Keyword: DYNASTY | Deciphering Chinese language II

China had emperors (帝) for about 4,000 years. The character 帝 can mean “emperor” and “god”, as the emperors were considered gods on Earth. The character represents an altar, where sacrifices could be made by the emperor as a gift to Heaven. Emperors were represented by the colour yellow (黄), therefore, the buildings directly related to the emperor as, of course, his vests and objects were all yellow. Actually, the character representing the colour yellow was inspired by the emperor’s looks.

Colour coding has a huge weight in Chinese culture. For example, the colour red (红) is the most auspicious colour and it is used for wedding dresses for good luck, while white (白) is definitely not used in weddings as it is a funeral colour, thus, connected to death. Each one of the five elements has its own colour, which is also linked to a cardinal direction and to an area of life. For example, red is linked to Fire (火), South (南) and to fame and reputation while green (绿) is linked to Wood (木), East (东) and to family. Chinese people not only organize their home according to these principles, but also organize their whole life.

Dynasties are all about family. The character 家 can mean “family” and “home” and represents a pig under a roof. In the old days, people would live together with the animals they were raising to eat. When together with other characters, 家 can change slightly its meaning. For example, if we put it together with “person” (人), 家人 means “family member”, and if we put it together with “whole” (全), 全家 means the “whole family”.

Royal families shaped the country, by adding (or losing) terrain, and by developing the cultural scene as well as the education system. They also regarded the country as the centre of the world. That is why China is known as the “Middle Country”: 中国, where 中 is “middle” and 国 is “country”. Probably, in the old days, it was known as the “Middle Empire”: 中帝国, where 中 is “middle”, 帝 is emperor, and 国 is country (“the middle country of the emperor”).

宫 means palace, where the emperor lived with his wife, his children, his servants and his concubines. The character shows a kind of house, with blocks and a roof. If we add the character 女 (woman), we get “palace woman/lady/maid” (宫女). 女 is also present in concubine (妾, below) and wife (妻, below). The character 宫 helps to translate “White House”: 白宫, where 白 is “White” and 宫 serves as “House”. It is also used to tell “maze”: 迷宫, where 迷 is (among other meanings) “confusing”. So, in China, “maze” is a confusing palace.

This article is part of the BRINGING ACROSS series
“Translation” in different languages comes from or is based on the meaning of two similar Latin words which convey the idea of transferring something from A to B… “bringing across”. In this category, we aim to explore how to “bring across” meaning between languages.

Key place: CHINA | Mandarin – the language and the person

Before the era of colonialism exploded in the 17th century, the Portuguese were already sailing the seas and establishing commercial ports on the coast of Africa (West and East), India and many other Asian countries, including China and even Japan. In China, despite the Chinese dislike for foreigners, they managed to be accepted as trading “partners” (it is not clear how) and built a very successful trading port in Macau. This port was in connection with other Portuguese ports in the area, for example in Japan, India, Malaysia, and Indonesia. The final aim was, of course, to ship many riches to the capital of the Portuguese empire, Lisbon.

“Mandarim” is originally a Portuguese word (mandarim), meaning a Chinese public official of a higher rank. Rumour has it that the Portuguese used to make fun of these bureaucratic officials, who were considered pedant, thus, the word mandarim could be used in a depreciative way. The Portuguese adopted this word from the Sanskrit mantrin via Malay mĕntĕri, meaning “counsellor”, as in “the one in charge”.

In truth, the term “mandarin” does not really exist in China, it is a European term. “Mandarins” were actually public servants that existed for as long as emperors existed. To become a public servant, one had to pass a very strict and demanding exam called 科举 [Keju], meaning “imperial examination”. The candidates would be (literally) locked up in cells for three days, dressed with a robe given to them (to avoid cheating) and would answer all kinds of questions from different fields of knowledge. Some would die during that time; many would fail the exam. However, those who passed the exam had a lifelong job waiting for them. The candidates could take the exam at any given age, so many would repeat it until old age.

Education has always been very important in China, thus, these public servants (which were also scholars) were highly regarded by society. They were also examples and defenders of moral values, studying the arts, science, law, and politics throughout their lives. Confucius was one of those public servants in the law field. Things did not work very well for him in such a role and he ended up going back to his hometown to become a teacher. As a teacher, however, he was a success and his teachings set the basis for the entire moral framework of China, until our days. He lived at the same time as Sun Tzu, the one who set the military framework of China.

As part of the imperial staff, public officials spoke the language of the imperial court, which much later has become the standard language for the entire country. For Europeans that is “Mandarin Chinese”, which is named after those public officials. In Chinese, it is 中文 (Chinese language/writing). The first character is an abbreviation for 中国 (China or China-related). Some people say there are different languages in China, others say they are just different dialects. Standard Chinese is based on the language/dialect of Beijing (the old imperial court “language”), whose written version has been simplified in the 20th century to make it easier to teach it to the whole population and facilitate its spread throughout the country. Generally, this is the “language/dialect” learnt by foreigners.

Some decades ago, business people from outside China were encouraged to learn the Cantonese language. Cantonese comes from “Canton”, which originates from the Portuguese word Cantão, which was how Portuguese merchants would pronounce Guangdong, the Chinese province where Macau and Hong Kong are located. As both these cities became international trading ports (Macau was Portuguese and Hong Kong was British), during a period of time the international Chinese language for business was Cantonese. Not so much anymore.

Yet, “Mandarin” can have other meanings. It can refer to a type of orange, originated from Asia and similar to a tangerine, probably named after the Chinese imperial public officers due to their orange robes. The public offices also “gave” their name to a bird: the Mandarin duck that is very adorned, like the imperial mandarins…

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This article is part of the WORD CHRONICLES series
Word Chronicles are articles where the meaning of words, concepts, and perceptions are discussed.

Key place: CHINA | Deciphering Chinese language I

As any (good) translator will tell you, translating is not about translating words, it is about translating an entire culture. Language is closely related to culture and it reflects the environment and the landscape in which such language was developed. The classic example is Greenland. Inuit languages are the ones which have more words for different types of snow and ice. It is literally a matter of life or death to know exactly what kind they are encountering.

European languages are based on an alphabet that is used to build words and those words are organised in sentences. The Chinese language is based on characters, which basically are images. If in European languages you can learn how to “make” words and build sentences, in Chinese language you need to memorise all the characters. Yet, there are some clues that can help you with that.

Chinese culture is rooted in nature, especially animals and the five elements: Earth (土), Water (水), Fire (火), Wood (木), Metal (金). For example, in China, the years are counted according to the moon cycles, but they are not numbered; they are named. Each year represents an animal and an element. 2026 is the year of the Fire Horse (火马年) – 火 means fire; 马 means horse; 年 means year. Last year was the year of the Wood Sake (木蛇年) – 木 means wood; 蛇 means snake; 年 means year. There are twelve animals and five elements, which results in sixty year cycles.

Characters can be composed by repeated characters. For example, Fire (火) represents a bonfire. If you put two bonfires, one on top of the other, you get “burning hot” (炎). If there are three bonfires, you get “flames” (焱). The same for Wood (木), which represents a tree: two trees are a forest (林) and three trees are a dense forest (森). Now, putting a character next to another character can change their meaning. For example, Fire (火) and Mountain (山) results in Volcano (火山), which basically is a “fire mountain”. If instead of “fire” you have “ice” (冰), you have an “iceberg” (冰山). Although there is logic, you still need to know it by heart.

Some characters can work together to compose new characters. For example, “fire” is in the character 灯, meaning “lamp”, because in the old days lamps only existed with fire. Likewise, “wood” is in the character “bed” (床), because in the old days beds were made of wood.

The characters for Feng Shui (風水) literally mean “wind” and “water”. It is a theory to organise one’s house according to the five elements and the cardinal directions. Each house is divided into nine dimensions of life and each division is located geographically in certain directions. For example, the life dimension of “career” is located in the north (北) direction. Interestingly, this is where the emperor’s accommodation is located, as well as the accommodation of the “head of the house” in family homes, meaning the provider. On the other hand, the office where the emperor would receive their visitors and ambassadors was located in the south (南) direction, which corresponds to the “fame” dimension. It was also where the families would probably receive their visitors, or would have their shops. The “career” dimension is also related to the element “water” (for the career to run like the water and overcome all obstacles with relative ease) and the “fame” dimension is related to the element “fire” (for their reputation will light up like a bright fire).

As the cardinal points are important, it is not surprising that many cities and regions have a reference to such points in their names. The classic example is Beijing (北京), which literally means north (北) capital (京). Before Beijing, the capital of China was Nanjing (南京), the south (南) capital (京). Hainan (海南) is an island in the south, not very far from Vietnam. Its name literally means sea (海) in the south (南). The references to natural landscapes are also very common. There is a region called Shandong (山东), the mountain (山) in the east (东), and a region called Shanxi (山西), the mountain (山) in the west (西).