed into the language they don’t make up new characters, they use the existing ones. Since every syllable has a way to pronounce it, as well as some sort of meaning, there are basically two choices: characters with the same pronunciation, or characters with the same meaning.
It’s pretty hard to translate ‘fuck’. Here’s a good link
Ah, that makes sense. I suspected this was a joke, and now I have proof. I guess the “finger-flip under the anus” glyph should have been a dead giveaway. That’s not Chinese…
My dear Sabina,
You know, behind every parody, there’s a grain of truth. This has got to be a parody, but humour me here:
The peninsular Spanish (not the NewWorlders, who cling to a 16th century religiosity from Hell), are famously sacrilegeous.
Here’s what I mean: I have a Valencian friend that when we’re watching soccer game, instead of saying “wow” or “gee,” will say “¡Me cago en Dios!¨or “I shit on God!,” or “¡Me cago en la puta!,” or “I shit on the whore!,” and I’m like, what did she ever do to you?
That would never come out of my mouth because I’m Luso-Brazilian. The most you will ever here me say is “Vai pra puta que o pariu!,” literally: “Go to the whore that bore you,” which is the equivalent of F! you!
But that is very funny. I concur with the rest that it must, by rights, be a scherzo–albeit, a pretty funny one. But not far from the mark, since the Spanish and the French and the Italians can get pretty down to brass tacks.
I particularly like the French phrase, which I will leave untranslated here–you are free to Google it–“Va te faire voir chez les Grecs!” LOL!!!
That last one I reserve for the Pig Man!
Salut!