thefted owl

sometimes a 中文 langblr | sideblog is yeowel

[oweltheft]

hello! i am owel. i translate things here to A) improve my mandarin skills so they don't rot away and B) help other people who are learning :)

and now for a self qna, where i ask the questions and also i answer the questions

Q: why

A: i felt like it

Q: is this a langblr?

A: only when i feel like it

Q: what do you post?

A: mostly translations of random everyday things (starting with chinese spam texts i get, maybe the occasional meme) because i like to find joy in the mundane little things, like i'm in a really boring slice-of-life cartoon

Q: are you native speaker?

A: heritage speaker, but i strayed from the path of the light (dropped out of chinese school) and am now suffering the consequences (have the literacy of an elementary/middle schooler)

Q: what are asks for?

i don't know either haha. language and culture questions? translation requests?? cartoon or c-drama recs??? just to say hi? truly, the world is your oyster

Q: hey boss how do you tag your things

#owel's spam texts -> posts where i translate my spam texts (it seemed like a fun idea at the time)

#owel's panda-heads -> 熊猫头/the panda head memes/chinese reaction images/it's the the grainy black-and-white pandas

more to come. it's my first day on the job (i am kind of new to this)

Q: your old posts are fanart?

A: shh. i'm attached to this blog so i didn't make a side blog when i came up with this on a whim

[fuckyeahchinesefashion]

source

[oweltheft]

transcription + transcript:

Hello, 丽姐你好， Hello, Miss Li

听Tina说有一处沿海别墅想售卖？ I heard Tina say there's a seaside villa you want to sell

我最近也想购买一套 Lately I've also wanted to buy one

vocabulary + notes:

沿 (yán) means along/bordering/following, so 沿海 means "along the sea" -> seaside/waterfront

售卖 (shòumài) and 购买 (gòumǎi) are fancier ways to say sell and buy respectively, but i don't think they come up too often in casual conversation (?)

the way i was taught to remember 卖 and 买 is that 卖 is a little person carrying something on its head to the market to sell :)

[rongzhi]

English added by me :)

[oweltheft]

new week, new spam

translation + transcript:

陈医生，你现在在店里吗？ Doctor Chen, are you in the shop right now?

我的宠物看起来有点不舒服。 My pet looks like it's feeling a little bad.

vocabulary + notes:

陈 (chén) is a common surname, but i get tripped up by the fact that it looks like 东 >:(

宠物 (chǒng wù) just means pet. dunno why they didn't say 猫 or 狗 though

不舒服 (bú shū fú) can be discomfort and or pain. like when your tummy hurty that's 肚子不舒服

[buried-in-stardust]

打鐵花 (da2tie3hua1; struck iron fireworks) is a traditional folk firework that began in Henan and Shanxi, first arising in Queshan county, Henan and later circulating through the whole country. It had first appeared during the Northern Song dynasty, and was most popular during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

For Queshan struck iron fireworks, a two-layer pergola is built and covered with willow branches for performances, under which the molten iron is struck up with two willow sticks to create a rain of fire.

[eng by me + edited an ad out]

(On top of the information in the video, I have some more about its recent history under the cut.)

*Also, a note about one of the subtitles: I realized later that "going into battle without a shield" actually just meant going shirtless. I was only confused about this phrasing while translating because she didn't go shirtless, although that is for obvious reasons

Queshan struck iron fireworks had almost been lost before Yang Jianjun unearthed it again in 1988. It had almost died out in the early years of the Republic of China being established, after which there had only been three performances until 1988: 1952, 1956, 1962. Yang Jianjun had seen the 1956 performance as a 7-8 year old and later on as the director of a cultural centre, began digging up the skill and its history. In the process, he became an apprentice to Li Wanfa, who had been the last head of the Queshan Struck Iron Fireworks Society. He practised with sand and water, learning of its historical origin, its ancestral inheritors, craftsmanship and performance arts, but didn't touch the real thing until 1988. Through Yang Jianjun's efforts and investment, the first struck iron fireworks performance in more than 25 years took place in Nanshan Square (then a deserted area) in Queshan county.

Queshan struck iron fireworks are different from other struck iron fireworks in that it requires a wide area to perform, whereas others only needed a wall or could be hit straight up into the air, and it costed much more money to set up.

The names of inheritors are difficult to trace, and can only be traced back to the Qing dynasty during the Qian long period, making Yang Jianjun a sixth-generation inheritor, and Jiang Xunqian (OP) the first woman and a seventh-generation inheritor.

[oweltheft]

you tricked me again :o( -> not playing with you anymore

[oweltheft]

i'm sorry, i can't accept online relationships. ethereal, intangible things can't bring me a sense of security, and uncertainty, jealousy and suspicion are the source of tears shed in the night, i want a steady and solid happiness, the kind you can reach out and touch, but if you ask me about online dating--

[oweltheft]

the chinese spam texts i get -> free reading practice

transcipt + translation:

Hi! Anna, 你近期要来 San Francisco Hi! Anna, you're coming to San Francisco soon

出差一段时间， on a business trip for a while

什么时候出发呢？ When are you setting off?

vocabulary + notes below:

近期 (jìn qí) can mean soon OR recently--the word itself doesn't specify past or future. tread carefully and consider the context!

出差 (chū chāi) just means business trip

San Francisco in chinese is 旧金山 (jiù jīng shān) or 三番 (sān fān) 三番 is casual (slang?), while 旧金山 is the official (and i think ～cooler～) name

[oweltheft]

venti doodles :D

[oweltheft]

increasing danger

[oweltheft]

[oweltheft]

[turns into a cursed emoji]

[oweltheft]

gus takes a trip to the hall of lights, aka the lighting aisle at home depot

[oweltheft]

saw this moment in mcc15 and i couldn’t get it out of my head

mr. berries, in business casual, walking to, idk, a meeting or something and spilling his lava coffee. it’s so stupid, please look away

[oweltheft]

blame this stock photo

[oweltheft]

[minecraft eating sound]