Sunday, March 25, 2012

Translation of Chinese Culinary Terms (Part Two: Solutions)































Translating Chinese menus seems very easy: just look up each word in a dictionary and copy what you see. Even easier is to copy other people's menus, but these two methods can cause serious problems. My ideas are just suggestions: maybe they can help some of you avoid mistakes. What do you think? 拋磚引玉!

Translation of Chinese Culinary Terms (Part One: Problems)

Here is a slightly revised version of today's PowerPoint presentation. Comments are welcome. Please note that I could not locate a Creative Commons photo of Cordyceps Sinensis, so I used a photo of a related fungus which also attacks caterpillars.







Taiwanese Menu Game

To get ready for our game, please look up the following items commonly eaten in Taiwan:

八寶冰, 大腸包小腸, 小籠包, 切仔麵, 木瓜牛奶, 牛肉麵, 仙草芋圓, 四神湯, 羊肉爐, 肉圓, 珍珠奶茶, 臭豆腐, 甜不辣, 蚵仔煎, 棺材板, 筒仔米糕, 當歸麵線, 鼎邊銼, 滷肉飯, 潤餅, 魷魚羹, 薑母鴨, 鹹酥雞, 鱔魚麵

Please think carefully and choose the best translation for each item. Remember that good translations should be:

A) CLEAR: a foreigner should be able to look at/hear the name and guess what it is. Transliteration/romanization should be avoided. If possible, try to modify an existing word with a similar meaning, such as: "Chinese ravioli" (因為ravioli 是家喻戶曉的義大利名菜,所以取不太邏輯的名稱「中國的義大利餃子」)

B) ATTRACTIVE (the words should sound good: alliteration, rhyme and rhythm): 狗不理包子 Tianjin Boss is Busy Buns)

C) CULTURALLY ACCEPTABLE to English-speaking foreigners: e.g. "fungus" ~ "mushroom," but "mushroom" is much more acceptable, so 木耳 should NOT be translated as "tree fungus" (聽起來很噁心!). 木耳="tree mushroom" (可能好吃,外國人可以接受)

Questions, Problems, Comments?
If you have questions or problems with any of your translations, please add talk about two dishes. Which dish are you commenting on? Please give the number and the name. If you have no problem at all, just write "x" in the box.

Descriptions
Some foreigners are VERY careful about what they eat (because of their religion or because they are allergic/squeamish). They will ask you EXACTLY what each dish contains.

Choose five of the above dishes, write the # and Chinese name, list the main ingredients and add a short comment (say anything you want). Please choose only ONE noodle dish.

Example:

"#17 木瓜牛奶: A papaya milk shake contains papaya, fresh milk, and sugar (some places add honey instead). Drink your papaya milk shake quickly. Otherwise, it will curdle and turn bitter."


Enter your translations here

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Technical English

This week all of you watched refrigerator (upright cooler) maintenance videos. The biggest problem was not vocabulary. Many of you had problems because you haven't practiced enough listening to normal English rhythm and linking. Some people complained that there were too many technical words (專有名詞太多). Actually, each video only included a very small number of specialized words (two or three).

Understanding how to fly an airplane is much, much more difficult. This involves tons of technical vocabulary. In these two videos, Pranas Drulis, a young man from Lithuania, explains how to start an Airbus. Watch for fun:

1] Airbus A320 - From Cold and Dark to Ready for Taxiing 

If you read this article first, the video will be easier to understand: What do all the controls in an airplane cockpit do?





In the second video, Pranas is working with a friend, Povilas Maknavičius:

2] Boeing 737 -- From Cold and Dark to Ready for Taxiing

Remember: these two young men come from Lithuania, a small country in Eastern Europe. Only 3,000,000 people live here, only a little bigger than Taipei.


60% of people in Lithuania learn to speak Russian. English is probably these men's 2nd foreign language.

Don't be discouraged by easy refrigerator videos. If you practice, one day maybe you, too, can learn to do something difficult, such as flying an airplane (use your English)!

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Problem: "The refrigerator videos are too difficult!"

Solution: The refrigerator videos not really that difficult. I understand that they are unfamiliar for most people in this class (They were for me, too!), but these videos do present several advantages:

1] They form part of a series, so everybody is listening to the same speaker speaking about the same basic topic. When I explain the homework on Sunday, nobody should feel lost because "That's somebody else's topic!"

2] The videos are very visual. When the speaker mentions a part or a procedure, he points to something and actually does the procedure himself. This helps you understand what he's saying.

3] Documents are available so that you can check for the spelling of unfamiliar technical terms. Actually, if you know the rules of English spelling, you probably don't even need to look. You can make an educated guess.

The biggest problem with these videos is probably not the fact that the topic is unfamiliar. The number of unfamiliar terms in each video is actually quite limited. The biggest problem is coping with English spoken at normal speed. That's what I plan to help you with.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Refrigerator Video Dictation

On Sunday or Monday (March 11~March 12) choose one of the eight videos.

Then, following the procedure I explained two weeks ago, write down the first ten sentences in your video. The introduction is almost the same for each video. Please do not write down the introduction (the first sentence):

0 = "Hi, and welcome back to True's owner maintenance video series."

Start from the next sentence:

1 = "In this segment, we're going to cover ..."

2 = ...

...

10 = ...


To look up technical terms for your video, use the two owner's manual PDF files
   1) Installation  Manual  For  T-Series Freezer/Refrigerator (Swing  And  Slide  Door)    and
   2) the spec sheet for the T-43 Solid Door Refrigerator














































The original instructions for how to do a video dictation are here.

Please record your choices below the break (click "read More"):


Sunday, March 4, 2012

Food Unit Homework: "The Tantalizing Tastes of Taiwan"

For homework, please read "The Tantalizing Tastes of Taiwan," an article published in Taiwan Panorama. You can read the article in English and Chinese.

As you read the article, take notes on the various dishes. Make a list, with one name on each line, like this:

佛跳牆,Buddha jumps over the wall
菜脯蛋,dried radish
白斬雞,white chopped chicken
滷肉飯,rice with braised pork





To save you time, use the Paste Board function of Note Tab Light, excellent Swiss software.



You can download the free version from Fookes Software in Switzerland.



By the way, please say thank you to the wonderful smart people who made this software. If you want to encourage them, you can pay a little money to get the Standard or Pro versions, which include a spelling checker and other useful functions. The light version is free: you don't have to pay anything for it.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Rules for Medical Interpreting

Although this video is aimed at providers (doctors, nurses etc.), it is also useful for beginning interpreters. The ten rules in this video are explained in a humorous way that is easy to remember. Please watch and take notes. There will be one or two quizzes based on these rules. Here's what you need to know:

What are the ten rules? Why are they important?

1. Seek out a professional interpreter
2. If this is your first time together, hold a brief meeting with the interpreter
3. Stand or sit so that the provider, patient and interpreter are sitting in a triangle
4. Don't only look at the interpreter
5. Read body language and look for signs of comprehension or confusion
6. Speak in a normal voice, not too fast, not too loud and not too long
7. Be sensitive to the patient's culture
8. Avoid jargon and technical terms
9. Don't ask or say anything you don't want the patient to hear
10. Allow enough time for the interpreted session



Suggested answers appear below, after the break. Click on "Read More" to see them.