Deciphering slogans!
wildyaks
December 29, 2007, 07:19 AM posted in General DiscussionI have just tried to work out the meaning of a slogan, written on a red banner which is hanging across the street in which I live. It crossed my mind that this could be an exercise others might be interested in, too.
Slogans are everywhere. On walls at construction sites, red banners across big buildings, or streets. They usually reflect something of the social, economic and political goals of an area or of the whole country.
My little place (small town of about 6000 people) has quite a few and I could keep us provided with slogans for a while...
Here is one:
严厉打击制售假冒伪劣商品违法行为营造和谐放心消费环境。
vivian128
December 29, 2007, 08:07 AMhello everyone, I'm a chinese girl in Shanghai, I want to improve my english. any one who want to learn chinese and chinese culture can contact me without hesitate. my msn is "vivian-tang@hotmail.com" and my skype is "vivian128". I'm friendly. we can teach each other to make progress.
bazza
December 29, 2007, 11:32 AMIs it something like? "Crack down on illegal manufacture of fake merchandise gives piece of mind to local community."
wildyaks
December 30, 2007, 02:54 AMPhil, the fun is working out the translations yourself! Some vocab I learnt in just that one above: 严厉 yan2li4 severe 打击 da3ji1 strike, attack 伪劣 wei3lie4 inferior, false 违法行为 wei2fa3xing2wei2 illegal behaviour 营造 ying2zao4 build So, the sentence structrue is something like... Severely strike down on... to build ...
phil
December 30, 2007, 05:22 AMWildyaks, I fully agree but 1) I subscribe to ESNW and hence saw the English translations before I realised there was a link to the original Chinese source and 2) more fundamentally, I am not yet studying characters. Perhaps I should rectify 2!
wildyaks
December 31, 2007, 11:06 AMNobody seems to get into this. But it's good for me, since I see those banners every day and vocab gets reinforced... So, I'll keep on going for a while... The last one I would translate as: 严厉打击制售假冒伪劣商品违法行为营造和谐放心消费环境 (yanli dazhi zhishou jiamao weilie shangpin weifaxingwei yingzao hexie fangxin xiaofei huanjing) Severly strike down on the illegal behaviour of false and inferior production of goods, build a harmonious and relaxed consumer environment. (That's not very smooth English, I know.) Here is a new one: 为了共同的未来，全社会都来关心支持教育。(wei le gongtong de weilai, quan shehui dou guanxin zhichi jiaoyu). That's a simple one...
bazza
December 31, 2007, 11:50 AMHello? 你好 *waves*
RJ
December 31, 2007, 11:56 AMGo for it Wildyaks, I find them interesting.
bazza
December 31, 2007, 12:01 PM***Spoiler*** *************** *************** "In order to have common future, all society must, together support education."
wildyaks
January 05, 2008, 02:52 PMTime to get this to the top of the list again... Last one does not need my comment. Bazza gave the translation. It reflects the policy of "普九" -pu jiu, nine year compulsory school education, which in some places in the West of China is only now being implemented. With mixed success. Here is another one: 实施"行动计划"，推进"两基攻".
phil
December 29, 2007, 07:55 AMWildyaks, There are a whole bunch of banners here just as you described: http://club2.cat898.com/newbbs/dispbbs.asp?boardid=1&star=1&replyid=22326385&id=1954330&skin=0&page=1 which were recently posted with translations on the EastSouthWestNorth blog. I'll not include that link in case it would spoil your fun! Anyway, ESWN is currently blocked in Changchun.