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abadidea @0xabad1dea@infosec.exchange · 3d ago
Here is a translation note I wrote just now while working on the Annals of Yanzi, because it's informative on its own: “Three thousand servants, three girlfriends and four ministers” isn’t necessarily meant to be taken as those exact numbers, but can stand for “a few thousand, a few, several” in the same way that we say “a couple” to mean not necessarily exactly two but definitely more than one. This is because there is no grammatical singular/plural distinction in Classical Chinese, so you just throw out a keyword that gives the ballpark size and move on. They will often give a range to indicate the non-literal nature, such as saying “five, six colors” to mean “many colors.” Keep this in mind when trying to do math with numbers given in ancient sources! #classicalchinese #translation
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abadidea @0xabad1dea@infosec.exchange · 5d ago

what would YOU prefer I focus my Classical Chinese translation time on? (Anything I translate will be free to read and in a modern, non-hyper-literal style) 1) finish the Analects of Confucius, of which there are already three chapters; there are already many translations of this, mine is just, we

Analects of Confucius
21.4% (30)
Salt and Iron Concords
32.9% (46)
Our Boy Yanzi
45.7% (64)
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abadidea @0xabad1dea@infosec.exchange · Aug 06, 2026
Rhyming translation of the little song of an unlucky woman in the Book of Han: [context: there is a succession dispute over two princes with different mothers, because the son with less rank is considered a stronger leader. The mother with more power, the Empress Dowager, is abusing the other one, a concubine, while the sons aren’t home to see] Madame Qi sang while she was husking rice: “My son is a king, his mother a slave; oh how his comfort do I crave! Husk, husk, from dawn until dusk, With only Death beside me. Three thousand miles you went away; Who could I send to tell thee?” [The Empress Dowager, at least according to the story, poisoned Madame Qi’s son and then brutally tortured Madame Qi herself. The Empress Dowager’s son, the new Emperor Hui, went insane with shock at her cruelty.] #classicalchinese #translation
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abadidea @0xabad1dea@infosec.exchange · Aug 03, 2026
a concrete example of why Classical Chinese is an unintelligble nightmare when spoken aloud by modern dictionary rules: 何 "why?" (one syllable) 何不 "why not?" (two syllables) 盍 a one-syllable contraction for casually saying "why not?" In ancient pronunciation, roughly: "ha, ha pu, hap." But Modern Mandarin has lost final -p in all words. Which leaves you with...? With Classical "何 why?" and "盍 why not?" being pronounced exactly the same: "hé" This is why modern native speakers hate Classical Chinese in literature class 😂 #classicalchinese #linguistics
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abadidea @0xabad1dea@infosec.exchange · Aug 02, 2026
I basically didn’t think about Chinese at all for a month for hieroglyphics related reasons, but I got back to crackin’ today and I’m pleased to report yes, I still know most of these words Here’s a little translation if you’d like to challenge notoriously cold-hearted legalist Han Feizi: “Nobody can draw squares with their left hand and circles with their right.” (At the same time, loopholers.) #classicalchinese
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abadidea @0xabad1dea@infosec.exchange · Mar 08, 2026
Cool History Fact of the night Before woodblock printing (which was extensively used in China well before the west), there was a very clever, effective way to mass-reproduce the most important texts. A few different times in imperial China, stone tablets of the most important books were commissioned. Anyone could walk up and look at them, but more importantly: anyone could lay a wet piece of paper over them and then gently rub ink over the paper, which would create a copy of white text on a black background.(And unlike printing, nothing needs to be done backwards.) And if you were a famous enough calligrapher, you'd be asked to write onto a stone so someone else could chisel out your handwriting exactly, and then copies could be mass-reproduced as teaching examples. (and I'm fascinated by how the stone fragment here is 1800 years old but the writing style is already extremely legible to me. It still uses the X-style 五 but is otherwise very Normal) #classicalchinese #typography #printing #handwriting
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abadidea @0xabad1dea@infosec.exchange · Jul 04, 2026
This morning’s translation exercises included a guy panicking about being promoted to Prime Minister of Imperial China and submitting his resignation three times in one week (all refused). Looking it up, this guy served under five consecutive emperors, kept trying to quit but no-one would let him, pretended to have a gross foot disease to get out of awkward meetings, and collected cool rocks and sticks. Autism game respects autism game https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niu_Sengru pictured: an attempt to capture how my sketchy ali express ink shines in the sun #classicalchinese #history #actuallyautistic #fountainpen
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abadidea @0xabad1dea@infosec.exchange · Jul 03, 2026
I like to rag on Confucius for being so “kids these days!” so here’s a fair and balanced quotation of his better side: The Master said: “Everyone is respectable from birth. Why do you assume that those who are young now will not surpass our current standards? Being forty or fifty and having nothing to show for it — that’s what’s unrespectable.” #classicalchinese #translation #fountainpen #fountainpens
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abadidea @0xabad1dea@infosec.exchange · Jul 01, 2026
Today on ancient diplomacy: The King of Han said (to another ruler): “You and I have both been ordered to submit to King Huai and swear an oath of brotherhood with each other. Okay! My dad is your dad, bro! And your dad seems like he’d make for a GREAT stew. I hope you’ll save me a bowl.” (from the Book of Han) In a case of “cultural assumptions are hard”, the textbook author glossed 北面 as “facing north” which is obvious at the reading level expected for this book, but didn’t think to explain that this is an idiom for submitting as vassal — I had to infer this from how Confucius described someone he admired as being ready to “face south”, that is, assume the throne. #classicalchinese #translation
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abadidea @0xabad1dea@infosec.exchange · Jun 30, 2026
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I have clarified any and all confusions you may have had about ancient Chinese political thought in one convenient chart. #history #politics #classicalchinese #philosophy
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abadidea @0xabad1dea@infosec.exchange · Jun 22, 2026
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“I could do that before breakfast” turns out to be a Boast Most Ancient. #classicalchinese #history
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abadidea @0xabad1dea@infosec.exchange · Jun 21, 2026
I have made a Traditional vs Simplified cheat sheet sorted by character frequency in core Classical Chinese texts (as opposed to modern books). https://xn--hmr.net/classicalchinese/tradsimpcheatsheet/ My favorite simplification is 義 to 义, "justice". Absolutely iconic abstract icon. #classicalchinese #chinese #linguistics
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abadidea @0xabad1dea@infosec.exchange · May 03, 2026
I wrote up my personal philosophy on translating ancient texts, as informed by being raised in a religious environment that had a very unhealthy relationship to its texts. https://xn--hmr.net/classicalchinese/translationphilosophy/ #classicalchinese #translation #localization #philosophy
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abadidea @0xabad1dea@infosec.exchange · May 02, 2026
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穷则独善其身， 达则兼济天下 When you are poor, take care of your soul; when you are rich, take care of the world. — Mengzi (Mencius) #classicalchinese #translation #philosophy
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abadidea @0xabad1dea@infosec.exchange · Apr 30, 2026
日出而作，日入而息 一 庄子 Sun’s out guns out, sun’s dead go the fuck to bed — ancient philosopher Zhuangzi’s profound wisdom for internet gremlins #classicalchinese #translation
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abadidea @0xabad1dea@infosec.exchange · Apr 24, 2026
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Two thousand year old #opsec advice: Hoping that others will not hear is not the same as not speaking; hoping others won’t find out is not the same as not doing. (from the Book of Han, a history book authored by a brother-sister pair) #classicalchinese #fountainpen
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abadidea @0xabad1dea__dup_153@infosec.exchange · Feb 05, 2026
I did a little translation exercise of Mengzi: "故天将降大任于是人也，必先苦其心志，劳其筋骨，饿其体肤，空乏其身，行拂乱其所为..." "When Heaven means to plunge someone into great responsibility, it first torments their mind, wearies their bones, starves their skin, drains their wealth and disrupts their life." So I expect I'll be promoted to queen of the world any second now... #classicalchinese #translation #philosophy
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