Chinese (Mandarin) is a beautiful and highly literal language - directly translated, many words have entertaining and occasionally logical meanings.
  • pretty person fish

    In Western mythology, many a hero was ensnared by a beautiful creature of the sea - half fish, half woman, the hapless sailor or adventurer was enticed into the unknown depths of the sea, chasing this vision of freedom and beauty. English has given her the name 'mermaid'. In Chinese, a similar idea exists, yet the literal translation of the word is another miracle of conciseness and the poetry of Mandarin - in Chinese, a mermaid is called a 'pretty person fish'.

  • amputate thing hand

    The news of Akmal Sheikh's execution has spread far and wide across the internet (although strangely, not so widely in ...

  • straight up machine

    The adoption of all things American is firmly entrenched in Chinese youth culture now - schoolboy heroes are not derived ...

  • horse bucket pull-up

    Although many of my literal translations have an obvious or logical sense to them when taken directly from Chinese to ...

  • change colour dragon

    Have you ever visited a Chinese zoo? In amongst all the dancing bears and pacing tigers, there may have been ...