ak2 translation

WARABI, Saitama -- The Warabi Municipal Government has designed a T-shirt showing how to write the notoriously difficult Chinese character used in the city's name.

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COLUMBIA, Mo. — Ominous in black robes and hoods, three artists move stealthily to manipulate unique charges: 1.2-metre Japanese puppets that are putting a new face on language instruction for college students in Missouri's heartland.

Their art is Bunraku, an ancient form of lyrical theatre in Japan, and their sensei (teacher) is a former Mormon missionary-turned-devotee - University of Missouri professor Martin Holman.

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The other day in English class I shocked a student by supplying her with a translation of the Japanese proverb "Even monkeys fall from trees." (The English-language proverb I used for the translation was "Even Homer sometimes nods.") The student seemed amazed that English had proverbs; she had believed them to be a unique feature of the Japanese language. I once got the same reaction from a student who thought that "puns" were an exclusively Japanese phenomenon.

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English got its millionth word just days ago. But what of Hindi lagging far behind with just 120,000 words?

Purists dismiss the millionth word - Web 2.0 – added to English as a publicity gimmick but it is undeniable the language has more words than any other. Considering the millionth English word might have been Hindi, 'Jai Ho', isn't it time we encouraged word imports the other way?

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There are many mottos in Sanskrit which have been readily adopted, like: Republic of India, Satyameva Jayate `Truth alone triumphs'; LIC of India, Yogakshemam Vahâmyaham `I shall take care of welfare'; Indian Navy, Shanno Varuna `May the ocean be peaceful to us'; Mumbai Police, Sadrakshanaaya Khlaha Nigrahanayah `For protection of the good and control of the wicked'; All India Radio, Bahujan Hitay Bahujan Sukhay `For the benefit of all, for the comfort of all'; Indonesian Navy, Jalesvava Jayamahe `On the sea, we are glorious'.

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An ancient script that's defied generations of archaeologists has yielded some of its secrets to artificially intelligent computers.

Computational analysis of symbols used 4,000 years ago by a long-lost Indus Valley civilization suggests they represent a spoken language. Some frustrated linguists thought the symbols were merely pretty pictures.

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The Internet has brought us closer together than ever before, or so the cliche goes. But has it really?

In one way, at least, it hasn't. Language barriers, the Internet's last frontiers, continue to trump technology, marking out dividing lines online just as they do offline. Beyond these barriers, new worlds of content have grown and evolved largely in isolation from one another.

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BEIJING — “Ma,” a Chinese character for horse, is the 13th most common family name in China, shared by nearly 17 million people. That can cause no end of confusion when Mas get together, especially if those Mas also share the same given name, as many Chinese do.

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'Nothing is sacred': Stephen Mitchell's love of Taoist masters brings ideas of two Chinese scholars to light

"If I'm a scholar, I'm an amateur," says Stephen Mitchell, the soft-spoken translator of Rainer Maria Rilke and the book of Job as well as Gilgamesh , the Bhagavad Gita and his all-time favorite, the Tao Te Ching --- as he says, "that marvel of lucidity and grace, the classic manual on the art of living."

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Oliver Radtke believes Chinglish mistranslations may be fun, but are not to be made fun of.

More than that, they have become serious business for the German Sinologist, who believes the portmanteau adds spice to the alphabet soup that is English today.

"My message on Chinglish is: It should be conserved.

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...Jagannath and Maate are a growing tribe of keen enthusiasts learning and understanding the richness of the medieval world by mastering the Pali language.

Pali language which was called Magadhi centuries back was the language of the masses. Buddhist scriptures used to be written in Pali extensively. It was Buddha's language. However, while Hindi and Marathi are still prevalent, Pali lost its significance years back.

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It is not easy to find a foreigner who hasn’t let his passion for Korea and its culture wane even slightly after a long period of living in this country.

Kevin O’Rourke, a 70-year-old Irish priest from the Missionary Society of Saint Columban in Seongbuk, northern Seoul, however, is noted as the first foreigner to earn a doctoral degree in Korean literature and for his English-language translations of Korean literary works, and his passion shows no sign of cooling.

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Ever wondered how the Chinese language is perceived in Korea and Japan, two countries located right next to China with languages that are originally unrelated but strongly influenced by Chinese characters? Well, here's how.

(For the purposes of this post, Chinese = Mandarin. There are many other types of "Chinese" in existence of course)

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ALMODOVAR (Portugal) - WHEN archaeologists on a dig in southern Portugal last year flipped over a heavy chunk of slate and saw writing not used for more than 2,500 years, they were elated.

The enigmatic pattern of inscribed symbols curled symmetrically around the upper part of the rough-edged, yellowish stone tablet and coiled into the middle in a decorative style typical of an extinct Iberian language called Southwest Script.

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