#classicalchinese — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #classicalchinese, aggregated by home.social.
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Useless Facts, Badly Drawn #507: Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den.
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#poetry #tonguetwisters #comics #literature #china #classicalchinese #language #webcomics #funfacts #facts #uselessfactsbadlydrawn -
“Confucius Gets Rekt By A Child,” a blatantly apocryphal anecdote but I do love glimpses into ancient childhood:
Once, they say, while Confucius was traveling with his disciples, they came across some children building a big sand castle right in the middle of the road. The children all scattered when they saw the oncoming carriage, except for one: Xiang Tuo, the smartest little boy in the world.
The driver hurriedly stopped the carriage and demanded to know why this little boy would not get out of the way. Xiang Tuo answered: “You approach my moats! Now tell me, do carriages go around castles, or are castles supposed to get out of the way of carriages?”
After getting a good look at the “castle,” Confucius chuckled. “Oh, what a clever child! I see you are wiser than most, so how about a little wager, some honest fun between young and old. I pose a riddle, you pose a riddle, the winner becomes the teacher and the loser becomes the disciple.”
“It’s a deal!”
Confucius asked: “How many stars are in the sky, how many grains grow upon the earth, how many hairs are in your eyebrows?”
Xiang Tuo answered “One skyful of stars, one cropsful of grains, one faceful of hairs. Now, sir, riddle me this: what water has no fish? What fire has no smoke? What tree has no leaf, and what flower has no stem?”
Confucius answered: “Every river, lake and sea has fish. All firewood gives off smoke when it burns. Whoever has seen a tree with no leaves, or a flower with no stem?”
Beaming, Xiang Tuo explained: “There’s no fish in a well. There’s no smoke coming off a firefly. Dead trees don’t have leaves! And snowflakes (‘snow flowers’) don’t have stems.”
Confucius conceded that the child was now his teacher, but Xiang Tuo asked if he could wash his hands off first before all this teaching stuff.
Translation mine, based on the version found in a book about the Three Character Classic by Hu Yuanyuan. (There are many variations of the story.) Art by Wang Lumin
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The Three Character Classic (a poem for ancient Chinese children to memorize important facts by rhyme) was expanded a few times over the centuries to add new dynasties. The last such addition is: “And then the Qing seized the Mandate and rebalanced the four corners of the earth. There, that’s all of history, you’re all caught up on the drama, the end.”
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夫市之无虎明矣，然而三人言而成虎。
“That there are no tigers in the marketplace is a given, but if three people say ‘tiger!,’ then a tiger pops into existence” (in the mind of the listener) — Han Feizi’s version of the boy who cried wolf
my first-pass glossing is rather idiosyncratic — 夫 is “hwæt” and 矣 is (modern Mandarin) 了 because that’s easier and clearer than trying to map it to a specific English morpheme
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@0xabad1dea you very well pass what a good translation needs to be. My reference in that domain is Patrick Couton https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Couton
He has a really awesome talent to find the correct French image, the correct french similar sounding location, the correct slang. Exactly what you explain with your color and stars etc.
It's just amazing.And so Pratchett will remain one of the English author I prefer to read in my own mother tongue 🤷
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@0xabad1dea you very well pass what a good translation needs to be. My reference in that domain is Patrick Couton https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Couton
He has a really awesome talent to find the correct French image, the correct french similar sounding location, the correct slang. Exactly what you explain with your color and stars etc.
It's just amazing.And so Pratchett will remain one of the English author I prefer to read in my own mother tongue 🤷
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@0xabad1dea you very well pass what a good translation needs to be. My reference in that domain is Patrick Couton https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Couton
He has a really awesome talent to find the correct French image, the correct french similar sounding location, the correct slang. Exactly what you explain with your color and stars etc.
It's just amazing.And so Pratchett will remain one of the English author I prefer to read in my own mother tongue 🤷
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@0xabad1dea you very well pass what a good translation needs to be. My reference in that domain is Patrick Couton https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Couton
He has a really awesome talent to find the correct French image, the correct french similar sounding location, the correct slang. Exactly what you explain with your color and stars etc.
It's just amazing.And so Pratchett will remain one of the English author I prefer to read in my own mother tongue 🤷
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@0xabad1dea you very well pass what a good translation needs to be. My reference in that domain is Patrick Couton https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Couton
He has a really awesome talent to find the correct French image, the correct french similar sounding location, the correct slang. Exactly what you explain with your color and stars etc.
It's just amazing.And so Pratchett will remain one of the English author I prefer to read in my own mother tongue 🤷
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I wrote up my personal philosophy on translating ancient texts, as informed by being raised in a religious environment that had a very unhealthy relationship to its texts. https://xn--hmr.net/classicalchinese/translationphilosophy/
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I wrote up my personal philosophy on translating ancient texts, as informed by being raised in a religious environment that had a very unhealthy relationship to its texts. https://xn--hmr.net/classicalchinese/translationphilosophy/
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I wrote up my personal philosophy on translating ancient texts, as informed by being raised in a religious environment that had a very unhealthy relationship to its texts. https://xn--hmr.net/classicalchinese/translationphilosophy/
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I wrote up my personal philosophy on translating ancient texts, as informed by being raised in a religious environment that had a very unhealthy relationship to its texts. https://xn--hmr.net/classicalchinese/translationphilosophy/
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I wrote up my personal philosophy on translating ancient texts, as informed by being raised in a religious environment that had a very unhealthy relationship to its texts. https://xn--hmr.net/classicalchinese/translationphilosophy/
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穷则独善其身， 达则兼济天下
When you are poor, take care of your soul; when you are rich, take care of the world. — Mengzi (Mencius)
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added to the New Living Internet Translations page, and fixed a missing cite on another entry. https://xn--hmr.net/classicalchinese/livinginternet/
also uh, fixed an embarrassing CSS issue, namely that the nice serif Chinese font was not loading because its filename was misspelled, but I didn't notice because my browser was successfully falling back on my desktop's installed version of the font :neodog_blush_hide:
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added to the New Living Internet Translations page, and fixed a missing cite on another entry. https://xn--hmr.net/classicalchinese/livinginternet/
also uh, fixed an embarrassing CSS issue, namely that the nice serif Chinese font was not loading because its filename was misspelled, but I didn't notice because my browser was successfully falling back on my desktop's installed version of the font :neodog_blush_hide:
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added to the New Living Internet Translations page, and fixed a missing cite on another entry. https://xn--hmr.net/classicalchinese/livinginternet/
also uh, fixed an embarrassing CSS issue, namely that the nice serif Chinese font was not loading because its filename was misspelled, but I didn't notice because my browser was successfully falling back on my desktop's installed version of the font :neodog_blush_hide:
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added to the New Living Internet Translations page, and fixed a missing cite on another entry. https://xn--hmr.net/classicalchinese/livinginternet/
also uh, fixed an embarrassing CSS issue, namely that the nice serif Chinese font was not loading because its filename was misspelled, but I didn't notice because my browser was successfully falling back on my desktop's installed version of the font :neodog_blush_hide:
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added to the New Living Internet Translations page, and fixed a missing cite on another entry. https://xn--hmr.net/classicalchinese/livinginternet/
also uh, fixed an embarrassing CSS issue, namely that the nice serif Chinese font was not loading because its filename was misspelled, but I didn't notice because my browser was successfully falling back on my desktop's installed version of the font :neodog_blush_hide:
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日出而作，日入而息 一 庄子
Sun’s out guns out, sun’s dead go the fuck to bed — ancient philosopher Zhuangzi’s profound wisdom for internet gremlins
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Two thousand year old #opsec advice:
Hoping that others will not hear is not the same as not speaking; hoping others won’t find out is not the same as not doing.
(from the Book of Han, a history book authored by a brother-sister pair)
#classicalchinese #fountainpen -
my decades of western cursive instinctively leak through into writing 有 with a big hook below the line like a ‘y’
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my decades of western cursive instinctively leak through into writing 有 with a big hook below the line like a ‘y’
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my decades of western cursive instinctively leak through into writing 有 with a big hook below the line like a ‘y’
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my decades of western cursive instinctively leak through into writing 有 with a big hook below the line like a ‘y’
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my decades of western cursive instinctively leak through into writing 有 with a big hook below the line like a ‘y’
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You see, my bed is where I usually sit while using my laptop, so Odin has successfully blockaded me into sitting down at my desk to get cracking on ye olde Classical
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19th century western philosophers: Chinese philosophy is fundamentally unserious because their language doesn't even have the word "is"
me, having to Cope with Xunzi going on about is-ing the is-ness: :blobcattableflip:
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Classical Chinese textbook example: 彼亦一是非，此亦一是非。
me: there’s not a single concrete word in that entire sentence
Next example: 是是非非
me: (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻ this is why people keep trying to ban philosophy
(The first is “that too is true or false; this too is true or false” and the second doesn’t translate in a way that captures the blunt reduplication of literally “this-is this-is is-not is-not” but roughly “finding true things to be true and false things to be false”)
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when I get a book in the mail that was sealed right after printing, Odin comes over to fervently huff that new ink smell.
anyway I'm pleased because I got this thick book (a Classical Chinese literature exam study guide meant for Chinese high schoolers) so cheaply that I assumed it would be black and white on cheap paper, but it's in full color on nice paper. Hello again, Sima Qian! Sorry I laughed at your body horror
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I enjoy how this ancient Chinese poetry site presents its recommended poems of the day like a social media site where all users are very, very wistful about plum blossoms
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I collected several of my "New Living Internet Translations" of Classical Chinese passages in the style of social media posts onto one page. https://xn--hmr.net/classicalchinese/livinginternet/
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“Do not underestimate small problems: one crack can sink a ship. Do not underestimate small creatures: one fly can poison you. Do not underestimate the small-minded: one petty fool can plunder a nation.”
attributed to Guan Yinzi, the gate guard who allegedly stopped Laozi as he was abandoning civilization and got him to write down the Dao; translation mine. https://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=en&id=280050#sid20
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“Do not underestimate small problems: one crack can sink a ship. Do not underestimate small creatures: one fly can poison you. Do not underestimate the small-minded: one petty fool can plunder a nation.”
attributed to Guan Yinzi, the gate guard who allegedly stopped Laozi as he was abandoning civilization and got him to write down the Dao; translation mine. https://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=en&id=280050#sid20
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“Do not underestimate small problems: one crack can sink a ship. Do not underestimate small creatures: one fly can poison you. Do not underestimate the small-minded: one petty fool can plunder a nation.”
attributed to Guan Yinzi, the gate guard who allegedly stopped Laozi as he was abandoning civilization and got him to write down the Dao; translation mine. https://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=en&id=280050#sid20
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“Do not underestimate small problems: one crack can sink a ship. Do not underestimate small creatures: one fly can poison you. Do not underestimate the small-minded: one petty fool can plunder a nation.”
attributed to Guan Yinzi, the gate guard who allegedly stopped Laozi as he was abandoning civilization and got him to write down the Dao; translation mine. https://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=en&id=280050#sid20
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“Do not underestimate small problems: one crack can sink a ship. Do not underestimate small creatures: one fly can poison you. Do not underestimate the small-minded: one petty fool can plunder a nation.”
attributed to Guan Yinzi, the gate guard who allegedly stopped Laozi as he was abandoning civilization and got him to write down the Dao; translation mine. https://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=en&id=280050#sid20
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today I have made for you a New Living Internet translation of Confucius:
The Master said: Do not make haste, do not chase small profits. Moving fast is how you break things, and optimizing for engagement is how you never ship a real product.
original: https://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=en&id=1422#sid10022584
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today on how to tell a king his plan is stupid in the Warring States:
(The King of Wei wanted to attack the capital of a rival nation. One of his citizens said to him: ) So, a funny thing happened on my way here. I was at the Great Crossing, and I saw a guy heading due north. He said to me: "I'm going to Chu!"
I said to him, "Sir, if you mean to make for the southern kingdom of Chu, how are you going to get there heading north?"
He said, "I've got a good horse." Sir, no matter how good your horse is, this isn't the road to Chu.
He said, "I can spend whatever it costs." Sir, no amount of money or means can make this the road to Chu.
He said, "My driver's great." Yeah, great at driving you further and further away from Chu! This guy, he really needed to TURN AROUND.
original text: https://ctext.org/pre-qin-and-han?searchu=%E7%8A%B9%E8%87%B3%E6%A5%9A
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The first hardest problem in Classical Chinese is knowing what's a name and what's literal
The second hardest problem is knowing what's a pronoun and what's literal
The third hardest problem is knowing what's literal and what's literally spelled wrong
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rhyming translation of ye olde ancient ode 淇奥:
Green grow the reeds where the river bends,
A place for a princely heir to hone;
How noble and fine is the son of our lord,
Chiseled and polished by blade and stone!
(The final verse notes that a good prince should know how to be funny without being a dick about it.)
original text + more literal translation from my nemesis James Legge: https://ctext.org/book-of-poetry/qi-yu/ens?searchu=%E5%A6%82%E5%88%87%E5%A6%82%E7%A3%8B%EF%BC%8C%E5%A6%82%E7%90%A2%E5%A6%82%E7%A3%A8%E3%80%82&searchmode=showall
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Ali Express scores: I got this massive tome of major Classical Chinese texts for $6. No footnotes, no commentary, no hints in modern language, just 700 pages of public domain text #classicalchinese #aliexpressfinds
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The difference between my English and Chinese copies of The Art of War never stops being funny.
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Three years of scrounging on Ali Express #classicalchinese #aliexpressfinds #shelfie
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Three years of scrounging on Ali Express #classicalchinese #aliexpressfinds #shelfie
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Three years of scrounging on Ali Express #classicalchinese #aliexpressfinds #shelfie
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Three years of scrounging on Ali Express #classicalchinese #aliexpressfinds #shelfie
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Three years of scrounging on Ali Express #classicalchinese #aliexpressfinds #shelfie