Featured Post
Beijing advice on looking good for the Olympics [snip] “Don’t ask foreigners their age, marital status, income, past experience, address, personal life, religious beliefs or political beliefs, it says.” By “personal life” we assume that they mean “sex”. I wonder what people in China (or Taiwan) for that matter, think of such advice. Could be along the lines [...]
Effectiveness of evaluating translation quality through trial translations
Generally speaking, here at Pristine Communications we find that “trial translations” are not necessarily an effective means of evaluating the quality of a translation agency’s work. Much of our work is online, and a better example of the breadth and depth of our capabilities. For individual translators with a limited portfolio of work, however, trial [...]
Urban Irving
A very large Ferris Wheel at the southern end of Shanghai. Dusty Venus — most of the dust is a result of construction/demolition. This little boy was making so much noise that at first I thought his life was in danger, but he was simply one of those kids who is very loud while having a [...]
Sexist nature of the Chinese language?
It’s not surprising to me that the Chinese language exhibits sexist attitudes towards women, given the historically dominant patriarchal family structure in China. http://www.chinasmack.com/stories/sexist-chinese-characters-discriminate-against-women/
To A Small Town In Eastern Gansu
The typhoon that tried to dissolve Taiwan is now in Nanjing, washing the city in a manner that is downright obsessive/compulsive. Even this far inland, the wind is strong enough to overturn a baby carriage. I care enough about you to hope that you are not out there tonight pushing a baby around Nanjing. Escape from [...]
User-generated translations making world’s news available in Chinese
This interview at Danwei with Jiamin, the founder of Yeeyan, on his work with The Guardian, publishing books and the facts of translation provides some insight into how Chinese readers learn of world news and events. Doing our best to choose articles and reports based on facts: Yeeyan and translation
Asides
- Although Lohas is the consumer-friendly soft-sell version of social and environmental responsible living, the Chinese 樂活 often completely ditches the pesky environmental consciousness usually attached to the Lohas mindset. Although dedicated Chinese Lohas/樂活 sites still attach some importance to green consumption and living, when referred to by more mainstream media, especially lifestyle product advertisers, the term 樂活 more often than not just connotes "good living" without any of the socially progressive baggage. With slow living having established the similar conceptual construct of 慢活, 樂活 was ripe for the 'if it feels good do it" kind of marketing. Come to think of it, that's kind of happened with Lohas as well... #
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This is where Pristine people sound off on the cool, quirky, frustrating, and inspirational world around us from a distinctly cultural and linguistic perspective.
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