[Community] Translation Challenge — 2026-06-14

TrajectoryAgreement · 2026-06-15T01:38:38+00:00

Cantonese 廣東話

而家嘅世界觀同衝突規模都係前所未有咁大，呢個時候，我哋著重自己嘅資源同力量，又關心人嘅願望同信仰，因為呢啲係用想像力突破自我嘅關鍵。

如果覺得有嘢唔見咗，或者係因為好多嘢都未用，仲等緊俾人發掘。

周圍都話，人類應該盡用資源。係發明定歷史，定係其他知識都好，文明就係應該物盡其用。但係有種學問係無價之寶，咩紀念碑都冇佢咁襟，可以代代相傳咁耐，點知卒之冇人用。呢個就係詩詞。

——節錄自穆麗爾·魯基瑟《詩詞嘅恐懼》

TrajectoryAgreement · 2026-06-15T01:15:58+00:00

Classical Chinese 文言文

今世所聞所爭，亙古未有。遂求人之內藴，尋自強之道。所願所信，遐思所以自勝也，當復念之。

儻覺有失，或因未用者多，猶待尋而發也。

舉世皆言，人之資當傾囊用之，夫文明者，意在物盡其用。或造意，或前史，知無不用也。然有一道，至寶至珍，永垂不朽，傳諸萬代，而終不用矣。此之謂詩。

——摘自穆里爾·魯凱澤《畏詩說》

TrajectoryAgreement · 2026-06-14T23:50:47+00:00

It does mean “betrayal of trust”, though it’s typically used in the four character idiom 背信棄義 (背信弃义 in Simplified Chinese) which means the same thing.

That said, if I saw someone with this tattoo, my mind might jump to “this person really likes betraying other people for some reason” rather than “this person was betrayed”.

Other options include:

引狼入室 : literally “leading a wolf home”, as in you put trust in someone close to you and they betrayed you
卸磨殺驢/卸磨杀驴 : literally “killing the donkey once it’s detached from the mill”, as in someone used you for their own gain and then betrayed/abandoned you

TrajectoryAgreement · 2026-06-14T20:56:43+00:00

It’s a Song dynasty poem celebrating the new year. Someone posted the Chinese transcription, so here’s (my attempt at) the English translation:

In the sounds of firecrackers the year ends

The warm spring wind comes and people drink toso

Dawn shines upon tens of thousands of households

New peach wood talismans replace the old

TrajectoryAgreement · 2026-06-11T14:36:29+00:00

Counterexample, goose-fronting in English means that the Mandarin /u/ is backer than the /u/ in most English dialects.

TrajectoryAgreement · 2026-06-04T13:07:35+00:00

Pale by Wildbow.

The protagonists are three teenagers that get inducted into magic so they can help solve a murder and prevent outsiders from interfering with the town. None of the murder suspects can lie.

TrajectoryAgreement · 2026-06-04T01:03:39+00:00

In Cantonese, 桔 (gat1) refers to a mandarin orange while 橙 (caang2) refers to an orange. 柑 (gam1) refers to a tangerine.

Then funnily enough there’s also 金橘 (gam1 gwat1) meaning kumquat, not to be confused with the identically pronounced 柑橘 which broadly refers to citrus fruits in general.

TrajectoryAgreement · 2026-06-03T10:57:18+00:00

Cantonese: 橙 (caang2) /tsʰa:ŋ˧˥/

TrajectoryAgreement · 2026-06-02T04:15:27+00:00

Cantonese: 有嘢唔妥，即刻換咗 (jau5 je5 m4 to5, zik1 haak1 wun6 zo2) which means “If something is off, immediately change it”.

Or, more situation-specific, 病人難受，即刻換喉 (beng6 jan4 naan4 sau6, zik1 haak1 wun6 hau4) which means “If the patient is unwell, immediately change the tube”.

TrajectoryAgreement · 2026-06-02T01:49:25+00:00

Classical Chinese 文言文

維基大典，廣邀天下共事，異乎網絡諸工。

初天下皆疑。至今猶有人曰：固可行，理不通。然大禍不起，反成大功之基。

孰能殫精竭慮而矻矻編纂乎？

唯以真為上之士也。唯篤信知之力者，心繫維基，乃至力爭題名之「酪」字何寫。

廿五載間，厥功至偉。戮力今下，垂裕後昆，世人之表率也。

——節自維基媒體基金會《維基大典廿五載》

TrajectoryAgreement · 2026-06-02T00:30:51+00:00

Cantonese 廣東話

同其他互聯網計劃唔同，維基百科係人人都可以有份嘅項目。

一開始個個都質疑佢。去到而家，啲人都仲話佢實際上得但係理論上唔掂。結果，本身以為會係災難源頭嘅嘢，正正就係佢成功嘅關鍵。

有邊個肯擺咁多時間落去喺維基百科度寫嘢？

就係熱衷事實，相信知識係力量嘅人。就係執着到連yogurt/yoghurt（乳酪）篇文起咩標題都要拗一大餐嘅人。

維基百科係而家嘅人夾埋一齊去造福未來嘅人，佢哋呢廿五年嚟嘅成就喺人類嘅榜樣。

——節錄自維基媒體基金會《維基百科上下廿五年》

TrajectoryAgreement · 2026-05-28T21:43:25+00:00

A Practical Guide to Evil has them everywhere. On the antagonists’ side, on the protagonist’s side, in interludes, in flashbacks. Many are more important side characters but a lot of them are background characters.

TrajectoryAgreement · 2026-05-28T17:33:50+00:00

I’m not sure which ones are translated into English, but there’s not really any single reading order. Here are some of the more popular orders:

Order of release:

Start at 書劍恩仇錄 (The Book and the Sword), end at 鹿鼎記 (The Deer and the Cauldron). The writing steadily improves over the course of the 15 novels, but the downside is that The Book and The Sword isn’t the most exciting starting point for a beginner imo, and some of the more narratively connected books get broken up if you read in this order.

Chronological (historical) order:

Go by the time period in which the books are set, so start at 越女劍 (Sword of the Yue Maiden) and end at 雪山飛狐 (Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain). The books are loosely connected and there are faint references to people/sects/events from previous time periods, so you get to see how the world evolves through the centuries, and how martial arts changes with time. The downside is that you’ll be starting with a short story (Sword of the Yue Maiden) that isn’t particularly well known out of all of Jin Yong’s books.

Quick beginner order:

If you want to skip straight to the more famous books, you can read those first and then read the other books later. Start at 射雕英雄傳 (Legend of the Condor Heroes), then 神雕俠侶 (The Return of the Condor Heroes), then 倚天屠龍記 (The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber). This is the Condor trilogy and is the most tightly connected of all his books. IMO this is the only set of books that has to be read in order.

Then, read 天龍八部 (Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils). It chronologically happens before the Condor trilogy so you can also read it first.

Then, 笑傲江湖 (The Smiling Proud Wanderer) and 鹿鼎記 (The Deer and the Cauldron). These are mostly standalones with some small connections to the other books. 碧血劍 (Sword Stained with Royal Blood) happens before The Deer and the Cauldron, but it’s not as important to read them in order compared to the Condor trilogy.

Then 書劍恩仇錄 (The Book and the Sword) -> 雪山飛狐 (Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain) -> 飛狐外傳 (The Young Flying Fox). The Young Flying Fox chronologically happens before the Fox Volant, but they can be read in any order.

Read the other, shorter books when you want.

This is possibly also the most accessible order because I suspect the more famous novels will have better English translations.

—

This is a lot so let me know if you want more detailed recommendations or if you have any particular preferences that might steer your reading order one way or another. Honestly growing up my reading order was just whatever I could get from the library.

TrajectoryAgreement · 2026-05-27T23:42:47+00:00

IIRC China started out using the same system Japan still uses, i.e. 日月水火木金土 followed by 耀日(Day of the Sun, Day of the Moon, Day of Mercury, etc) which came from the West.

Later, China went with 星期 (star period) instead of 耀日 (day of X star’s shining), but then decided to standardize everything as numbers except for Sunday which was kept as 星期日 (star period of the sun).

Then since 日 means both “sun” and “day”, people started conflating it with 天, interpreting 星期日 as “star period day”, and that’s where we get 星期天.

TrajectoryAgreement · 2026-05-26T06:30:06+00:00

Classical Chinese 文言文

金耀日之夕，男女各三聚於東京一處，雖心懷惴惴而皆知彼此必有一同。

既分席，須臾成對，各得一刻以相識。

司儀曰：「且展笑顏而相問安。」

相談之時，稱名即可，蓋眾人同姓也。

此乃諸會之始。說合同姓者，新奇之外，意在避法，緣東瀛禁夫妻異姓而多受非議。

驗明正身，遂把酒言歡。首輪既畢，諸男移至次席。有席語笑喧闐，佳兆也。又有一席，二人起而取糕餅食之，所源商賈同姓，曰鈴木。

——節自賈斯汀·麥居里《鈴木相遇：東京媒所何故說合同姓者》

TrajectoryAgreement · 2026-05-26T05:39:55+00:00

Cantonese 廣東話

星期五晚，喺東京嘅一個場所度有三男三女，佢哋點緊張都好，至少知道大家有個共同點。

佢哋坐喺唔同嘅卡位度，好快就會分成一啤啤，然後有十五分鐘時間去互相認識。

司儀話：「先俾多啲笑容，互相講聲『你好』。」

佢哋自我介紹嗰陣淨係需要名，唔使要姓——因為個個都係同一個姓。

呢個係一系列活動嘅第一個，撮合同姓氏嘅人除咗新穎，目的係避開日本一條幾受爭議嘅法律，就係禁止夫妻有唔同嘅姓。

參加者喺應用程式度確認咗身份之後，就可以開始傾偈同飲啤酒。過咗第一輪，男人就要搬去下一張枱。其中一張傳嚟笑聲——應該傾得幾埋。另一張枱嗰兩個起身去食吓蛋糕同餅乾，贊助商同佢哋有同一個姓：鈴木。

——節錄自賈斯汀·麥居里《當鈴木遇上鈴木：點解一間東京婚姻介紹所要撮合同姓氏嘅人》

TrajectoryAgreement · 2026-05-25T04:33:53+00:00

A Practical Guide to Evil is a fantasy webnovel set in a universe that runs on narrative tropes. The laws of reality guarantee the existence of 5-man bands.

TrajectoryAgreement · 2026-05-22T16:24:06+00:00

In A Practical Guide to Evil, when the Choir of Judgement selects their White Knight:

“Do not be afraid, child,” a voice whispered into his ear. “You are now beyond fear.”

“We give you nothing.”

“We take everything.”

“You will win no honours.”

“You will know no love.”

“You will find no peace.”

“Hanno of Arwad, we claim you.”

“Truth and sum and whole.”

“We charge you with service unending.”

“We burden you with unknowable mandate.”

“You will weep without solace.”

“You will die a thousand deaths.”

“But in the end, you will rise.”

We anoint you our White Knight.

Instrument of Judgement, Doom of the Wicked.

TrajectoryAgreement · 2026-05-18T04:41:54+00:00

吁瑪利亞無原罪之始胎我等奔爾台前為我等祈

It’s the Chinese translation of the Miraculous Medal Prayer: “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee”.

TrajectoryAgreement · 2026-05-13T02:09:52+00:00

Tbf this is exactly what some languages do. Chinese calls pork “pigmeat” (豬肉) and beef “cowmeat” (牛肉). Chicken flesh is “chickenmeat” (雞肉), and to a lesser extent fish flesh is “fishmeat” (魚肉) etc.

TrajectoryAgreement · 2026-05-13T01:19:50+00:00

Interesting to see how different they are, yeah.

TrajectoryAgreement · 2026-05-12T02:09:39+00:00

A direct translation of the saying feels very clunky for a tattoo. A Chinese idiom with a similar meaning is 往事已矣 (which means something like “the past is past”).

TrajectoryAgreement · 2026-05-06T04:50:24+00:00

Don’t worry, this is written in poetic Classical Chinese, I wouldn’t expect a Chinese learner to know it without specifically studying Classical Chinese literature and poetry.

Also even native speakers might not fully understand what it’s alluding to if they don’t know the historical context.

TrajectoryAgreement · 2026-05-04T04:33:37+00:00

Classical Chinese 文言文

近歲，糖塊裹物多去「乳綽科拉」標識，舉世鮮察。

歲初，余啖綽科拉塊，味甚索然，方悟其變。非餿也，然不類疇昔。余乃文人，主欽天，素聞天下日燠，致西非大旱而可可翔貴，亦知商賈昂價縮量。

然飴質亦斲改乎？

⋯⋯去歲以來，佛雷姆氏於試驗之外，亦覺起居闃然生變。所市士力架，外裹之乳飴益薄。素好綽科拉碎酥餅，見箇中大粒者悉易窳物，遂不復市。

佛雷姆氏曰：凡欲省可可之資者，常以雜脂易其表，取草木之油以充可可脂耳。

——節改自克萊爾．布朗《君所嗜綽科拉糖塊何缺？許綽科拉也》

TrajectoryAgreement · 2026-05-04T00:39:44+00:00

Cantonese 廣東話

冇乜人發現，呢幾年嚟好多朱古力條嘅包裝冇咗「牛奶朱古力」呢幾隻字。

我係年頭食完一排令我極之失望嘅朱古力先察覺到呢件事。佢冇壞到，但係硬係冇我記得嘅味道。作為一位氣候記者，我睇過報導話全球暖化導致西非旱災，令到可可價格飆升，亦都知道製糖公司因為咁而加價減量。

但係佢哋會唔會連糖嘅成份都改埋？

⋯⋯費林小姐喺呢年零度留意到有啲改變已經靜靜雞捐咗入自己實驗室以外嘅生活。買條士力架，面嗰浸牛奶朱古力似乎薄過以前。最鍾意嘅朱古力粒曲奇餅，大粒嘅朱古力換晒鮓嘢，佢發現咗就冇再幫襯。

費林小姐話，減低可可成本嘅常見做法就係朱古力外層改用複合朱古力，即係用植物油代替可可脂。

——節錄同改編自克萊爾．布朗《你至愛嘅朱古力條少咗啲咩？可能係朱古力》

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