Nicki Minaj has one of the more interesting Chinese tattoos out there. It’s not particularly pretty (it was clearly not the ink work of a Chinese calligrapher!), but the traditional characters are correct mostly correct and legible. The tattoo:
It means “God is with you.”
The tattoo uses traditional Chinese characters:
上帝與你常在
Here’s the simplified character version (it only differs by one character):
上帝与你常在
And pinyin:
Shàngdì yǔ nǐ cháng zài
The …
My friend Juan recently brought this amusing use of Chinese characters to my attention:
The characters used are:
A while back when I wrote my Learning to Write Chinese Characters on the iPad post, I reviewed an iPad app called Word Tracer. Word Tracer is going strong, and now comes in both iPad and iPhone flavors. In addition, the developer has added some additional functionality to the app in a recent update, allowing for Chinese writing practice that isn’t strictly “tracing.”
Anyway, to thank me for the review, the developer has offered me a number of free …
One of the reasons I rushed to get an iPad for my own company is that the iPad is the leading tablet computer device, and tablet computers, with their relatively large touch-driven screens, seem uniquely poised to offer a great learning experience for a new generation of learners. Now that the iPad has been out for a year, developers have had some time to dig into iOS and create some cool apps for learning to write Chinese characters.
The only …
Recently I just happened to catch this wordplay on the streets of Shanghai around me:
年轻就是不一YOUNG / 不一样. (After reading this pun, go here.)
最高G密 / 最高机密 (“top secret”); G = 鸡 = chicken. 鸡米 is a name for little chicken nuggets (often fried).
新视界 / 新世界
Not a pun; just illustrating that 新世界 is a common phrase too. This hotel is just around the corner from the eye hospital above.
碧云公寓 (traditional characters are used in the …
I’ve seen Chinese calligraphy written in water many, many times, but this past weekend was the first time I saw it in chalk. (Maybe I just need to go to Chinese parks more?)
…
I recently had the opportunity to try out Chinagram, a new iPad app which introduces Chinese characters. There aren’t many Chinese-learning apps out there specifically for the iPad, so I decided to review this one.
My first impression of the app is that it is beautifully made. I guess that’s Italian design for you. The overall aesthetic is nice, and there are lots of little touches that make the app fun to use. Don’t miss the “History of Chinese …
An interesting design using the characters 西 (west) and 中 (“middle”/China):
Via Sinosplice reader Érica. Photo taken in Hong Kong.
UPDATE: The original post mistakenly had 东 (east) instead of 中 in the 西. My bad!…
Here’s a chart which incorporates illustrations of food into their Chinese character forms [Note: these are based on Japanese kanji, so not all apply equally to Chinese; see my notes below]:
Below are the characters involved, suped up with Sinosplice Tooltips for the readings of both the Chinese and Japanese (more notes at the bottom). I get the impression the English translations were not written by a native speaker, so I’ve added a few notes in brackets …
Recently I was browsing Flickr photos and came across one that looked familiar:
To my surprise, I was given credit for the original idea in the photo caption.
I looked at some of МОЛОКО’s other photos and discovered some “gay character creations”:
Some of these innocent-looking characters are pretty explicit if you go to the photos’ Flickr pages (click on the images) and mouse over the characters.
In case you’re not familiar, the “funny-looking symbols” next to the Chinese characters …
John has lived in China for
11.5
years. He is a linguist focused on SLA and tech.
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