Chinese translation help

yuanzhumin · 15th March 2007, 03:20 AM

Hi
This is not a city name.
This is a sentence supposed to be propitious to the owner of the knife and to bring happiness to the one that is handling the cleaver.
The sentence made of 3 caracters is repeated twice as to insist on its effect, or in fact doubling the happiness.
There is here a little play on the words as the double effect is repeated in the first caracter of the sentence, "shuang", that means "double".
The second means "happiness" and the third "li" means "interest", "fortune". So properly translated :
(shuang ji li) "Bring double happiness and fortune " (written twice)
There is a second play on the word as the caracter "li" (interest, fortune) sounds similar to another one that means "double edged" (note by the way that the knife has been used on both sides, even if it has only one edge).
Another redundancy : the caracter "li" is formed with two radicals one meaning rice/cereal and the other one... blade.
To sum up : this is a sentence full of many hidden symbols.
All this meaning that the owner of this knife was convinced that by using it every day it will bring him happiness and fortune. Obviously, this is in accordance with the fact that this cleaver was used professionnally and the butcher that used it intended to succeed in his business.
Sorry for this lengthy explanations.

Best
yuanzhumin

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15th March 2007, 03:20 AM	#2
yuanzhumin Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Ex-Taipei, Taiwan, now in Shanghai, China Posts: 180	Hi This is not a city name. This is a sentence supposed to be propitious to the owner of the knife and to bring happiness to the one that is handling the cleaver. The sentence made of 3 caracters is repeated twice as to insist on its effect, or in fact doubling the happiness. There is here a little play on the words as the double effect is repeated in the first caracter of the sentence, "shuang", that means "double". The second means "happiness" and the third "li" means "interest", "fortune". So properly translated : (shuang ji li) "Bring double happiness and fortune " (written twice) There is a second play on the word as the caracter "li" (interest, fortune) sounds similar to another one that means "double edged" (note by the way that the knife has been used on both sides, even if it has only one edge). Another redundancy : the caracter "li" is formed with two radicals one meaning rice/cereal and the other one... blade. To sum up : this is a sentence full of many hidden symbols. All this meaning that the owner of this knife was convinced that by using it every day it will bring him happiness and fortune. Obviously, this is in accordance with the fact that this cleaver was used professionnally and the butcher that used it intended to succeed in his business. Sorry for this lengthy explanations. Best yuanzhumin