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Former Massachusetts governor and presidential aspirant Mitt Romney's name translated in Chinese might mean "Sticky Rice." State Secretary William Galvin says the federal guv'mint wants the names of presidential candidates to be printed in Chinese characters on ballots in areas where the primary language is Chinese. That sounds like such a good idea that it probably should have been done a long time ago.
But translating an American name into Chinese characters isn't exactly easy and often winds up with some unintentionally hilarious results. You've probably received the chain e-mail featuring garbled lines from Hong Kong action movies, such as "Don't do anything perverted - we are in a hurry" and "A normal person wouldn't steal pituitaries."
So Romney was probably lucky that he got "Sticky Rice."
Mayor Menino wasn't as lucky. His name doesn't come out so well when translated:
But perhaps the most perplexing translation would be for Boston Mayor Thomas Menino's name, which could be read as "Sun Moon Rainbow Farmer" or "Imbecile," or "Barbarian Mud No Mind of His Own."
We wouldn't use the word "perplexing" to describe that series of nicknames. The words "deeply embarrassing" would be more appropriate. Bet that went over real well with Mayor Menino!
So it's no surprise that Galvin wants the ballots translated – as long as the names stay the same.
Image of sticky rice from wikipedia.
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I'll vote republican if I can vote for mango sticky rice. I looooooove mango sticky rice.
I think "translate" is a poor term to describe how Western names are converted into Mandarin. Transliteration would be a closer approximation of the actual process. Since Mandarin consists solely of one-syllable words, multiple words are required to represent multi-syllabic Western names.
What I don't understand about the article is why it claims it's "tough" to translate the candidates' names into Mandarin. I mean, wouldn't they just use pre-existing "translation" that people are familiar with, instead of inventing totally new ones? Unless this translation business is meant to cater to those who don't read English (and can't even sound out a word -- the candidate's name in English, for instance). If that is the case, then why not just print a thumbnail picture of the candidate on the ballot? Surely, presidential candidates get enough media exposure to be recognizable.
As a Chinese myself, I admire Galvin's intentions, but find the approach -- and the article -- somewhat puzzling.
P.S. The "translations" in the article only apply to the candidates' last names. E.g., Oh-Bus-Horse = Obama, not Barack Obama.
Must have been a slow news day, or the day the Globe let the 13 year olds develop their stories. I can hear "His name means 'sticky rice'" in my head a la Beavis & Butthead.
These are pure phonetic transliterations of the candidates names. No Chinese person versed in current events would read the words as "sticky rice" or whatever concoction the Globe wants you to believe. And by the way, this has been a practice with the Chinese as long as they've had contact with foreign nations (i.e., at least hundreds of years). This same phonetic transliteration is used for countries, brands, and even products. Why all of a sudden it's funny, amusing, bombastic, or even newsworthy for that matter is beyond me.