Showing posts with label Translation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Translation. Show all posts

Thursday, February 28, 2008

zh:Czech

Karlovy Vary in Karlovy Vary Kraj
This picture is a freakin' winner.

Czech

As of yet there's just not as much work put into these Czech names as the Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese names. I suppose after a long time passes new names will evolve, one definitely starts developing ideas for place names as one goes along with one's studies. Western place names are "place holders" that sometimes are interesting, and provide a workable phonetic translation product.

It's difficult but not impossible to find some productive thread of meaning in these translations, its difficult but not impossible to produce some kind of readable English expresssion, of the Chinese translation, of the Czech name. And it certainly is difficult to compile this list without it seeming very arbitrarily composed.

Regions

布拉格(Prague,首都) Imagine yourself at the market
中波希米亚州(Středočeský kraj) The comic situation of leaving the house and then worrying if one has left on the computer
南波希米亚州(Jihočeský kraj) Same
比尔森州(Plzeňský kraj) Same; 10/10 = 1/1
卡罗维发利州(Karlovarský kraj)"Don't worry, honey, we can put the extra .001 cent of electricity on our credit card"
拉贝河畔乌斯季州(Ústecký kraj) "Yes, but what if we make a habit of it?"
利贝雷茨州(Liberecký kraj) "We can worry about that some other time."
赫拉德茨-克拉洛韦州(Královéhradecký kraj) Red Red Wine, I'm Mad About You (Belinda Carlisle), Hey Ya!, Walk Like an Egyptian, material which has value at every level of the music spectrum. "That song is so good in an AM kind of way, and yet it still has punk, hip hop or reggae credentials!"
帕尔杜比采州(Pardubický kraj) If one is having trouble with one's chodor, one could print some cloth with rad designs, rai motifs or some deep pleasing color
维索基纳州(Vysočina)Gregor Mandel is Czech
南摩拉维亚州(Jihomoravský kraj) South Moravia
奥洛穆茨州(Olomoucký kraj) A lead up to a good punchline or conclusion, as in a joke, anecdote or mildly scary story
兹林州(Zlínský kraj kraj) A good punchline; a deep magnetic forest
摩拉维亚-西里西亚州(Moravskoslezský kraj)Moravia-Silesia

Cities

Brno: Squall at the market

Many Czech cities' names are part of the names of their respective regions.

Floating Tomato Garden, Inle Lake, Myanmar
Kampong Speu, Khmai
Kampong Speu is located near the ocean.

Brno has made me thoughtfult. "Squall at the market" is quite a concept, it led me to google "floating village" where I found a nice video of a trip to a town in Tonle Sap in Chinese Yahoo. This waterworld looks a lot like the landworld near it and there is an airconditioned church. The name of the video is 'Chong Khneas Floating Village on Tonie Sap Lake near Siem Reap Cambodia'.

As far as Czech is concerned, the national football team has been doing quite well, soccer and UEFA are not well-covered on ESPN and on national sports radio, it brings up a little-known aspect of Confucianism, "Geopolitical Confucianism", wherein we as European-Americans are supposed to pay attention to our ancestors across the pond. Given all the events of the last 100 years, it would be a good idea to do so. One gains merit in the act of watching sports. Perfectly amazing.

http://www.uefa.com/

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Saga Prefecture


In musing through new material one thinks of many many things. In writing a blog one chooses a main direction to go, writing is different from thinking.

I am not on drugs; I am just bored.

Saga Prefecture

The flag says '999' in a circular manner.
佐賀縣行政區劃 : "The Georgia"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
市部: 佐賀市 | Saga City; We're slowing down for hitchhikers.
唐津市 | 鳥栖市 | 多久市 | 伊萬里市 | 武雄市 | 鹿島市 | 小城市 | 嬉野市 | 神埼市
神埼郡: 吉野里町 三養基郡: 基山町 | 上峰町 | 三養基町
東松浦郡: 玄海町 西松浦郡: 有田町
杵島郡: 大町町 | 江北町 | 白石町 藤津郡: 太良町
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Niigata Prefecture


Niigata Prefecture. When I first started reading this wikiarticle I thought about all the feelings of being in love. It's very romantic, like moving in with someone, two people are now together within the context of society and the successful outcome of this existence is children and marriage, the continuation of the species, with lots of walking around, spaghetti dinners with bottles of wine, it's an important step in the sociobiological process of reproduction, with an emphasis on being very pleased with one's life and the results of one's existence. Do you remember when we used to sit, in the government yard in Trenchtown?

Seriously.

新潟県の自治体等
Niigata City:新潟市: 北区 North End | 東区 East End| 中央区 Center City | 江南区 | 秋葉区 Autumn World | 南区 South End | 西区 West End | 西蒲区
Major cities in Niigata ken:その他市部:
長岡市 | This second word is used a lot, it is a cat looking in a mousehole, or I suppose a weasel or a marmot, various agencies such as crime, bad government, ill friends, nosy family members, are part of the communications environment, life and happiness and romance seem to go on anyway. In this case the cat looking in is "long", it longs to be in the den or garrett one is now in.
三条市 | Looks like "3 Fixes".
柏崎市 | For men, one reliable method of moving from a single state to a double state involves ESPN, pro cheerleaders, Maxim, Brian McKnight, Jang Nara, and Ellen DeGeneres. After this works, the relationship itself is the center and the nice media blizzard is just something that is happening outside.
新発田市 | Ar-Ti-Fi-Cial - when one is in a big relationship one achieves a new anesthetized state, it suddenly is not a chore to go to work every day for the rest of one's life, things that used to vex are now difficult to get to.
小千谷市 | Small 1,000 Valley City - It is so cute how everything reproduces, one wasn't as aware of it before; everything has a father and mother, it's a created world.
加茂市 | "I googled 'couchgrass', we can make a couch." "I have a recipe for cola, we'll never have to buy any." - Being funny.
十日町市 |
見附市 | The government seems so benign.
村上市 | Village Top - This is the best place, I guess this must be the place, we can live here 4eva.
燕市 | The store windows are so bright and there are so many shoppers; + this occurs around Christmastime.
糸魚川市 |
妙高市 | As a successful reproductive unit, I am now a vested member of society, I see stuff in catalogs and I like to think of what I need. I see a computer server, for instance, and I think "I think I'll need one of those (someday)."
五泉市 | 5 Springs; we have been sleeping on this futon for two years now; we should buy a bedroom set.
上越市 | I think we should eat some Vietnamese soup tonight.
阿賀野市 | "I say, How fascinating this adult movie is, it's like a brutal wilderness, why on earth is it on?" "IDK, it just came on by itself; it is interesting in a kind of a way; did you pick up our tax forms?" I did, Click...
佐渡市 | "I don't wear these superfoxy clothes anymore" + "I now have phone numbers on my phone I can't remember when I used."
魚沼市 | Your cooking is the best. And the guy at the deli was wicked funny.
南魚沼市 | I guess we should set up some sort of prenewlywed reward system for cooking and such.
胎内市 | We're pregnant!

Other, more outlying zones of Niigata Pref:

北蒲原郡: 聖籠町 When I put our ring on I feel like Saint Superman.
西蒲原郡: 弥彦村 You look good today
南蒲原郡: 田上町 Let's split this ice cream sandwich
東蒲原郡: 阿賀町 We need a paper plate
三島郡: 出雲崎町 Girls are neater than boys
北魚沼郡: 川口町 Hunger is a river.
南魚沼郡: 湯沢町 Getting a big bowl of soup to eat on the train.
中魚沼郡: 津南町 Sign says: "We don't serve big ramen at the train station snack place"
刈羽郡: 刈羽村 x + y = z, go figure
岩船郡: 関川村 | 荒川町 | 神林村 | 朝日村 | 山北町 | 粟島浦村
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Niigata:新潟県:Robot Chicken just doesn't do it for me anymore.

Sunday, February 24, 2008




This bridge connects the great city of Kobe with the sleepy island of Shikoku. From what I understand of it from reading about it, Kobe (the city) is a very interesting place. Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers certainly has a 'worthy' namesake. I am very pleased to sit with this diagram of the settlements of Hyogo Prefecture and muse upon my life and the future of the world.

Hyogo Prefecture

0 兵庫県の自治体等
1 神戸市: 東灘区 | 灘区 | 兵庫区 | 長田区 | 須磨区 | 垂水区 | 北区 | 中央区 | 西区
2 その他市部: 姫路市 | 尼崎市 | 明石市 | 西宮市 | 洲本市 | 芦屋市 | 伊丹市 | 相生市 | 豊岡市 | 加古川市 | 赤穂市 | 西脇市 | 宝塚市 | 三木市 | 高砂市 | 川西市 | 小野市 | 三田市 | 加西市 | 篠山市 | 養父市 | 丹波市 | 南あわじ市 | 朝来市 | 淡路市 | 宍粟市 | たつの市 | 加東市
3 川辺郡: 猪名川町
4 多可郡: 多可町
5 加古郡: 稲美町 | 播磨町
6 神崎郡: 市川町 | 福崎町 | 神河町
7 揖保郡: 太子町
8 赤穂郡: 上郡町
9 佐用郡: 佐用町
10 美方郡: 香美町 | 新温泉町

1 - The city of Kobe has 9 regions. 2 - Hyogo Prefecture has 28 cities. 3 - 8 - Hyogo has 6 more suburban regions. It's area is over 8,000 sqkm, or 2 x Rhode Island. It has big shores on the Pacific side and on the Asia side of Japan. There are 5.5 mm people, almost as many as Massachusetts. The population density is similar to New England, then.

Sometimes it gets to be a competition, to organize one's geopolitical area in a pleasing way.

Let's find analogies to known quantities even though it's a boring exercise:

Queens, Fenway, Daytona, Aston Villa, Crystal Palace + Himeji
the Bronx, the Pack, Tampa Bucs, the late "Fatty" from Hong Kong, Lily Tomlin, Coach + 明石市
parts of Jersey, Minnesota Vikings, A-Rod + 西脇市
Greenwich, A-Rod, Swiper the Fox + 川辺郡: 猪名川町
Burlington, Illinois, Amsterdam, Po Valley + 多可郡: 多可町
Hartford, Dallas, pizza + 赤穂郡: 上郡町
Mass + Hyogo City Area of Kobe
The Inland Empire + 加古郡: 稲美町 | 播磨町
Beverly Hills + 美方郡: 香美町 | 新温泉町
Venice area + 神崎郡:
Dazed and Confused; Goodfellas, Sucker Duck attitudes towards Boston sports teams; Hollywood Knights; the Tenderloin, J.G. Ballard + 丹波市
Marlins beat Braves + 佐用郡: 佐用町

This exercise is definitely getting boring for those who can't read.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

This is nice; it's Niigata Prefecture on the north shore of Japan. My student was from Niigata; like continental Northeast Asia, there is a lot of snow. The northerly winds get all snown out as they cross the Alps and during the winter Tokyo and the South Shore is very dry, winter in Tokyo is 5 / 40F degrees in the daytime. In the Tokyo summer there is an onshore wind and it rains a lot, then there is rainy season, and then it rains for 10 weeks more.

Niigata Prefecture

0 新潟県の自治体等
1 新潟市: 北区 | 東区 | 中央区 | 江南区 | 秋葉区 | 南区 | 西区 | 西蒲区
2 その他市部: 長岡市 | 三条市 | 柏崎市 | 新発田市 | 小千谷市 | 加茂市 | 十日町市 | 見附市 | 村上市 | 燕市 | 糸魚川市 | 妙高市 | 五泉市 | 上越市 | 阿賀野市 | 佐渡市 | 魚沼市 | 南魚沼市 | 胎内市
3 北蒲原郡: 聖籠町
4 西蒲原郡: 弥彦村
5 南蒲原郡: 田上町
6 東蒲原郡: 阿賀町
7 三島郡: 出雲崎町
8 北魚沼郡: 川口町
9 南魚沼郡: 湯沢町
10 中魚沼郡: 津南町
11 刈羽郡: 刈羽村
12 岩船郡: 関川村 | 荒川町 | 神林村 | 朝日村 | 山北町 | 粟島浦村

1 - The city of Niigata has 8 zones, "Autumn World" is highlighted. Harvest is a busy season and there is nothing like bringing in the sheaves, knowing that 3 or 4 months of cozy rest and work in the mainenance barn awaits one, along with regular visits to the inn to catch up on one's winter drinking. Autumn World, trending into Winter World, nature's cycle of productivity and rehabilitation.

6 - The origin of rest, sitting there with $800 in your pocket and nothing to buy, lying up late so late at night thinking after sleeping so heavily during work season, plenty of time to get right again with all that went past us during work season.
4 - The origin of walking to the inn and recovering from the hard labor of summer and fall, feeling like a clown again, again after seriously driving the combine and getting the harvest done right.
5 - The origin of catching up on one's reading; this book is so interesting. Miss Marple is such an interesting personality!
3 - The feeling of accomplishment and watching winter sports, those dogs sure can play.
8 - How 'easy' it is to catch a hungry pike in winter, how amazing that one is capable of watching up to 100 hours of ESPN per week while surfing the web.
9 - It's pickle season and canned food season, those sun-dried tomatoes, all those crackers and cheese.
10 - And how great is it to stretch and look forward to the next spring while preparing for the renewal of life.
11 - More spring practice.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Considering how easy it is to muse on stuff while reading through these Niigata values, which of course now look like American values, it's quite different from trying to muse on stuff while reading through Kumamoto values, where the miracle of life is so unavoidable.

It's common knowledge in America that Southern Japan including the Kumamoto area, which faces China, and the Osaka-Kyoto-Kobe area a few 100 km north, traditionally served as defense against China.

The Chinese language was adopted in Japan between 200 and 400 AD, by the time the Osaka-Kyoto-Kobe area had developed a short time later, it was such an astounding accomplishment, doing as well or better than the Chinese had ever done, like New York and Washington surpassing Paris and London. It's a perfectly amazing city area, maybe like Moscow and or Athens.

Which more or less puts the rawer, happier regions like Kumamoto, Oita and eastward-facing Miyazaki Prefectures in a category with the Runnin' Rebels of UNLV, the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest, the Blue Devils of Duke and the Rainbow Warriors of Hawaii.

.
.
.

Q: So who's defending against China?
A: I'm not sure.

%%%%%%%%%%

Well, I've gone as far as I can go with this travelogue for the time being.

Saturday, February 23, 2008



A Ming Pao banner popup says

Only one thing is certain
This dynasty will end
Grab what you can
8 hours a day

And treat the customers with respect

Ming Pao Property

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

This is supposed to be refreshing; for sake of comparison, what property development comedy exists in the West? Glen Garry Glen Ross? Donald Trump on SNL?

Friday, February 22, 2008




An advertisement from the front page of today's HK online Ming Pao Daily, Kumamoto Prefecture in Kyushu, and Hyogo Prefecture which includes Kobe and which lies near Osaka and the great Buddhist city of Nara.

If I'm not mistaken the ad says

Sun King Horn Light Microdike
Tavern Management Building 42
#8-11

Each day the chief sends us 30 bright young journalists [see picture]
These casino otters are ready to do what it takes
Y.E.S. Credit card transport
Free Prince Valiant bobble head dolls, get 'em while they last

I could be wrong. But consider the English language; how would you translate the following into Chinese?

Jingle bells
Batman smells
Robin laid an egg...

I mean, you're supposed to stare at these ads while riding the subway for 45 minutes, if you started thinking about how the stork flies to the Eastern mountain or how supreme enlightenment flows from the government, you just might experience sycope right there on the train. And by syncope I mean "fainting".

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Kumamoto, Kobe, Osaka and Nara are a different kettle of fish altother. I guess Britney is a native of Kumamoto. And I guess Siskel & Ebert hail from the Osaka-Kobe-Nara area. You do the math.

The word Kobe is something like "God has left the door open". If you've ever seen Ice Cube's first Fridays movie, it's something like that, an expression of the togetherness and lack of security that existed during the Floating World Era. I mean, if you've seen that movie, you have to wonder how a person could keep and own a desktop or a laptop computer in an open door environment. During the Floating World Era there was a certain imbalance of common sense in which Babe Ruth, Ozzy Osbourne and Madonna had assumed command of Japan (as opposed to George W Bush, Barack Obama and Condoleeza Rice), it was the time of samurai cult. Of course, then as now the city served as a destination for kids from the boondocks, Kumamoto-jin really made the Floating World turn. As opposed to naming your city after a security breach, which seems to me to be a way to put the government's problems squarely in front of you all day, the Kumamoto people have a different method of nomenclature. Let's see, we have here

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%86%8A%E6%9C%AC%E7%9C%8C

Kumamoto = Bear Body
Thighnasty
Manluck
Shameflow
Scrunchie.com
4:20 w/Jade
Whole Explanation
Chrysanthemum Puddle
Space Dust
Lawn Heaven
Space Dust Burglar
Pillowmates
Whorvard
more Lawn Heaven

2nd line
Littermouth
Easytown
Better Housekeeping
Beautyrest


3rd line
Jade Pop
Jade A.M.
Easy Conjugal
Long Island City
Robotgasm

4th line
Deerfriend
True Wood

5th line
Chrysanthemum Puddle
People's Court
Chrysanthemum Mann

6th line
Pillowfriend
Mailporn
Baby Mountain
You're Confused
Homebrew
Penpal Pillowfriend

7th line
Roofbabes
Delicious Boat
Happy Island
Townprize
Independent Mantrap
Girlcity

8th line
Thighnasty
Obeisant Scrunch

9th line
You left the baby on the lawn
Doorstop is a baby
Lawyer Boyfriend on a Unicycle

10th line
Escaped Mormons
Tintown
Many Strong Bodies
Forwardly Warm
Scrunchtop\
Doubleroot
Fivewood
Baby Creek
Ballrock
--

11th line
Lawn Heaven
Bicycle in the Rain

Here's the Kumamoto data in case you're not viewing with View menu:Windows (Western Europe):

1 熊本県の自治体 市部: 熊本市 | 八代市 | 人吉市 | 荒尾市 | 水俣市 | 玉名市 | 山鹿市 | 菊池市 | 宇土市 | 上天草市 | 宇城市 | 阿蘇市 | 合志市 | 天草市
2 下益城郡: 城南町 | 富合町 | 美里町
3 玉名郡: 玉東町 | 南関町 | 長洲町 | 和水町
4 鹿本郡: 植木町
5 菊池郡: 大津町 | 菊陽町
6 阿蘇郡: 南小国町 | 小国町 | 産山村 | 高森町 | 西原村 | 南阿蘇村
7 上益城郡: 御船町 | 嘉島町 | 益城町 | 甲佐町 | 山都町
8 八代郡: 氷川町
9 葦北郡: 芦北町 | 津奈木町
10 球磨郡: 錦町 | 多良木町 | 湯前町 | 水上村 | 相良村 | 五木村 | 山江村 | 球磨村 | あさぎり町
11 天草郡: 苓北町

The point of all this is that if you put happy stuff in front of you all day, you will never solve the hard cases. It's why we have People's Court and Cops on TV, I guess. "My sister and her girlfriend moved in with me and now I have a $400 phone bill." Judge: "Did you make those calls?" "No, I did not, your honor." on and on

Hyogo could be a "Security Warehouse". If you had money to build a Fermilab, and you had to choose, where exactly would you have to put it?

Translation Control:
Beverly Hills = Beaverheel
Las Vegas = Lost Wages
Butte = Butt
British Columbia = Britney's Lumber Yard
Fermilab = Lunch Money Scholarship Fund or $erious Car Payment Economic Resource