気持ち (きもち) kimoji

I grew up using this Japanese expression "kimoji"- sort of like gemütlich in German, good atmosphere in English and 氣氛 in Chinese.

Since I have been trying to learn the Japanese alphabets since around the time when I became telepathic again, based on the sound I have used gazzillion and a time in my life so far, I used hiragana to come up with the spelling for kimoji- きもじ.  Yet, I simply couldn't find in any of my googling result stating kimoji is like 氣氛 in Chinese.

So I thought of this Taiwanese friend of mine who seems to be really well-versed in Japanese and sent her this SOS message, "how do you write in Japanese "kimoji"?"

Following is the ensuing conversation:

• Expert, "気持ち (きもち)"
• Ratprincess, "thanks... so it is not ji but chi?"
• Expert, "ya"

Also (German)... 

So it is... 気持ち (きもち or kimochi) in Japanese is きもじ (kimoji) in Taiwanese Japanese!

Could have continued to be wrong a million and a time more!  Except, in Taiwanese Japanese, 気持ち would remain to sound like きもじ (kimoji)-- I guess.

(This was originally posted in Ratology Reloaded on November 5, 2012.  Decided to cross-post it here.)

Tabula rasa

Haven't seen this term since... like... forever...

The Latin term of tabula rasa is translated as blank slate in modern English with Tabula as tablet, and rasa as scraped, erased.

Like... do you think the mind came into the world as a tabula rasa (blank slate)?  Or, perhaps, it ain't no tabula rasa?  (pardon me for my language... I just have a liking for the "ain't" usage. Something feeling really... kimoji...)

Apparently, Mr. Aristotle already brought up the notion of the mind as a tabula rasa although ain't nobody paid it no mind for more than 1000 years (or maybe little mind).

Yīng yīng měi dài zi 英英美代子

Before my accident in June 19th, 2007, I hardly knew what it be like to be Yīng yīng měi dài zi (英英美代子).  Then, I found myself entered into the Yīng yīng měi dài zi era.

"Yian yian mo dai zi" is a Taiwanese expression meaning... hanging there doing nothing or “閑閑沒事做” .  It's been very fashionable to pronounce Taiwanese in Mandarin these days.  This is why people came up with the genious idea of converting the Taiwanese expression of "Yian yian mo dai zi" into the mandarin expression of "Yīng yīng měi dài zi" or “英英美代子.”  英英美代子, at the same time, looks like a Japanese name in Chinese... something like Ying Ying Miyoko.

So, if you hear me saying that I am a 英英美代子的無業遊民.  It means that I am an unemployed (無業遊民) hanging there doing nothing ( 英英美代子). (8-O Auch...)

And, the next time someone ask you what you have been up to, you can reply by saying, "Yīng yīng měi dài zi (英英美代子) la!" 8-O lol


(There seems to be some issue with the youtube clip with the recorded pronunciation... hope it will be resolved soon since I've gotta go nite nite.  Got the issue figured out... how I could play the clip. I have to unjoin the HTML 5 trial in order to see the clip.  Guess the HTML 5 player didn't like this my being Yīng yīng měi dài zi 英英美代子 while people are working so hard to get its specifications nailed. 8-O lol)

Bèi gē gē 貝戈戈

貝戈戈 (Bèi gē gē ) is a term I apply on myself all the time.  If you put all three characters 貝戈戈 (Bèi gē gē ) together with 貝 (shell) on the left, and one 戈 (dagger, knife) stacking on top of the other on the left... you get this character... 賤 (oops... pardon me for my French).

There are many ways to interpret the word 賤 (which is not really a nice word to use).

What might be a context to for me to use this God knows how to translate expression of "貝戈戈"?

Example:
Why am I trying to work on a book that might not even sell or be read, especially ain't like anyone force me to do it?  I am 貝戈戈 (Shell knife knife).

Brought it to myself... sadomasochist... almost...

Remember to not use this word on the others unless you really know what you are talking about... it's sort of like a swear word... not nice for you to use it on people... OK?

賈雨村言 Jiǎ yǔ cūn yán

In my own writing, I see myself referring to 賈雨村言 many a time and thought I might want to share with you where it came from and what it referred to...

賈雨村 is a character in the famous Chinese fiction novel, "紅樓夢 (Dream of the Red Chamber)"... the story of a stone.

The literal translation of 賈雨村言 is "賈雨村 said."  At the same time, 賈雨村言 (Jiǎ yǔ cūn yán) and 假語村言 (false comments, villagers' words) have the same pronunciation... with the latter what the author really inferred.

When I use 賈雨村言 in my writing, what I mean is... don't give a rat's ass about my crazy talk.

Following is the ending paragraphs of the book in Chinese.  Unfortunately, most of the English translations I found online did not go all the way to the ending chapter (Look forward to the day when someone completed the translation of all 120 chapters):

這士隱自去度脫了香菱，送到太虛幻境，交那警幻仙子對冊。剛過牌坊，見那一僧一道縹渺而來，士隱接著說道：「大士、真人，恭喜，賀喜！情緣完結，都交割清楚了麼﹖」那僧說：「情緣尚未全結，倒是那蠢物已經回來了。還得把他送還原所，將他的後事敘明，不枉他下世一回。」士隱聽了，便供手而別。那僧道仍攜了玉到青埂峰下，將「寶玉」安放在女媧煉石補天之處，各自雲遊而去。從此後：天外書傳天外事，兩番人作一番人。」

The dumb stone "寶玉" got back from the field trip.

這一日，空空道人又從青埂峰前經過，見那補天未用之石仍在那裏，上面字跡依然如舊，又從頭的細細看了一遍，見後面偈文後又歷敘了多少收緣結果的話頭，便點頭嘆道：「我從前見石兄這段奇文，原說可以聞世傳奇，所以曾經抄錄，但未見返本還原。不知何時復有此一佳話﹖方知石兄下凡一次，磨出光明，修成圓覺，也可謂無復遺憾了。只怕年深日久，字跡模糊，反有舛錯，不如我再抄錄一番，尋個世上清閑無事的人，托他傳遍，知道奇而不奇，俗而不俗，真而不真，假而不假。或者塵夢勞人，聊倩鳥呼歸去；山靈好客，更從石化飛來，亦未可知。」想畢，便又抄了，仍袖至那繁華昌盛的地方，遍尋了一番，不是建功立業之人，即系饒口謀衣之輩，那有閑情更去和石頭饒舌。直尋到急流津覺迷度口，草庵中睡著一個人，因想他必是閑人，便要將這抄錄的《石頭記》給他看看。那知那人再叫不醒。空空道人復又使勁拉他，才慢慢的開眼坐起，便草草一看，仍舊擲下道：「這事我早已親見盡知。你這抄錄的尚無舛錯。我只指與你一個人，托他傳去，便可歸結這一新鮮公案了。」空空道人忙問何人，那人道：「你須待某年、某月、某日、某時，到一個悼紅軒中，有個曹雪芹先生，只說賈雨村言，托他如此如此。」說畢，仍舊睡下了。

Kong Kong Taoist copied down "the story of the stone" and was informed when and where the copied texts should be give to whom... by this gentleman who really could sleep.

那空空道人牢牢記著此言，又不知過了幾世幾劫，果然有個悼紅軒，見那曹雪芹先生正在那裏翻閱歷來的古史。空空道人便將賈雨村言了，方把這《石頭記》示看。那雪芹先生笑道：「果然是『賈雨村言』了！」空空道人便問：「先生何以認得此人，便肯替他傳述﹖」曹雪芹先生笑道：「說你空，原來你肚裏果然空空。既是假語村言，但無魯魚亥豕以及背謬矛盾之處，樂得與二三同志，酒餘飯飽，雨夕燈窗之下，同消寂寞，又不必大人先生品題傳世。似你這樣尋根問底，便是刻舟求劍、膠柱鼓瑟了。」那空空道人聽了，仰天大笑，擲下抄本，飄然而去。一面走著，口中說道：「果然是敷衍荒唐！不但作者不知，抄者不知，並閱者也不知。不過遊戲筆墨，陶情適性而已！」後人見了這本奇傳，亦曾題過四句偈語，為作者緣起之言更轉一竿頭云：

Kong Kong Taoist found Cao Xueqin and showed him the book... that's when Cao Xueqin deciphered that 賈雨村言 means 假語村言.

說到辛酸處，荒唐愈可悲。由來同一夢，休笑世人痴！ 

The ending poem... the way I see it... all the juicy things in life is like a dream... (and possibly for everyone).  Thus, cut the people in this world some slacks and quit laughing at the inescapable silliness (Gotta be human speaking to the supernatural power including the almighty universe?).  Of course, a layman's interpretation, back to 賈雨村言 la!

Neologism in Ratology: ㄍㄨㄢ ㄕㄨㄛ

Over a year after this post ㄍㄨㄢ　ㄕㄨㄛ, I was chatting with this auntie of mine who is a retired Chinese teacher and mentioned to her this strange memory I have about the pronunciation of ㄍㄨㄢ　ㄕㄨㄟˋ [guan shui]  for 關說.

According to her, a veteran teacher who started teaching after graduating from college till she finally retired... ㄍㄨㄢ　ㄕㄨㄟˋ [guan shui] was the correct pronunciation... as in 遊說 (yóu shuì， lobbying).  The thing is that everyone said it wrong and people eventually came to believe that ㄍㄨㄢ　ㄕㄨㄛ  [guan shuo] is the correct way to have the term pronounced... to the extend that it's listed as the correct pronunciation in the online dictionary maintained by the Ministry of Education.

So, if you pronounce it the right way today, ㄍㄨㄢ　ㄕㄨㄟˋ [guan shui], you will be considered to have pronounced it wrong and be corrected with the formerly-known-as-incorrect pronunciation of ㄍㄨㄢ　ㄕㄨㄛ  [guan shuo]... while those who correct your pronunciation really believe that ㄍㄨㄢ　ㄕㄨㄟˋ [guan shui] is wrong and ㄍㄨㄢ　ㄕㄨㄛ  [guan shuo] is right.

(Am I sure am I sure am I sure?  I ain't sure about no nothing though since the 說 in 關說 means 遊說.  It does make sense for it to be pronounced the same way.  Just 賈雨村言 la!)

由人代為請託遊說

《史記‧梁孝王世家》：「上廢栗太子，竇太后心欲以孝王為後嗣，大臣及袁盎等有所關說於景帝。」

(Mama mia! Even 史記 is out... just don't know which dialect they spoke then... 8-O lol)

Neologism in Ratology: ㄍㄨㄢ　ㄕㄨㄛ: Don't know why I though the 說 in 關說 should be a 破音字... instead of sounding like ㄍㄨㄢ　ㄕㄨㄛ  [guan shuo] ... I thought it should sound like...

Side-by-Side configuration : English-中文

So it is... a continuing efforts made to resolve the side-by-side configuration error in my head between English and Chinese.  lol



(Cool, my edits on the spreadsheet really gets reflected here...)

(Had referenced webpages such as this... http://210.240.55.2/~english/bilingual/taipei.htm)

Special terminologies for Grade 1-9 Curriculum in Taiwan

Don't know why you might want to learn these terminologies but... following are some nice terminologies for me to have when doing my translation jobs since I have big time problems in side-by-side configuration errors... if not the issue of text value unmappable... meaning... I recognize the terms in Chinese or English... but have problem pairing them together... 8-X lol

From http://teach.eje.edu.tw/9CC/about/about3.php

編號	中文名詞	英文譯詞	備註
1.	九年一貫課程	Grade 1-9 Curriculum
2.	國民中小學九年一貫課程綱要	Grade 1-9 Curriculum Guidelines
3.	課程改革	Curriculum Reform
4.	行動研究	Action Research
5.	課程目標	Curriculum Goals	指各學習領域課程綱要所揭示之課程目標。
6.	課程統整	Curriculum Integration
7.	統整課程	Integrated Curriculum
8.	學校本位課程發展	School-based Curriculum Development
9.	課程評鑑	Curriculum Evaluation
10.	協同教學	Team Teaching
11.	學習階段	Learning Stages
12.	學力指標	Academic Attainment Indicators	指課程實施後，教育行政機關或學術機構針對學生習得的實際學習成就加以評量而得的常模性指標。
13.	學力測驗	Academic Attainment Testing
14.	基本能力	Core Competence
15.	能力指標	Competence Indicators or Benchmarks	指各學習領域課程綱要的分段能力指標。
16.	彈性學習節數	Alternative Learning Periods
17.	課程理念	Curriculum Rationale
18.	教學評量	Instructional Assessment
19.	語文	Language Arts
20.	國語	Mandarin
21.	英語	English
22.	鄉土語言	Dialects
23.	綜合活動	Integrative Activities
24.	生活課程	Life Curriculum
25.	數學	Mathematics
26.	自然與生活科技	Science and Technology
27.	社會	Social Studies
28.	健康與體育	Health and Physical Education
29.	資訊教育	Information Technology Education
30.	藝術與人文	Arts and Humanities
31.	環境教育	Environmental Education
32.	兩性教育	Gender Education
33.	人權教育	Human Rights Education
34.	生涯發展教育	Career Development Education
35.	家政教育	Home Economics Education
36.	學校課程發展委員會	Committee of School Curriculum Development
37.	學習領域	Learning Areas