(Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/odd/2011-02/18/c_13738661.htm)
The above photo shows someone use English to write Spring Couplets. "Study hard" , "work hard", "make money more and more" probably mean "努力學習、努力工作、錢越賺越多". "Eat well", "sleep well", "have fun day by day" are the Chinese words of "吃得不錯、睡得不錯、天天都開心". "Luck" is "福".
"Gelivable" is a Chinese word translated into English, which means "給力". It is not an English word, but it was invented by Internet users. It shows that translating Chinese word in English can be informal and funny, although it is just for fun.
Do you want to try to write Spring Couplets in English? I think it will have fun.
Thanks for sharing, Darren. I actually think the Chinese 给力 might have been a translation of 'empower'. If that's the case, then the back-translation of 给力 should be 'empowerment', 'empowering' or 'empower'. Red
ReplyDeleteThis is a very funny post :D I have never imagined writing English the Spring Couplets. It's because it is hard to write English vertically. However, I think the person who wrote this is very creative. Not only the word "Gelivable", I think the phrases that wrote in the other Spring Couplets are also Chinglish. Maybe the writer did this on purpose? Since the Spring Couplet is a Chinese culture.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this interesting post to us.
By Kourtney