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OT: word 'Freediver' in Chinese/japanise simbols?

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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Mlaen

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Anyone have a link or knows how to spell 'freediver' in those japanese or chines simblos?
It would be nice to have a shirt with that :)
 
Hi Mlaen,

Before I spill the beans about what Chinese Characters might be suitable, please read this first about the dangers of t-shirts and tattoos in languages that you don't know: http://www.usedwigs.com/weekly_47.html

That being read, I have a couple of suggestions (I only dare to try because I majored in Chinese in university and I still remember most of it :duh ).

Since I doubt anyone has Chinese encoding on their computers, I'll use the romanization system (pinyin) with tone numbers (tone number corresponds to one of four inflections for each Chinese syllable). Head on over to www.zhongwen.com to look these up:

Hai3=Ocean, Sea + Ren2=Person, Man = OceanMan/Woman = Freediver
Hai3 + Nu=Woman = OceanWoman = Freediver
Hai3 + Nan2=Man = OceanMan = Freediver

I would hesitate to try a literal translation of freediver because it sounds clunky:

zi4you2=freedom, free, natural + qian2shui3zhe3=diver (five characters is wordy for a t-shirt or tattoo, so you could maybe get away with shortening it to: "zi4qian2zhe3", which is essentially meaningless in Chinese, but could be poetically interpreted as "diver who dives within himself/herself". Qian2 also means latent or hidden, so this could also translate literally into "self-concealing person" - pretty silly. So you see how these literal translations are ill advised.

I would go with Hai3Ren2, works in Japanese, too.

Good luck!

***I take no responsibility for t-shirts or tattoos designed by people who happen to browse www.zhongwen.com when they should be working or tending to loved ones. ***

Pete
 
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rofl rofl rofl

Yeah, or "I don't know what the f#$k this means but hey don't ya think I'm sexy anyway?" (ben3ren2 bu2 dong3 han4zi3 dan4 wo3 hai2shi hen xing4gan3 ba?) :thankyou

Mlaen,

Yes, those are the right characters.

Send me a t-shirt! :wave

Pete
 
Couldn't it also be:
Bing3 (hold [one's breath]) + Qian3 Shui3 Yuan2 (diver) ???

Damn, a couple of years ago I even asked my then Chinese neighbor about what a freediver would be called in Chinese, but it was so complex (and then I knew even less Chinese than I do now) that it went in the one ear and out the other...
 
"Many believe the Chinese characters add an air of spirituality to their beings and help present them as enlightened individuals who respect and admire foreign cultures." Quote; http://www.usedwigs.com/weekly_47.html

Swedish might sound exotic for some of you, with all those dots ans rings above some letters.

Suggestion for exotic Tatoes in swedish:

K A S T A V A T T E N
old viking way of expressing longing for the sea; "I throw myself in water".

A N D N Ö D I G
old viking way of saying, "time to breath" sort of a double meaning " I have held my breath for a long time".

F L Å S F L Ä S K
Meaning; energetic body, or deep breathing body.

Or my favourite

F J Ä R T G O S S E
Oldish way of saying "young soul breathing in mysterious ways". To be exact it only refers to breathing OUT.

be my guest use them..

Sebastian/Sweden
 
I asked about the topic at alt.chinese.text and a guy wrote me back with this:

---
Should be "潜水" or "深潜". The pinyin are: qian shui or shen qian.
---

Qian2 Shui3 is listed in my Oxford Chinese pocket dictionary as 'diving' or 'to dive'.
Shen1 Qian2 should be something like 'hidden depth', but that one comfuses me like hell...

Shen1 Qian2 Yuan2 is my best offer so far.

Chris Engelbrecht






I have no idea what I'm talking about...
 
BTW, found this Japanese page:
http://t-mugen.com/jp/apnea.html

If you have your browser set to Japanese encoding, I think it says 'sport of freediving' in the headline. Of course, it could also be a phonetic transliteration of the word 'apnea', I don't know...
 
zi4you2 (free, freedom) qian2shui3 yuan2 (diver)

But again, too literal!

I like Hai3ren2 better, myself.

Pete
 
I'm getting more and more confused.

I have a modest suggestion. How about:

鹤 人
He4 Ren2

???

Nikilu?


Chris Engelbrecht, Copenhagen
 
laminar said:
zi4you2 (free, freedom) qian2shui3 yuan2 (diver)

But again, too literal!

I like Hai3ren2 better, myself.

Pete

Zi you is right, means freedom.

Hai Ren is ok, 海人 , but a little strange in Chinese. it can mean Sea man.
 
CEngelbrecht said:
I'm getting more and more confused.

I have a modest suggestion. How about:

鹤 人
He4 Ren2

???

Nikilu?


Chris Engelbrecht, Copenhagen

You are humorous ^_^ He Ren??? 河人?! means river man............xaxa
 
Personally, if you are going to get a tattoo or make a t-shirt with the word freediver in a foreign language, you've got three options:

1) be literal: zi4you2 qian2shui3yuan2 (would this make sense to a native Chinese speaker unfamiliar with the term? What is a "free "diver"?)
2) be accurate: bing3xi2 qian2shui3yuan2 (breath holding diver)
3) be poetic/suggestive/expressive: hai3ren2 or something made up with a classical reference (like the Viking words!)

Also, since much of the appeal of Chinese characters is in the calligraphy, I think that two or three (max) characters would afford many more opportunities for exciting and evocative art work. Nikilu, what other options might we have? Maybe some combination of sea dragon (from the supernatural classics) or river spirit? Perhaps they're a fox spirit who lies in wait underwater?

I'm open to suggestions...

Instead of translating "freediver," I wrote an inspirational except from the DaoDeJing on my wetsuit at the worlds in 2001 (from chapter 8):

Shang4 shan4 ruo4 shui3 A rough translation (my own) "best to be like water" (I love Chapter 8: www.zhongwen.com)

Peter
 
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For Peter, you are very good at Chinese.

1) be literal: zi4you2 qian2shui3yuan2 (would this make sense to a native Chinese speaker unfamiliar with the term? What is a "free "diver"?)

Mmmmmm, I think it's hard to say. In fact, most Chinese people know diving sports, but I think little know about freediving, if somebody has seen the film <Big Blue>, he or she must know. But the correct literal Chinese of freediving must be "Zi You Qian Shui". that's true *^_^*

2) be accurate: bing3xi2 qian2shui3yuan2 (breath holding diver)

屏息潜水员? this is also a good translation, because you hold breath Right..

3) be poetic/suggestive/expressive: hai3ren2 or something made up with a classical reference (like the Viking words!)

海人 Sea person/man or Ocean man. Mmmmmmmmm this is a poetic translation as you said. But....very strange, and as a native Chinese, I think somebody will think that you were borned in the sea. ^_^

In my opinion, I suggest that "Hai Shen" 海神,means Sea God... hahaha, or "Hai Zhi Zi", 海之子, the son of the sea. "Yu Hai Gong Wu" 与海共舞, to dance with sea.


About Shang Shan Ruo Shui, 上善若水, this is really a very meaningful phrase from Laozi, I like it too. About chapter 8 of "Dao De Jing". The goodness of water is that it benefits the ten thousand creatures; yet itself does not scramble. So if you can do things or live like water, you achieve this way, but it is very impossible for people over the world to achieve that. That's the highest goal.
But this phrase is not very suitable for freediving as I think.....Mmmmmmmmm, let me see....................
 
Nikilu said:
鹤 人
means crane man (bird =_=)

I know, that was my idea.
A crane freedives too, right? I don't know, it was just a thought that occured to me just before I fell asleep.
 
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