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translatingtaiwan.com
Conor
@translatingtaiwan.com
110 followers 160 following 43 posts
Live & work in Taipei. Interested in Chinese, Taiwanese & English lit. 在台北生活的阿凸仔，喜歡看小說、看電影。 Reading: Wheel of Time & 水問; Chess .com: Conorscruff

Blog: https://www.translatingtaiwan.com
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translatingtaiwan.com
Instead of arguing about politics in the run-up to the #HolidaySeason, compete in the #ChessmasClash in your rating bracket
600-1000: www.chess.com/tournament/c...
1000-1300: www.chess.com/tournament/c...
1300-1500: www.chess.com/tournament/c...
1500-2300: www.chess.com/tournament/c...
#Chess
An image showing the tournament's custom trophy toggle is turned on, with medals displayed: a golden bell for first place, a stocking for second place, and a candle for third place.
November 20, 2025 at 3:06 AM
translatingtaiwan.com
Love the turn of phrase describing the awkwardness of cross-strait family reunions 似近實遠 (seemingly close but distant in reality) in this very touching memoir of forgotten family links #銀波之舟 by #阮慶岳
October 29, 2025 at 5:46 AM
translatingtaiwan.com
Coming to a 7-11 near you
September 30, 2025 at 5:05 AM
translatingtaiwan.com
Touching little story from 'The Water Asks from Whence it Flows' about a little red bug that doesn't like to walk on black ink imprisoned in an ever shrinking circle by the author; amid heightening panic it suddenly stops & makes its way through the black ink to the white page, defying expectations.
September 24, 2025 at 1:34 AM
translatingtaiwan.com
普信男 pǔ​xìn​nán: My fav #genz from #Taiwan so far, used in this example to describe controversial white power advocate (sic.) & former Taipei mayor #KoWenJe.
A guy who is a solid 3 who thinks he's an 11 (average looking guy who acts like he's god's gift).
September 12, 2025 at 6:37 AM
translatingtaiwan.com
A very #GenZ example today, with a girl complaining about the lack of political awareness among online female knitting circles in #Taiwan 😂 ( #okboomer )

觸 chù is just a bastardization of the English word “true,” used in much the same way as “True that!” www.translatingtaiwan.com/2025/09/09/g...
September 11, 2025 at 2:37 AM
translatingtaiwan.com
解／好解 jiě/hǎo jiě “The ick,” something that turns you off someone you were initially into. I feel this is kind of an abbreviation for 「解脫」 jiě​tuō (to be freed of).
Got to love this example: "Do other girls get the ick from men who get tax rebates?" #nopovos www.translatingtaiwan.com/2025/09/09/g...
September 10, 2025 at 1:57 AM
translatingtaiwan.com
#GenZ slang from #Taiwan found in the wild:
暈爛 yūnlàn you like something so much you can't stop, even if overexposure makes you so dizzy you feel ill.
“I can’t get enough of guys with single eyelids and dark-framed glasses.”
More here: www.translatingtaiwan.com/2025/09/09/g...
September 9, 2025 at 3:15 AM
translatingtaiwan.com
Something I was always telling my #OCD #NTU classmates and workmates in #Taiwan! From 簡媜的《水問》
A photo of some dust on a light grey background with a quote in Engish and Chinese, "However much of a clean freak you are, you can't deny dust."
August 29, 2025 at 1:41 AM
translatingtaiwan.com
Jian Zhen 'The Water Asks from Whence it Flows'
簡媜《水問》
Blue sky framed by trees with sun at the top of screen with a quote in Chinese and English "If the blue sky is a divine book without words, clouds must be its wordless footnotes."
August 28, 2025 at 3:00 AM
translatingtaiwan.com
An extract from Jian Zhen's 'The Water Asks from Whence it Flows'
#簡媜 的《#水問》一小段

#Taiwan #TaiwanLiterature
August 27, 2025 at 1:26 AM
translatingtaiwan.com
Not sure who thought it was a good idea to call a #Taipei all-you-can-eat hotpot restaurant #Bulimia.
August 26, 2025 at 7:39 AM
translatingtaiwan.com
My recent exchange with a PX Mart cashier in #Taiwan
August 26, 2025 at 6:20 AM
translatingtaiwan.com
Slightly depressing passage from Jian Zhen's "The Water Asks from Whence it Flows" (簡媜的《水問》), but it really gives a flavour of her fantastic use of imagery. translatingtaiwan.com/2025/05/29/a... #Taiwan #TaiwanLiterature #台文 #translation
這是無需考證的「現實」，誰也無法倖免的長期痼疾。我們行走世間，真像偷竊生命之果，盜汲智慧之泉的人，無時不刻，要受到現實的緝捕、拷問； 那果實、那泉液，我們妥貼地置於內心的理想之盤上，雙手雙足穩穩地護持著。而現實，這捕快，一眼看出你的破綻，急箭追查。你於潛逃之時，不得不將一盤理想暫託於草叢之中、泥沼之下，待來的歷劫之後，再來取回這稀世之寶。於是，在現實之前，你大膽地坦認：「我毫無理想，不信，你搜！」，這般搜查、尋訪、驗證之後，你的確不是盜者，便判你發還本鄕，侍你起程之日，你不得不驚顫，死神也等你很久了。就算，你尚存餘息，回到埋寶之處，你亦將發現，那泉水已濁、那果實已腐，那托盤已朽，而你鬢已蒼蒼……！你仰天一哭，生命是一場冤枉。 So this is the incontestable “reality,” the chronic disease from which no-one is safe. We walk this world like we’ve stolen the fruit of life and drawn water from the spring of wisdom on the sly and could be seized and interrogated by reality at any time; That fruit and that spring water, we place with care on our inner platter of ideals, dutifully protecting it with all our might. But the bounty hunter that is reality sees your weakness at a glance and shoots an arrow in your wake. As you flee, you have to stow your platter of ideals in some bushes amid swamp waters, until the troubles that lie ahead are behind you and you can return to retrieve these precious treasures. And so, you boldly face down reality, saying, “I have no ideals. If you don’t believe me, search me!” After the searching, probing and questioning, you’re found innocent of the theft and granted leave to return home. As you set off on your journey, you shudder with the realization that death has long awaited you. Although there is still breath in your lungs, as you return to where you buried your treasures, you discover that the spring water has been tainted, the fruit spoiled and the platter rotten, and you yourself are old and gray…! You turn your face to the heavens and cry at the injustice of life.
May 29, 2025 at 6:56 AM
translatingtaiwan.com
Pretty overt cartoon tweeted from #Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs on #PRC interference in the UN... but when are they joining #Bluesky?
May 6, 2025 at 1:38 AM
translatingtaiwan.com
I've only gone and won it!!! Anyone else?
April 18, 2025 at 8:23 AM
translatingtaiwan.com
Odd that this sticker, stuck on a YouBike by Daan Forest Park, calling on "the people of Taiwan" to hand in their recall letters (to recall allegedly pro-PRC KMT legislators) is written in simplified Chinese. Is this reverse psychology? I wonder who is responsible for them.
#Taiwan
April 15, 2025 at 11:31 PM
translatingtaiwan.com
February 13, 2025 at 12:17 AM
translatingtaiwan.com
If you ride a #YouBike 11 days a month in #Taiwan & have registered for insurance, win prizes every month on the YouBike減碳存摺 app by linking it to your YouBike app. (Hmm, could have incorporated)
Apple: apps.apple.com/us/app/youbi...
Google: play.google.com/store/apps/d...
4kg carbon/month
January 17, 2025 at 7:56 AM
translatingtaiwan.com
乖乖怪怪的口味
December 23, 2024 at 3:33 AM
translatingtaiwan.com
Push the button, don't push the button!

#taipei
December 17, 2024 at 3:03 AM
translatingtaiwan.com
Stand like a 🎍

sit like a 🔔

lie like a 🏹

walk like a 🐅

If your posture is right, people won't talk shit about you

(Found etched in the sand of Daan Park)
December 13, 2024 at 1:24 PM
translatingtaiwan.com
Nice use of #Taiwanese by #Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Instagram. 中國麥閣亂 "tiong-kok mài koh loān" (Cut it out, China). 「麥」 is standing in for "Don't/別" and "閣亂" is "cause trouble" (Original post linked below). Occasional sprinkling of Taiwanese in government communications seems common.
December 12, 2024 at 7:04 AM
translatingtaiwan.com
Enjoyed this homonymic spree from Sushi Express in Taipei. hán​shí (寒時/winter time) hán​shí (韓食/Korean food).
#MandarinPuns #諧音
December 10, 2024 at 3:09 AM