There are some Chinese characters at the back of my business card; presumably, the translation of the English wordings in front.
Anyway, I never had to worry about those Chinese wordings until I was asked to change my job title recently. This means, I have to get new business cards printed - with a new job title in English AND Chinese.
You see, I am hopeless in my 'native' language. For all Chinese-related matters, I normally consult my other BFF, Secretary Pig, who is based in Hong Kong. So, I scanned a copy of my business card and in my email to her, I said:
Secretary Pig,
Can you check the attached name card and tell me what does my Chinese job title say? I don't know what it says. For all I know, it says Head Clown.
Anyway, I need to change it to Legal Counsel, if it is not already that. If it is not, can you recommend the appropriate Chinese characters? Thanks
President
Secretary Pig replied:
Dearest President,
President = 总统
But if cannot put that, then the current 法律顾问 title on your card means Legal Counsel already. Or you can also change to 顶头小丑 !
~秘书猪
Now, there are many Chinese wordings in her very CRYPTIC reply.
Since there is a "=" sign, "总统" should read "President". Her sign off at the bottom with the "~" should be her name or referring to her. Which leaves me with the two Chinese words in the body of the email.
Now, since "法律顾问" supposedly means Legal Counsel (which is what I want) but given that she also gave me the alternative of using "顶头小丑" and since I am changing business cards for a new title (in English)- I figured, this means my old Chinese title should not be used anymore and that I should, instead, use the new alternative Secretary Pig recommended. Makes sense? No?
So, I started writing an instruction to HR to put "顶头小丑" as my new Chinese job title BUT thank god, my instinct kicked in and I started wondering - what the hell is the word "小" doing in there? You see, I am not completely hopeless; I know about 10 Chinese characters (including those on mahjong tiles) and if I am not mistaken, "小" means "xiao" or "small".
Small Legal Counsel?
So I sent Phillip a message on Google Chat and asked him what ""顶头小丑" means.
Phillip: It means "DING TOU XIAO CHOU"
Frou: What the hell is "Ding Tou Xiao Chou"?
Phillip: It means Head Clown.
Anyway, I never had to worry about those Chinese wordings until I was asked to change my job title recently. This means, I have to get new business cards printed - with a new job title in English AND Chinese.
You see, I am hopeless in my 'native' language. For all Chinese-related matters, I normally consult my other BFF, Secretary Pig, who is based in Hong Kong. So, I scanned a copy of my business card and in my email to her, I said:
Secretary Pig,
Can you check the attached name card and tell me what does my Chinese job title say? I don't know what it says. For all I know, it says Head Clown.
Anyway, I need to change it to Legal Counsel, if it is not already that. If it is not, can you recommend the appropriate Chinese characters? Thanks
President
Secretary Pig replied:
Dearest President,
President = 总统
But if cannot put that, then the current 法律顾问 title on your card means Legal Counsel already. Or you can also change to 顶头小丑 !
~秘书猪
Now, there are many Chinese wordings in her very CRYPTIC reply.
Since there is a "=" sign, "总统" should read "President". Her sign off at the bottom with the "~" should be her name or referring to her. Which leaves me with the two Chinese words in the body of the email.
Now, since "法律顾问" supposedly means Legal Counsel (which is what I want) but given that she also gave me the alternative of using "顶头小丑" and since I am changing business cards for a new title (in English)- I figured, this means my old Chinese title should not be used anymore and that I should, instead, use the new alternative Secretary Pig recommended. Makes sense? No?
So, I started writing an instruction to HR to put "顶头小丑" as my new Chinese job title BUT thank god, my instinct kicked in and I started wondering - what the hell is the word "小" doing in there? You see, I am not completely hopeless; I know about 10 Chinese characters (including those on mahjong tiles) and if I am not mistaken, "小" means "xiao" or "small".
Small Legal Counsel?
So I sent Phillip a message on Google Chat and asked him what ""顶头小丑" means.
Phillip: It means "DING TOU XIAO CHOU"
Frou: What the hell is "Ding Tou Xiao Chou"?
Phillip: It means Head Clown.
2 comments:
haha!! funny little frou~
My chinese sucks big time too (yep, flunked my chinese oral during the O'levels and had BOTH invigilators laughing at me. Key word is "At", not "With"). haha. and despite that, even I can distinguish 顶头小丑 from 法律顾问... lol. Thou honestly, all i can read is 头小 and 法律 la. Obviously the former is "head small" and the other is "law" something...
Silly little frou..Phillip must have had a helluva time laughing at ya.. hee~
Hahah! You are way ahead of me then, sweeeet. I never studied Chinese in my life!
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