Comments on: The bomb and the big mistake http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2006/10/the-bomb-and-the-big-mistake/ commentary on all things Taiwanese — Taiwan Tue, 13 Dec 2011 17:43:50 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Mark http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2006/10/the-bomb-and-the-big-mistake/comment-page-1/#comment-329 Mark Fri, 20 Oct 2006 14:20:26 +0000 http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2006/10/the-bomb-and-the-big-mistake/#comment-329 Sorry for the duplicate comment. Greta's wasn't there, when I replied. Wow, Greta. I didn't even notice they screwed up and wrote シ. I just mentally corrected it to ツ. Japanese katakana really wasn't planned out too well. Of course it's no problem when we type since the romanji of シ (shi) and ツ (tsu) are so different, but it's not as clear as it could be for reading. There's the whole ソ vs. ン problem, too. Sigh... I guess it's not as bad as some of the mis-labelled "mango" drinks in the grocery stores... Sorry for the duplicate comment. Greta’s wasn’t there, when I replied.

Wow, Greta. I didn’t even notice they screwed up and wrote シ. I just mentally corrected it to ツ. Japanese katakana really wasn’t planned out too well. Of course it’s no problem when we type since the romanji of シ (shi) and ツ (tsu) are so different, but it’s not as clear as it could be for reading. There’s the whole ソ vs. ン problem, too. Sigh… I guess it’s not as bad as some of the mis-labelled “mango” drinks in the grocery stores…

]]> By: davidreid http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2006/10/the-bomb-and-the-big-mistake/comment-page-1/#comment-328 davidreid Fri, 20 Oct 2006 13:52:03 +0000 http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2006/10/the-bomb-and-the-big-mistake/#comment-328 Mark, I think writing miao instead of temple might be a good idea. However, in Taiwan the current convention tends to be to translate common words like road or temple. Hence Zhongshan Road rather than Zhongshan Lu. Perhaps when they finally get the pinyin right then we can start campaigning for something like that. Greta and Mark, thanks for your translation of the Japanese. Mark, I think writing miao instead of temple might be a good idea. However, in Taiwan the current convention tends to be to translate common words like road or temple. Hence Zhongshan Road rather than Zhongshan Lu. Perhaps when they finally get the pinyin right then we can start campaigning for something like that.

Greta and Mark, thanks for your translation of the Japanese.

]]> By: Mark http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2006/10/the-bomb-and-the-big-mistake/comment-page-1/#comment-323 Mark Fri, 20 Oct 2006 09:02:27 +0000 http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2006/10/the-bomb-and-the-big-mistake/#comment-323 Oh, yeah. David, 豚カツ is pronounced as とんカツ (tonkatsu) and it means "pork cutlet". Oh, yeah. David, 豚カツ is pronounced as とんカツ (tonkatsu) and it means “pork cutlet”.

]]> By: Mark http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2006/10/the-bomb-and-the-big-mistake/comment-page-1/#comment-322 Mark Fri, 20 Oct 2006 08:57:22 +0000 http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2006/10/the-bomb-and-the-big-mistake/#comment-322 Translating and 草 and misspelling it as "gress" is wack. I'm not even a big fan of translating 廟 into "temple". Using pinyin uniformly would let character-illiterate people know how to pronounce the last word. Also considering that most foreigners here <i>aren't</i> native English speakers, it makes more sense to have something up there that's not specifically tied to English. If it were in a business area, an airport, or something like that, then maybe a full (and correctly spelled) English translation along the side would be a good addition. I don't think the 公里 on the sign is bad, though. It's common in many places to write a huge number and then write the word "miles" or "km" in a much smaller font next to it. Translating and 草 and misspelling it as “gress” is wack. I’m not even a big fan of translating 廟 into “temple”. Using pinyin uniformly would let character-illiterate people know how to pronounce the last word. Also considering that most foreigners here aren’t native English speakers, it makes more sense to have something up there that’s not specifically tied to English. If it were in a business area, an airport, or something like that, then maybe a full (and correctly spelled) English translation along the side would be a good addition.

I don’t think the 公里 on the sign is bad, though. It’s common in many places to write a huge number and then write the word “miles” or “km” in a much smaller font next to it.

]]> By: greta http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2006/10/the-bomb-and-the-big-mistake/comment-page-1/#comment-313 greta Fri, 20 Oct 2006 02:28:51 +0000 http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2006/10/the-bomb-and-the-big-mistake/#comment-313 Hello, David! I think those two katakana in the first picture may be a typo (though it's a serious mistake). I guess this store sells pork cutlet, so the correct forms should be カツ. Explore further on (http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B1%9A%E3%82%AB%E3%83%84). Hello, David! I think those two katakana in the first picture may be a typo (though it’s a serious mistake). I guess this store sells pork cutlet, so the correct forms should be カツ. Explore further on (http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B1%9A%E3%82%AB%E3%83%84).

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