Redditor chojurou posted a picture of a friend's tattoo. When people ask him what his tattoo says, he replies,
"I don't know, I don't speak Chinese."And that is literally what it says. Those who read Chinese pointed out that it appears to be a machine translation, rendered in typewriter font instead of calligraphy, but it says what it says. Southernnfratty gave us a little more information.
中國話 is kind of a dated way to say "Chinese" (almost like how you'd say/write it in Japanese, actually).He's dressed up the tattoo a bit since the picture here was taken. While it is the perfect dad joke, it might not be so funny the 1000th time you explain it.
Most people in Mainland China say 中文 or 汉语, or 國語 / 普通話 / 華語 if you're in HK/Taiwan/SE Asia. Also colloquially many people say "讲” more often than "说” ; the latter which to me sounds a bit more textbook-y.
But other than that, the tattoo is correct
Edit: 弄纹身的那个人的手写也挺标准的 Edit 2: Guys I was just pointing out a few subtleties lol. The phrase is a bit awk but overall correct. And 说/讲 can be used interchangeably, 讲 just sounds more natural to me
2 comments:
I don't know if it's true or not, but I remember hearing the story of a woman who had gotten a tattoo featuring a kanji symbol; she didn't know what it meant, she just liked its appearance. It wasn't until later that she found out her chosen design meant 'licensed prostitute'.
I don't doubt it. Some tattoo artists can be pretty sneaky, especially if you are stupid or piss them off.
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