does anyone remember that "spy plane" incident we had with the red chinese a while back? for some reason i thought about it just now, and remembered with a grin about how the diplomats in DC and in China took care of that one. remember how the reds demanded an apology and we basically told them to shove it? well what they got was akin to something like this:

(from Pres. Bush and Sec. of State Powell): "we're very sorry that china lost one of its planes, and we're sorry that this incident happened..." etc. etc.

those of us who actually understand how English is spoken know that "sorry" and "sorry" have completely different meaning

we meant: "oh gee, you lost one of your cheap MiG copies? gosh, really sorry to hear about that. but you know what? you damaged one of ours and kept our boys and girls hostage, and tried to steal our technology, yeah, we're REAL sorry that this $hit happened."

they translate (for the Chinese people): "we americans are so sorry! so sorry! we apologize, ya?"

good thing english isn't taught properly in china...

 

cultural mistakes can become huge mistakes. I could name a particular bomb or two regarding this.. but I don't want to go there.

 

Somehow I don't think the diplomatic translations and need for political correctness differ much from country to country. Sometimes diplomacy demands that you bite your tounge, smile, and bow even though you're thinking of all the band things you wish to befall upon the other person.

I think of it as a human characteristic rather than one of a particular ideology.

 

This is the one that I remember

I still laugh when I think about a P-3 crew "taking down" a Mig using that air-to-air manuever: Straight and Level!

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by ironwedge
[B]

 

Funny thing Mingster, Dateine NBC did a story on this last night.

 

But I imagined the translators would have picked that one out, or is there no way of getting that one right in chinese?
Koreans at least know exactly what they mean - "yoo gam" (regretful?) - We've been getting a lot of that stuff from the Japanese re war crimes.

 

I think the Americans did a nice job in resolving this issue, very creative I should say. The Chinese gov't knows they asked too much from the Amercians, but the words are out, they have to at least look good in front of their own people, right? Chinese has a saying "One word is out, 4 horses can't catch" meaning, once you made a promise, stick with it.

I think the Americans were being too nice to them to say the least, but whatever it takes to get the service men and woman back.

However, the educated ones in China knows that letter is nothing what the Chinese gov initially asked for, but yet, they see the govt making it such a big deal on new headlines and making a fool out of themselves. Just to please the fools ....

How do I know all this? Coz I received a link to a BBS board in China and paid a visit .... the college kids know whats up. Site got shut down within a few weeks, go figure