C
Champion Language
Dear Customer Service Representative,
My name is Di Wu. I am a Chinese American. I was born and raised in
Beijing and came to the States in 1986, when I was 15 years old. I work as
an electrical engineer and have my own business as an independent Chinese
translator/teacher/consultant (www.championlanguage.com). I am a daily user
of Microsoft Word program for writing engineering specifications, translation
work, and teaching. When Windows XP was released, I was elated to find its
added capabilities for East Asian languages. It totally eliminated the need
to buy separate Chinese language word processing software. I am amazed by
its capability to be a one stop word processor for virtually all of world’s
languages.
The Chinese language input option I use is Quan Pin for simplified Chinese
language, used by People’s Republic of China. One of its functions I like is
the suggested phrases one might use. For a frequent user, it makes typing a
lot faster. However, I can’t help but notice some very disturbing suggested
phrases I come across. Most of those phrases are originated from the time of
Cultural Revolution (1966 – 1976), a dark period of political persecution and
social chaos that is to be condemned. A short list of them include
上山下乡 (shà ng shÄn xià xiÄng)
The literal translation is “Youth going to the mountains and rural areasâ€.
However, its true meaning is a lot darker. During the Cultural Revolution,
in order to “re-educate†the young and make them “purer†and more “connectedâ€
to the peasants, who were considered the pillar of the proletarian society,
Chairman Mao ordered millions of young people from urban centers to move to
the underdeveloped rural areas to work with peasants. At the time, since
most higher learning institutions were closed as the result of social
upheaval, many young people could neither go to school nor find jobs.
Therefore, the ulterior motive of the movement was to divert attention from
the grim reality of unemployment in the cities. Millions of youth were
displaced from their homes, and thousands died in the hardship of
underdeveloped countryside, away from their families.
çŸ¥é’ (zhÄ« qÄ«ng, short for zhÄ« shà qÄ«ng nián)
The literal translation is “educated youthâ€. As explained in the phrase
above, this is a euphemism for the youth who were displaced to the
countryside during the Cultural Revolution.
海外关系 (hăi wà i guÄn xì)
The literal translation is “foreign relationsâ€. Again it sounds like a
benign word. However, during the Cultural Revolution, if anyone had a
relative who lived overseas, the entire family would be branded as “foreign
spies†and mercilessly persecuted. This was especially the case if the
relative lived in the West or Taiwan. In many cases, the entire family was
forced to confess their “crime†of espionage during public trials. Many were
brutally beaten to death or forced to commit suicide out of humiliation.
旧社会 (jiù shè huì)
The translation is “old societyâ€. After the Communists took over mainland
China in 1949, in order to solidify power, the Party launched massive
propaganda campaign, lauding the advantages of the new ways versus the old.
It denounced everything that happened prior to 1949 as “extremely evilâ€,
which included anything and everything which had a trace of foreign,
capitalistic influence, and a lot of ancient Chinese traditions. Its true
motive was to divert attention from the pressing problems of the Communist
regime.
喜获丰收 (xÄ huò fÄ“ng shÅu)
The literal translation is “happy for the good harvestâ€. In the late 50’s,
in order to speed up the pace economic development, Chairman Mao launched the
“Great Leap Forward†campaign. He called for the Chinese economy to surpass
U.K. in 10 years and catch up with the U.S. in 15. In order to meet such
lofty expectations, age old agricultural practices were scrapped for “new and
improved†ways to farm. The newspapers were reporting astronomical yields
from various farms on a daily basis (喜获丰收xÄ huò fÄ“ng shÅu). But in reality,
millions of farmers died from starvation because crops would not grow.
å¦é›·é”‹ (xué léi fÄ“ng)
The literal translation is “to learn from Lei Fengâ€. Lei Feng (1940-1962)
was an orphan who was saved and raised by the Communist Party. He grew up to
become a soldier, an extremely altruistic person who loved to help others.
Had he born and raised in the West, he could very well be considered a good
Christian. After he died of an accident in 1962, his diary was discovered
and it was used by Chairman Mao as a tool for his propaganda and constant
social engineering. Lei Feng, who was just a soldier who loved to help
others, was elevated to the status of a Saint overnight. Again, the campaign
to “Learn From Lei Feng†diverted attention away from the real problems.
Granted, all these words are part of China’s past. They are great for
historians of China who write about that period of time. In fact, my mother,
who had published her autobiography “Silent Scream†(the story of the first
40 years of her life under the brutal Communist regime, currently being
translated into English by me) on a major newspaper in Taiwan, loves the fact
that Microsoft Word has those suggested phrases. But most people are not
historians and would rather forget about these words.
A rough estimate has the death toll of the Cultural Revolution at over seven
million. That is easily more than the Holocaust of World War II. Imagine
how a modern day German would feel, if he/she keeps seeing Nazi era phrases
popping up when he/she uses this word processor. Ultimately, this is not the
way that China wants to be represented.
On the contrary, a lot of words that reflect Chinese cultural traditions or
modern technology are not suggested. Some of the suggested words I’d like to
see are:
饺å (jiăo zi)
“Dumplings†– The main food for family gathering during Chinese New Year’s
Eve.
红包 (hóng bÄo)
“Red Bag†– A bag of money, to be given to kids by family elders during
Chinese New Year, or to be given to newly weds by families and friends as
wedding present.
ä¸ç§‹èŠ‚ (zhÅng qiÅ« jié)
“Mid Autumn Festival†– A holiday during fall to celebrate harvest and an
important occasion for family gatherings.
网页 (wăng yè)
Webpage
电邮 (dià n yóu)
Email
光盘 (guÄng pán)
CD-ROM
It is innovation that put Microsoft at where it is today. Innovation means
looking to the future. A language is a living being, for a country as
dynamic as modern China, new words and phrases come up everyday. As the
undisputed market leader in word processing software, Microsoft cannot afford
to live in the last millennium. As a native speaker of Mandarin Chinese and
a Chinese/English translator, I would like to help Microsoft to work on the
Chinese content for next version of Word. To find out more about me and my
services, please go to www.championlanguage.com. I look forward to working
with you.
Sincerely,
Di Wu
Champion Language Services
----------------
This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the "I
Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow this
link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and then
click "I Agree" in the message pane.
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...28e239&dg=microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
My name is Di Wu. I am a Chinese American. I was born and raised in
Beijing and came to the States in 1986, when I was 15 years old. I work as
an electrical engineer and have my own business as an independent Chinese
translator/teacher/consultant (www.championlanguage.com). I am a daily user
of Microsoft Word program for writing engineering specifications, translation
work, and teaching. When Windows XP was released, I was elated to find its
added capabilities for East Asian languages. It totally eliminated the need
to buy separate Chinese language word processing software. I am amazed by
its capability to be a one stop word processor for virtually all of world’s
languages.
The Chinese language input option I use is Quan Pin for simplified Chinese
language, used by People’s Republic of China. One of its functions I like is
the suggested phrases one might use. For a frequent user, it makes typing a
lot faster. However, I can’t help but notice some very disturbing suggested
phrases I come across. Most of those phrases are originated from the time of
Cultural Revolution (1966 – 1976), a dark period of political persecution and
social chaos that is to be condemned. A short list of them include
上山下乡 (shà ng shÄn xià xiÄng)
The literal translation is “Youth going to the mountains and rural areasâ€.
However, its true meaning is a lot darker. During the Cultural Revolution,
in order to “re-educate†the young and make them “purer†and more “connectedâ€
to the peasants, who were considered the pillar of the proletarian society,
Chairman Mao ordered millions of young people from urban centers to move to
the underdeveloped rural areas to work with peasants. At the time, since
most higher learning institutions were closed as the result of social
upheaval, many young people could neither go to school nor find jobs.
Therefore, the ulterior motive of the movement was to divert attention from
the grim reality of unemployment in the cities. Millions of youth were
displaced from their homes, and thousands died in the hardship of
underdeveloped countryside, away from their families.
çŸ¥é’ (zhÄ« qÄ«ng, short for zhÄ« shà qÄ«ng nián)
The literal translation is “educated youthâ€. As explained in the phrase
above, this is a euphemism for the youth who were displaced to the
countryside during the Cultural Revolution.
海外关系 (hăi wà i guÄn xì)
The literal translation is “foreign relationsâ€. Again it sounds like a
benign word. However, during the Cultural Revolution, if anyone had a
relative who lived overseas, the entire family would be branded as “foreign
spies†and mercilessly persecuted. This was especially the case if the
relative lived in the West or Taiwan. In many cases, the entire family was
forced to confess their “crime†of espionage during public trials. Many were
brutally beaten to death or forced to commit suicide out of humiliation.
旧社会 (jiù shè huì)
The translation is “old societyâ€. After the Communists took over mainland
China in 1949, in order to solidify power, the Party launched massive
propaganda campaign, lauding the advantages of the new ways versus the old.
It denounced everything that happened prior to 1949 as “extremely evilâ€,
which included anything and everything which had a trace of foreign,
capitalistic influence, and a lot of ancient Chinese traditions. Its true
motive was to divert attention from the pressing problems of the Communist
regime.
喜获丰收 (xÄ huò fÄ“ng shÅu)
The literal translation is “happy for the good harvestâ€. In the late 50’s,
in order to speed up the pace economic development, Chairman Mao launched the
“Great Leap Forward†campaign. He called for the Chinese economy to surpass
U.K. in 10 years and catch up with the U.S. in 15. In order to meet such
lofty expectations, age old agricultural practices were scrapped for “new and
improved†ways to farm. The newspapers were reporting astronomical yields
from various farms on a daily basis (喜获丰收xÄ huò fÄ“ng shÅu). But in reality,
millions of farmers died from starvation because crops would not grow.
å¦é›·é”‹ (xué léi fÄ“ng)
The literal translation is “to learn from Lei Fengâ€. Lei Feng (1940-1962)
was an orphan who was saved and raised by the Communist Party. He grew up to
become a soldier, an extremely altruistic person who loved to help others.
Had he born and raised in the West, he could very well be considered a good
Christian. After he died of an accident in 1962, his diary was discovered
and it was used by Chairman Mao as a tool for his propaganda and constant
social engineering. Lei Feng, who was just a soldier who loved to help
others, was elevated to the status of a Saint overnight. Again, the campaign
to “Learn From Lei Feng†diverted attention away from the real problems.
Granted, all these words are part of China’s past. They are great for
historians of China who write about that period of time. In fact, my mother,
who had published her autobiography “Silent Scream†(the story of the first
40 years of her life under the brutal Communist regime, currently being
translated into English by me) on a major newspaper in Taiwan, loves the fact
that Microsoft Word has those suggested phrases. But most people are not
historians and would rather forget about these words.
A rough estimate has the death toll of the Cultural Revolution at over seven
million. That is easily more than the Holocaust of World War II. Imagine
how a modern day German would feel, if he/she keeps seeing Nazi era phrases
popping up when he/she uses this word processor. Ultimately, this is not the
way that China wants to be represented.
On the contrary, a lot of words that reflect Chinese cultural traditions or
modern technology are not suggested. Some of the suggested words I’d like to
see are:
饺å (jiăo zi)
“Dumplings†– The main food for family gathering during Chinese New Year’s
Eve.
红包 (hóng bÄo)
“Red Bag†– A bag of money, to be given to kids by family elders during
Chinese New Year, or to be given to newly weds by families and friends as
wedding present.
ä¸ç§‹èŠ‚ (zhÅng qiÅ« jié)
“Mid Autumn Festival†– A holiday during fall to celebrate harvest and an
important occasion for family gatherings.
网页 (wăng yè)
Webpage
电邮 (dià n yóu)
光盘 (guÄng pán)
CD-ROM
It is innovation that put Microsoft at where it is today. Innovation means
looking to the future. A language is a living being, for a country as
dynamic as modern China, new words and phrases come up everyday. As the
undisputed market leader in word processing software, Microsoft cannot afford
to live in the last millennium. As a native speaker of Mandarin Chinese and
a Chinese/English translator, I would like to help Microsoft to work on the
Chinese content for next version of Word. To find out more about me and my
services, please go to www.championlanguage.com. I look forward to working
with you.
Sincerely,
Di Wu
Champion Language Services
----------------
This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the "I
Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow this
link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and then
click "I Agree" in the message pane.
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...28e239&dg=microsoft.public.word.docmanagement