“Alzheimer”

Patrick did not want “knowledge” and “power” to be tattooed on him in plain English, so he made his own design by combining two images he saw on a couple of tattoo websites.



The good news is all the characters are correctly done.

Although "authority" is usually written as 権威 in Chinese, but according to Unihan database, 威権 is also accepted as “authority” or “power” in Japanese.

I didn’t know what 奥滋 meant.

Interestingly enough, the Chinese translation for “Alzheimer’s Disease” is 奧滋海默綜合症.

"Pride"

Mya's roommate got this tattoo done and claims it meant "pride".



"Pride"?!

Only if he is enrolled in the special education class.

This 傲 is "pride", what he got is 敖, and it means "[to] ramble".

"Beauty"

larger view

What is more embarrassing than discovering your Chinese character tattoo 美 does not mean what you thought it meant and it is done upside down?

"Lower Class"

Scott wants to have several characters tattooed on him.

In his first email, he explains:

“This is a tattoo that I want to get Number 4. In the center it is suppose to say ‘family love.’ On the left, I have two names, ‘Zoe’ on top and ‘Angie’ at bottom. On the right, I have two names, ‘Grady’ on top and ‘Jordan’ at bottom.”



Surprised by the translator’s choice of using 下流 as “Jordan”, I asked Scott if that was a mistake.

下流 【かりゅう】 (n) downstream; lower reaches of a river; lower classes

He replied in a second email that this was indeed not a mistake. He also told me he got the translations from Eri Takase.

Either Ms. Takase needs an updated lesson on Japanese/Chinese language, or she should brush up on professional ethics.

BBC Radio Five Live

http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/programmes/upallnight.shtml

I have just finished a phone interview with BBC Radio Five Live today.

I was told it was aired in “Up All Night” segment of the show later today or tonight depends on which part of the world you living in.

Have a listen everyone, and please let me know what you think.

4.85 MB mp3 file here or here.

Thanks,


Tian

"Joe"

In Joe’s email, along with the photo, he says:

“After seeing your site I probably would be happier if I remained ignorant, but I have to know - what does my tattoo say? It was supposed to say, ‘Joe’.

My only defense in getting this tattoo, about 10 years ago, which I could not read, I was young and stupid.”



The three character tattooed are nowhere near “Joe”.

The two outer characters 術 and 功 are recognizable, but the center character is difficult to distinguish.

Typically, 乔 is the Chinese phonetical transliteration for “Joe”, and 穣 in Japanese kanji.

New York Times and Los Angeles Times

My interviews with New York Times and Los Angeles Times have been printed.



Cool Tat, Too Bad It’s Gibberish (pdf & jpeg)
New York Times – April 2, 2006

Indelibly lost in translation (pdf)
Los Angeles Times – March 19, 2006

I will update more when I get the printed versions. In the meantime, I would like to thank everyone for your support which has made this possible.

Especially you, Mr/s. Anonymous.



Matter of fact, I have actually purchased a copy of The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White. ISBN 0-205-30902-X.

Hopefully someday I can also make people nauseous like Vin Diesel did by repeating a book's title over and over again.