When I first showed up to the local pool for swimming lessons with my son, I was a bit taken aback by his swimming instructor. Before, he had always had women, but this time a young man was going to instruct him. Amusingly, he had a tattoo on his back shoulder, and both of his nipples pierced. After the first week of lessons for my son, I finally decided to ask him about the tattoo on his back. (Good timing, since I was writing this!) It was a Japanese symbol, and surrounded by a ball of flame.
He answered, “My father and I got the same tattoo together – it means family.” I had to ask to obvious. “Are you sure that is what it means?” He laughed and nodded an affirmative. “Yeah – we looked it up online at a Japanese to English translation site.” Well, if there was anything that a person wanting to get a tattoo should do; it was that! Doing research on any tattoo – especially ones that are translations, should be the very first step taken by any prospective tattoo bearer.
Both the Chinese and Japanese languages are a couple of the most ancient dialects in the world! They have over 2000 characters apiece, and some English words are so new (like McDonald’s) that the Japanese do not even have an equivalent character. Speaking of which, Beijing, China, will be hosting the 2008 Olympics. Did you hear that – in order to assist the English-speaking tourists coming overseas – they are trying to compensate by translating signs and banners throughout the city to assist the English speakers. However, many characters DO NOT translate, or translate very badly (Their Hospital of Proctology and Intestinal Disorders once read The Hospital of Anus and Intestinal Disorders).
This is not the way our Chinese friends want to be seen – a joke. They are a proud, calm, and surprisingly technological culture, and should not be regarded as jokes. I once read a sign for a gas station that said, “Clean toilets – kids eat free!” Ookkay . . . does that mean that kids can eat out of the clean toilets for free, or . . . well, I am sure you get the point! I would think that our culture is too full of confusing words. Did you ever stop to think about how difficult it was to learn the difference between the words their, there, and they’re in school? That being said, Asians are far from ignorant – especially if the thousands of tattoos in the Asian languages are any reflection.
It seems to me as if foreigners to the Japanese and Chinese languages hold the history of such ancient cultures in such high regard that – the foreigners are getting Chinese and Japanese characters tattooed on their bodies! Before getting any type of language forever etched on your very person, be sure to consult with professionals, and pick out the character worth tremendous meaning to you.
Posts
