Saturday, July 23, 2011

A Chinese Chao (or 4)

  朝    吵    抄    超

As Kate and I prepare for our move to Shanghai, we needed to update the blog.  Previously, all variations of the original italian 'ciao' for each language we were learning/speaking meant either hello, goodbye or both.  In Chinese, however, this is not the case.  So, I had to ask my tutor and research the options:
  • Option 1:  朝 chao (2nd tone) - imperial or royal court; government; dynasty; reign of a sovereign or emperor; court or assembly held by a sovereign or emperor; to make a pilgrimage to

  • Option 2: 吵 chao (3rd tone) - to quarrel; to make a noise; noisy; to disturb by making a noise

  • Option 3: 抄 chao (1st tone) - to make a copy; to plagiarize; to search and seize; to raid; to grab; to go off with; to take a shortcut; to make a turning move; to fold one's arms
     
  • Option 4: 超 chao (1st tone) - to exceed; to overtake; to surpass; to transcend; to pass; to cross; ultra-; super-
I think both option 1 and option 4 work best, especially the 'pilgrimage' meaning of option 1, and the use of 'chao' to mean 'super-' (We could have 超 Ciao).

Thanks to www.yellowbridge.com for so much help with this.  

Right now the Chinese character representing option 1 is featured in the blog title.  What do you think?