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Good Character, Bad Character
by Ryan in Language, History, Culture
I love etymology.
我热爱语源学。
I’m not sure what about knowing “why” a word is what it is that steams my baozi, but I just dig it. I confess, I’m not hardcore about it, but do frequently visit
（第一句我实在不懂，问了作者，他说“baozi”是汉语“包子”，那么“steams my baozi”大概是蒸包子罢，有高人看得懂这句话吗？）
我承认，这方面我还称不上铁杆，但确实在频繁地访问这个网站，寻找有关语源学的轻松读物。
For armchair etymologists like myself, the Chinese language is a fantastic source of wonders. Learning new words in Chinese is unquestionably an uphill battle, and sometimes looking at the literal translations of character combinations is not only helpful for memorization, it is also just a whole lot of fun.
对于空想型语源学家而言，和我一样，中文就像一处美妙的源泉，衍生着无数的奇观。学习中文生字之困难，毫无疑问有如攀登之艰苦。不过有时想想某个词的字面翻译，不仅仅有助于记忆，而且还充满了乐趣。
Back when “Chinese” was still just something I said mostly for the amusement of onlisteners, I remember being taught “小心“, which of course means “take care, be careful.” Literally translated it becomes “small heart”. The image of a man with a small heart (in my mind, meaning cruel) trying to hurt me has reminded me of the meaning ever since.
回想当初，那时口里的中文还处于让听者捧腹的阶段，我记得有人教过我“小心”这个词（意思当然是take care，be careful），按字面翻译要译成“small heart”。于是，我残忍地联想到一个心脏很小的人试图伤害我，从此以后想到这画面我就会记起“小心”的意思。
As convoluted as the above may be, some are very direct, and very humorous. Take, for example, vagina. In Chinese this is “阴道“, “阴” has a number of meanings, but for the sake of amusement, lets go with “covert, concealed, hidden”; “sinister, treacherous”; and/or “of the nether world”. “道” means “way, path, road, channel, etc.”
上述字面翻译可能有点绕弯子，还有一些则非常直接也非常幽默。比如，vagina这个词，中文里叫做“阴道”。“阴”有很多意思，不过为了娱乐起见，我们来看这些个解释：“掩蔽的，隐蔽的，隐藏的”；“阴险的，奸诈的”；“阴间，地狱”。“道”有“路途，路径，路线”等意思。
None of these are quite so amusing as the names of places and nations. For me this offers some, rather ill-conceived, insight into the opinion of Chinese towards 外面的世界. Here are a few:
其实这些都没有地名国名来得有趣。对我来说，后者折射出了中国人，对于外界的一些可谓是拙劣的构想。这里有一些：
English Chinese Literally(中文字面意思)
America 美国 beautiful country
Italy 意大利 wish big profits
Germany 德国 kind/moral/virtuous country
Russia 俄国 suddenly country
Asia 亚洲 inferior continent
Africa 非洲 mistake/error/wrong/evil-doing continent
（这个表我就不翻了）
Those last two are possibly the most interesting. I mean, obviously these are transliterations made to use similar sounds as their English counterparts, but really, is this the best they could come up with?
最后两个可能最有意思了。我的意思是说，这些译法显然是遵循了英文原文的发音而来的，可是，这些真的就是中国人能拿得出手的最好的音译了吗？（意思是作者觉得有的音译，在字面上会误导公众）
Now, before you scroll down and comment on how I’m being a far-too-literal asshole and reading WAY too much into what characters were chosen, am I wrong to think that perhaps more positive characters (with the same phonetic) could have been picked?
好，在你还来不及滑动鼠标，添加评论：“你是个过于咬文嚼字的混蛋，想太多了罢，哪有人按字面理解的！”，我想问问，我认为当初音译时也许有更积极的汉字可供选择（读音一样），这个想法有错么？
Perhaps someone with a bit more knowledge about the subject could chime in and enlighten me. As it is, despite what the media indicates, I’m sure as the world understands Chinese language more… two things are sure to happen - American-Chinese relationships may bloom (who doesn’t like being called beautiful), and African-Chinese relationships may sour… I mean, “evil-doing continent”? Bit hard to linguate your way out of that one.
有没有哪个懂点儿行的人可以插句嘴，点拨点拨我呢？照现在这样，不管媒体表现如何，我敢肯定随着世界进一步了解中文…有两件事情一定会发生——美中关系会蓬勃发展（谁不喜欢被别人称赞很美啊），而非中关系可能会走味儿…我是说，想想“做坏事的洲”有多难听？念这个名称的时候很难不去这么想罢（这句还有更好的译法吗？我觉得自己译得不太到位）。