Lost in translation
Often times we heard people say learning Mandarin Chinese is difficult. Indeed it is one of the most difficult languages in the world. Being a China native, I can’t appreciate enough of the beauty of the Chinese language until I have a need to translate it into English. For example, 杭州八景 the eight famous scenes of Hangzhou is perfectly constructed in four small but precise and vivid Chinese words. These Chinese words paint a lovely picture on my mind. How can I translate them into English that still maintain the same beauty as they are in Chinese? I can’t! It’s a sad thing, isn’t it? But at least this is the best I can do to translate the top eight famous scenes of Hangzhou in English.
1．断桥残雪 Remnant Snow on the Bridge in Winter；
2．平湖秋月 Moon over the Peaceful Lake in Autumn；
3．阮墩环碧 Ruan Gong Islet Submerged in Greenery；
4．雷锋夕照 Leifeng Pagoda in the Sunset；
5．曲院风荷 Curved Yard and Lotus Pool in Summer；
6．三潭印月 Three Ponds Mirroring the Moon；
7．柳浪闻莺 Orioles Singing in the Willows；
8．南屏晚钟 Evening Bell Ringing at the Nanping Hill。
And then, it came the new ten scenes of the well known West Lake located in Hangzhou西湖新十景:
云栖竹径Bamboo–Lined Path at Yunqi
满陇桂雨Sweet Osmanthus Rain at Manjuelong Village
虎跑梦泉Dreaming of Tiger Spring at Hupao Valley
龙井问茶Inquiring About Tea at Dragon Well
九溪烟树Nine Creeks Meandering Through a Misty Forest
吴山天风Heavenly Wind over Wu Hill
阮墩环碧Ruan Gong Islet Submerged in Greenery
黄龙吐翠Yellow Dragon Cave Dressed in Green
玉皇飞云Clouds Scurrying over Jade Emperor Hill
宝石流霞Rainbow over Precious Stone Hill
How many of these scenes have you seen? Like the Chinese saying 上有天堂，下有苏杭Heaven is above, Hangzhou and Suzhou is beneath, Hangzhou and West Lake are truly one of the most beautiful places in China.
Chinese social media is a jungle
After three-month using the Chinese social media almost daily, I can say I am somewhat an expert. 新浪Sina.com（means new wave in English）has a twitter equivalent called 新浪微博weibo (means small chat in English); 人人renren.com （means everybody in English）and 腾讯QQ also have a twitter equivalent 微博weibo. Facebook is not easily accessible by the Chinese people, however one can use any of the three medias I mentioned above to accomplish the same thing as Facebook or Twitter. All three Chinese medias have the capability to add friends, listen to friends’ broadcast and follow friends. LinkedIn is widely used by professional Chinese people as well as professionals all over the world.
Each media attracts different groups of people. For example, 新浪Sina.com is where professional Chinese people like to hang out; 人人renren.com is very popular among college students; 腾讯QQ is where everybody likes to hang out and of course it has the largest user base among all medias. Some people overlap these medias. Another media I eventually gave up is 开心kaixin.com (means happy in English), because this is the place where the Chinese people hang out and play games. I am not a game player. Knowing who frequent which media can help you decide which media is the best for your business. My business is travel and education focused; therefore anyone and everyone can be my customer, so I need to hang out in all three medias.
In order to use the Chinese social media, of course you need to read and write in Chinese. And your customers are Chinese. You may wonder: how much time do you spend on managing these medias daily? The three Chinese medias plus weekly update on my LinkedIn and two or three times on my Facebook personal page and business page Mandarin International, together I have six sites to maintain frequently. I would say on the average I spend two to three hours daily if I have something to say. This does not include the time I spent on blogging where I have both an English blog and two Chinese blogs. If I have nothing to share, then I would not even bother to log in to these accounts.
As I get more familiar with the user interfaces of all medias, I am getting quicker and better at it. Usually I write one Chinese twitter and copy it to all three Chinese social medias. It’s funny that I really liked Chinese 微博weibo (twitter) even though I refuse to use Twitter in US here.
Here is my sophisticated social media map:
Blogs:
English – http://www.daileytravelservice.com/blog/
Chinese – http://www.meilecheng.com/blog/ and http://blog.sina.com.cn/u/2163468803
微博Weibo (Chinese Twitter): search 陈琼 my Chinese on Sina.com, renren.com, and QQ。
LinkedIn: view my profile by searching Katie (Qiong) Dailey if you already have a LinkedIn account, otherwise view my public profile at http://www.linkedin.com/in/katieqiongdailey2008
Facebook: you must log in first, then search Qiong Dailey for my personal page; or http://www.facebook.com/MandarinInternational for my business page.
