What are some brilliant Chinese names for foreign brands/products?

IKEA (宜家) all the way. Now this is a hard name for translators to tackle because few people (even in the West) know what the name means. IKEA is actually I-K-E-A, an acronym for Ingvar Kamprad (The founder of IKEA), Elmtaryd (the farm where he grew up), and Agunnaryd (his hometown in Småland) It would be ridiculous to translate all that into a brand … Read more

What is the coolest Chinese symbol and its meaning?

For me it must be this character 武(wu 3) majorly means martial art,or Kung Fu ,one of the most famous Chinese cultural symbol for the world. 武 is also related to military or war,like 武器(weapon),武装(arm),武力(force) etc,which is definitely not most people are fond of. However, let’s talk about the writing structure of the character. It … Read more

What are some examples of folk etymology in Chinese?

[In Chinese, tomatoes are called “foreign eggplants/aubergines”] In Taiwan 番茄 fānqié/fanchye “tomato” is often mistakenly written 蕃茄 (with a “grassy plant” radical above the first character). It is not generally known that 番 in this compound means “foreign”: 番茄 literally means “foreign eggplant”. The eggplant (American English)/aubergine (British English) is dark purple with a bit of green … Read more

What important Chinese concepts are conveyed by a single Chinese character?

One very important concept captured by a Chinese character is “ren” or 忍。 This is a very interesting character: it carries the concept of a knife or 刀 held over the heart or 心。Naturally, having a knife held over your heart would be a very uncomfortable situation to say the least. But the character “ren” … Read more