Oceanic Lutes

10 December 202525 December 2025 By Simon

My mandolin

When looking for the names of various instruments in Chinese, as you do, I came across 洋琵琶 (yángpípá) for mandolin. 洋 (yáng) means ocean, sea, foreign or western, and the 琵琶 (pípá) is a traditional Chinese string instrument described by the MDBG Chinese dictionary as a ‘guitar-like instrument’. So it’s a ‘foreign pipa’ in Chinese [source].

The Encyclopedia Britannica describes the pipa (see above) it as a ‘short-necked Chinese lute’ that originated in Western Asia, and has been known in China since the 2nd Century AD. Apparently the Chinese name comes from the way it’s played: pí originally meant to pluck in a forward motion, and pá meant to pluck in a backward motion. Different characters with the same sounds were later chosen for the instrument’s name [source].

Chinese Pipa

The word 洋 (yáng) also appears in

洋葱 (yángcōng) = onion, or ‘foreign scallion / green onion’
洋气 (yángqì) = Western style, foreign style, trendy, fashionable, or ‘foreign steam / vapour’
洋葱 (yángcù) = potato, or ‘foreign taro’

Another Chinese word that appears in various instrument names is 琴 (qín), which on its own refers to a type of long zither with seven strings, plucked with the fingers, also known as a 古琴 (gǔqín). The 琴 (qín) is also translated as a Chinese lute or guitar [source].

Other types of 琴 (qín) include:

钢琴 [鋼琴] (gāngqín) = piano, or ‘steel qin’.
风琴 [風琴] (fēngqín) = organ, or ‘wind qin’.
口琴 (kǒuqín) = mouth organ, harmonica, or ‘mouth qin’.
竖琴 [竪琴] (shùqín) = (Western-style harp). or ‘vertical qin’.
小提琴 (xiǎotíqínqín) = violin, or ‘small hand-held qin’.
中提琴 (zhōngtíqín) = viola, or ‘medium-sized hand-held qin’.
大提琴 (dàtíqín) = cello, or ‘big hand-held qin’.
低音大提琴 (dīyīn(dà)tíqín) = double bass or ‘low sound (big) hand-held qin’.
班卓琴 (bānzhuóqín) = banjo, or ‘banjo qin’ – the Chinese characters sound similiar to the word banjo

I think it’s interesting that in Chinese, non-Chinese instruments and other things are referred to as variants on traditional Chinese instruments, etc, while in English, Chinese instruments are referred to as versions of ‘Western’ instruments like guitars, lutes and zithers.

No Fierce Action

5 December 202525 December 2025 By Simon

One of the joys of being in foreign parts for a language nerd like me is spotting badly or interestingly translated signs, notices and other texts. I haven’t seen very many yet, but here’s a notice from the lift in the building where I’m staying:

Lift notice

You have to avoid taking your pets in the lift during the rush hour, whenever that is. Most of the flats in this building are empty, so there isn’t really a rush hour. Maybe there will be when most or all of them are occupied.

You also have to make sure that you don’t push the button with any hard stuff or tine. A better translation might be “Do not use any hard or sharp objects to press the buttons”

In an emergency, you shouldn’t “try to and grill the door”, whatever that means. A better translation might be “Do not force the doors or try to exit through the shaft”.

And finally, fierce action in the lift must be avoided at all times. Or maybe they mean “No strenuous exercise in the lift”. Light or moderate exercise is probably okay, but nothing too strenuous.

I saw this sign at a local KFC and thought it might be a bit of questionable English translation, but it seems to be a genuine KFC slogan. Do they use this in other countries?

Everyone has a place at my bucket

This certainly wouldn’t entice me into a restaurant.

Guangdong Business and Technology University library

This is one of the places we visited this week – Guangdong Business and Technology University (广东工商职业技术大学) – which has some rather elaborate architecture. The building pictured above is the library, which is even more impressive inside (see below). You can see my goddaughters and their parents in the foreground. I just noticed that the sign saying library is in traditional characters rather than simplified characters. The sign over their main gate is the same. I’ll look out for other uses of traditional characters.

Guangdong Business and Technology University library

China Adventures

29 November 202529 November 2025 By Simon

This week I’ve mainly been in China, and have had little time to add new material to Omniglot. Normal service should resume when I return to the UK. I’m planning to do so towards the end of January 2026, but we’ll see.

A nearby street leading to Zhaoqing University

It was quite an epic journey to get here. I left Bangor at ridiculous o’clock far too early on Tuesday morning, and got a lift to Manchester airport with friends. Then I flew to Beijing on Hainan Airlines (海南航空) with one of those friends. The flight took 10 hours and went smoothly, though I wasn’t able to sleep much, so was very tired when we arrived in Beijing. After filling in some pointless forms, going through immigration and collecting our bags, we checked in for our flight to Guangzhou, which took about 3 hours. Then we took a rather rickety old bus to Zhaoqing, which took another 2 hours, and a taxi to where we’re staying. The whole journey took just under 24 hours door-to-door.

The building I'm staying in and the view from my window
The building I’m staying in and the view from my window

I’m staying with M, the friend I travelled with, his Chinese wife YR, their two daughters (my goddaughters), Mia (5) and Isla (4), and YR’s mother. They’re renting a large, comfortable apartment in a new gated complex near Zhaoqing University (肇庆学院), where YR works as a teacher trainer. It’s quite a lively area full of students with plenty of places to eat and other shops, and the university campus has some quite picturesque parts, particularly the lake. It kind of reminds me of parts of Taipei, and even smells quite similar.

The lake on the campus of Zhaoqing University

There’s a much bigger lake near the centre of Zhaoqing which I saw on the way here. It’s called 星湖 (xīnghú) or Star Lake. I’ll go to explore the area soon. We were going to go last night, but got distracted with eating and other things.

Zhaoqing (肇庆 [肇慶] – zhàoqìng / siu6-hing2 in Cantonese) was established during the Qin Dynasty in the 1st century BC. It was originally known as Sihui (西会 [xīhuì]), and has also been known as Gaoyao (高要 [gāoyào]) and Duanzhou (端州 [duānzhōu]). Gaoyao and Duanzhou are now districts of Zhaoqing, and Sihui is a separate city. It became Zhaoqing in 1118 AD. It’s a port on the Xi River (西江) in Guangdong Province (广东省) about 50 miles / 80 km west of Guangzhou (广州).

The first and only other time I visited Mainland China was in 1991, when I spent nearly 2 months travelling around the south of the country. It has changed quite a bit since. Back then, travelling in China was an interesting experience, but not always a particularly comfortable one. The roads were full of bicycles, motorbikes, mopeds, buses, trucks, tractors, and even horses and donkeys, but very few private cars. The buildings were mostly grey, unadorned concrete, the air wasn’t particularly clean, except in rural areas, and foreign tourists were a novelty.

Me in Yangshuo (阳朔) in 1991

There were two currencies back in the 1990s: RMB (人民币 [rénmínbì]) for locals, and Foreign Exchange Certificates (外汇券 [wàihuìquàn]) for foreign tourists. There were restrictions on where you could visit, where you could stay and how you could travel, both for locals and tourists. FECs were used for certain hotels, flights, train tickets, and so on, and the locals were keen to exchange their RMB for FECs whenever they could.

Now there are fancy electric cars and scooters everywhere, there are a lot more local people and tourists, the cities are bigger and full of mostly smart, modern tower blocks, although you still see some unadorned concrete around, and they have built a whole network of high speed trains and many new roads. You could say that China is very much a work in progress, as there seems to be endless construction of new buildings, roads, railways, and so on. If you’re looking for a quiet, peaceful place to stay, most Chinese cities are best avoided.

There is only one currency now – RMB, and while cash is used to some extent, most people pay for everything with the WeChat app. It’s like WhatsApp, in that you can use it for messaging and calls, but has various other functions. Apparently shops and street vendors are keen to use WeChat as they get bonuses for doing so. Everybody has a QR code which you scan with your phone, which makes transactions much easier, and saves you having to carry around cash. I set it up before I left the UK, and finally got it working yesterday after getting hold of a local SIM card.

On the planes on the way here, I heard people speaking both Mandarin and Cantonese, and expected to hear Cantonese being spoken here in Zhaoqing. So far though, I’ve only heard a few people speaking Cantonese – most people seem to speak Mandarin as their first language. I’ve spoken plenty of Mandarin so far, but haven’t had any opportunities to speak Cantonese yet.

YR and her mum speak Mandarin and a variety of Mandarin from Guangxi Province where they come from. It sounds similar enough to Mandarin that I can sort of get the gist of what they’re saying. Apparently their dialect / language is known as Guangxi Mandarin or Jia Zhuang (嘉庄), as it is influenced by the Zhuang language [source].

The building I'm staying in and the view from my window Thanks to the Great Firewall of China, many of the sites I normally use are not accessible here, which makes things difficult. So unless I can find ways round this, I plan to spend my time here improving existing content on Omniglot, rather than adding new stuff. I will add some new pages when I have time and it’s possible to do so.

Before comning here, I made some bilingual English and Chinese name cards. They include a QR code which links to my page on Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/omniglot. I just found out that this site is blocked here. Oh well.

Better Safe than Sorry

13 November 202513 November 2025 By Simon

In the past week or so I’ve had a number of vaccinations to prepare for my trip to China, and have more to come. As they say, better safe than sorry, but what do they say in other languages?

The phrase better safe than sorry means it is preferable to be cautious in one’s choices and actions than to act recklessly and suffer afterwards.

Phrases with similar meanings in English include:

err on the side of caution
measure twice, cut once
play it safe
prevention is better than cure
an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

Equivalent phrases in other languages include:

Azerbaijani – htiyat igidin yaraşığıdır
(“prudence is the adornment of a brave man”)
Bulgarian – който сам се пази и Бог го пази (koĭto sam se pazi i Bog go pazi) – (“He who protects himself and God protects him”)
Chinese (Mandarin) – 小心驶得万年船 [小心駛得萬年船]
(xiǎoxīn shǐ dé wànnián chuán) – (“If you are careful, you can steer your ship safely for a myriad of years”)
French – mieux vaut prévenir que guérir
(“prevention is better than cure”)
German – Vorsicht ist besser als Nachsicht
(“caution is better than clemency”)
Greek – κάλλιο γαϊδουρόδενε παρά γαϊδουρογύρευε (kállio gaïdouródene pará gaïdourogýreve) – (“Better to tie a donkey than to ride a donkey.”)
Irish – is fearr glas ná amhras
(“better a lock than a doubt”)
Japanese – 転ばぬ先の杖 (korobanu saki no tsue) – (“a walking stick before stumbling”)
Korean – 돌다리도 두들겨 보고 건너라 (doldalido dudeulgyeo bogo geonneola) – (“even if you cross a stone bridge, test it first.”)
Polish – żeby kózka nie skakała, toby nóżki nie złamała
(“if the goat had not been jumping, it would not have broken its leg”)
Welsh – gwell diogel nac edifar
(“better safe than sorry”)

Source: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/better_safe_than_sorry

How about in other languages?

Once in a Blue Moon

6 November 20256 November 2025 By Simon

If something doesn’t happen very often, you might say that it happens once in a blue moon English. What about in other languages?

The phrase once in a blue moon first appeared in first around 1821 and refers to something that happens very rarely, very infrequently or almost never. An alternative version is apparently once in a purple moon [source].

A blue moon is a second full moon during a calendar month, which happens once every 32 months. A blue moon can also refer to a full moon that appears to be blue and bigger than usual [source].

In (Mandarin) Chinese, the equivalent is 千载难逢 [千載難逢] (qiānzǎinánféng), which means “an opportunity difficult to come by even in a thousand years”. This expression comes from folk tales, in which such rare opportunities might lead to success or life-changing events [source].

In Czech, the equivalent is jednou za uherský rok , which means ‘once in a Hungarian year’. Apparently this idiom dates from the Turkish wars, when Czech soldiers were hired in Hungary for a certain period of time, which was constantly extended [source]. The Slovak equivalent, raz za uhorský rok (“once a Hungarian year”), probably comes from the same roots.

In Polish, they say raz na ruski rok (“once in a Ruthenian year”), which refers to the fact that the Gregorian calendar used by East Slavs has longer months [source]. Alternatively, they say od wielkiego dzwonu (“from the big bell”), which refers to The Sigismund Bell, the largest of the five bells in the Sigismund Tower of Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, which is used only on special occasions [source].

In French, you might say tous les trente-six du mois (“every 36th of the month”) or une fois toutes les lunes (“once every moon”) [source].

In German, you could say alle Jubeljahre (“every jubilee year”), which refers to biblical jubliees that come round every 50 years [source].

In Russian, they say раз в сто лет (“once every hundred years”) [source].

In Spanish, they say cada muerte de obispo (“every death of a bishop”), or de Pascuas a Ramos (“from Easter (Day) til Palm Sunday”) – Palm Sunday comes before Easter Day [source].

In Welsh, one equivalent is unwaith yn y pedwar amser (“once in the four seasons”) and another is unwaith yn y pedwar gwynt (“once in the four winds”) [source].

Are there interesting similar idioms in other languages?

String Phones

16 October 202516 October 2025 By Simon

In many languages, words for telephone are some variation of telephone, but in some, such as Swahili, the word for phone is completely different – simu. Let’s find out where it comes from and what other words are related to it.

The Swahili word simu means telephone, telephone message, telegraph or telegram. Some related words include:

simu ya mkono(ni) / simu za rununu = mobile phone
simu maizi = smartphone
kibanda cha simu = telephone booth / box
kitabu cha simu = telephone book
piga simu = to make a call, to phone

It comes from Omani Arabic سيم (sīm – telegram), from Persian سیم (sim – wire, string, cord; silver, wealth, money [poetic]), from Middle Persian (ʾ)sym /⁠ (a)sēm (silver), from Old Persian 𐎿𐎡𐎹𐎶𐎶 (siyamam⁠ – silver), from Ancient Greek ἄσημον (ásēmon – silverware), from ἄσημος (ásēmos – unmarked, unintelligible, indistinct, silver) from ἄσημος, from σῆμα (sêma – mark, sign, token), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰyéh₂mn̥, from *dʰeyh₂- (to perceive, to see) [source].

Words from the same PIE roots include semaphore, semantic in English, semáforo (traffic light, semaphore) in Spanish, σημασία (simasía – meaning, sense, significance) in Greek, sim (string, wire, lead) in Azerbaijani, אסימון (asimón – token) in Hebrew, and сым (sym – wire) in Kazakh [source].

In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell patented a device he called the telephone, which he described as an “apparatus for transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically”. This was the first use of the word telephone to refer to the telephone we know today. Before then, it had been used to refer to other similar devices [source].

The English word telephone was borrowed from French téléphone (telephone), which comes from Ancient Greek τῆλε (têle – afar) and φωνή (phōnḗ – voice, sound) [source].

Other languages that do not use some version of the word telephone include:

Armenian: հեռախոս (heṙaxos) – from եռա- (heṙa – far) and խոսել (xosel – to speak)
Breton: pellgomz – from pell (far) and komz (to speak, talk)
Chinese: 电话 [電話] (diànhuà) – from 电 [電] (diàn – lightning, electric power, energy, electricity) and 话 [話] (huà – speech, talk, words) – borrowed from Japanese 電話 (denwa – telephone, phone call)
Finnish: puhelin – from puhella (to chatter)
Icelandic: sími – from síma (cord, rope)

Incidentally, the similarity between the Icelandic word sími and the Swahili word simu is entirely coincidental, and they are not related.

Source: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/telephone#Translations

Good Intentions

19 September 2025 By Simon

One of the things that came up in conversation last night was the expression the road to hell is paved with good intentions. This got me wondering about where it comes from and whether there are similar phrases in other languages.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions means that well-intended acts can potentially lead to disasters. Phrases with a similar meaning is hell is full of good meanings, but heaven is full of good works and the streets of hell are paved with promises [source].

The origins of this phrase are not known, but there have been sayings with a similar meaning going back a long way. For example, in the Aeneid (book 6, lines 126-129), Virgil wrote:

“facilis descensus Averno;
noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis;
sed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras,
hoc opus, hic labor est” [source].
“The gates of hell are open night and day;
Smooth the descent, and easy is the way:
But to return, and view the cheerful skies,
In this the task and mighty labor lies” [source].

In the Bible (Ecclesiasticus 21:10) we have:

“The way of sinners is made plain with stones, but at the end thereof is the pit of hell.”

In around 1604, Bernard Clairvaux is claimed to have written, though probably didn’t:

L’enfer est plein de bonnes volontés ou désirs
“Hell is full of good meanings and wills”

In 1670 in A Collection of English Proverbs collected by John Ray we have:

“Hell is full of good meanings and wishes”

In 1741 John Wesley wrote in his sermon The Almost Christian:

“‘Hell is paved’, saith one, ‘with good intentions.'”

In 1791 in James Boswell’s biography of Samuel Johnson, Boswell quotes Johnson as saying to an acquaintance:

“Sir, hell is paved with good intentions.”

In 1811 in an English translation of a book by Johann Jacob Rambach we find:

“Der Weg zur Höllen sey mit lauter gutem Vorsatz gepflastert.”
“The road to hell is paved with good resolutions”

Related phrases in other languages include:

Catalan: l’infern està ple de bones intencions
(Hell is full of good intentions.)
French: l’enfer est pavé de bonnes intentions
(Hell is paved with good intentions)
Mandarin Chinese: 好心没好报 [好心沒好報] (hǎoxīn méi hǎobào)
(Good intentions don’t go unrewarded)
Spanish: el infierno está empedrado de buenas intenciones
(Hell is paved with good intentions)

How about in other languages?

Sources and more information about these expressions
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_road_to_hell_is_paved_with_good_intentions
https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/the-road-to-hell-is-paved-with-good-intentions.html
https://idiomorigins.org/origin/road-to-hell-is-paved-with-good-intentions

Foreign Eggplants

28 May 202528 May 2025 By Simon

When is a tomato not a tomato?

Recently I’ve been brushing up my knowledge of Mandarin Chinese by doing some Chinese lessons on Duolingo. The kind of Chinese taught there is Mandarin from Mainland China, which differs somewhat from the Mandarin of Taiwan that I’m more familiar with.

One difference is the word for tomato. In Mainland China it’s 西红柿 [西紅柿] (xīhóngshì), and in Taiwan it’s 番茄 (fānqié). 西红柿 means literally “western red persimmon”, and was borrowed into Tibetan as ཞི་ཧུང་ཧྲི (zhi hung hri) [source]. 番茄 means literally “foreign eggplant / aubergine”, and was borrowed into Zhuang as fanhgez [source].

Is 番茄 used at all in Mainland China, or in other Chinese-speaking regions?

Incidentally, the word tomato comes from Spanish tomate (tomato), from Classical Nahuatl tomatl (tomatillo), from Proto-Nahuan *tomatl (tomatillo) [source].

A tomatillo is “A plant of the nightshade family originating in Mexico, Physalis philadelphica, cultivated for its tomato-like green to green-purple fruit surrounded by a thin papery skin.” and is a diminutive of tomate – see above [source].

Other words that differ include:

Mainland China	Taiwan
土豆 (tǔdòu) = potato (“earth bean”)	馬鈴薯 (mǎlíngshǔ) = potato (“horse bell potato / yam”)
自行车 (zìxíngchē) = bicycle (“self go vehicle”)	腳踏車 (jiǎotàchē) = bicycle (“pedal vehicle”)
公交车 (gōngjiāochē) = bus (“public transport vehicle”)	公共汽車 (gōnggòngqìchē) = bus (“public car”) 公車 (gōngchē) = bus
出租车* (chūzūchē) = taxi (“vehicle for hire”)	計程車 (jìchéngchē) = taxi (“vehicle caculated by mileage”)
计算机** (jìsuànjī) = computer (“calculating machine”)	電腦 (diànnǎo) = computer (“electric brain”)

*出租車 (chūzūchē) = rental car in Taiwan.
**計算機 (jìsuànjī) = calculator in Taiwan.

Travelling Hopefully

15 January 2025 By Simon

They say that it’s better to travel hopefully than to arrive, or something similar, but who said this first? Where does this idea come from?

According to Phrase Finder, this phrase is attributed to Robert Louis Stevenson, who wrote in an essay entitled El Dorado in Virginibus Puerisque, published in 1881:

“Little do ye know your own blessedness; for to travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive, and the true success is to labour.”

A similar sentiment apparently appears in the Taoist proverb “The journey is the reward”, by Laozi (老子), the semi-legendary 6th century BC Chinese philosopher and founder of Taoism. However, I haven’t found the reference yet. He did write “the journey of a thousand li* commenced with a single step” [千里之行，始於足下] [source].

A li [里], is a traditional Chinese unit of distance made up of 1,500 chi [尺]. The distances represented by the measures has varied over time. The li now has a standardized length of 500 metres (1,640″), and traditionally it was about the length of a single village [source], while the chi is ⅓ of a metre, or 33⅓ cm [source].

On my recent travels by train in the UK, there have been many delays and cancellations. Each time I’ve arrived at my destination, but usually an hour or two late. Fortunately, I’ve received full or partial refunds from the train companies in most cases. When I travel, I always travel hopefully, hoping that I’ll arrive on time, or at least arrive the same day. I make the most of the journeys, reading, listing to audiobooks, studying languages, and watching the scenery go by. Sometimes I even get into conversations with other travellers, though I’m not good at starting them. Maybe I should see my journeys as epic quests.

Are you a hopeful traveller?

Satorial Tailoring

1 January 2025 By Simon

What links the word satorial with the words tailor in various languages? Let’s find out.

The word sartorial means:

Of or relating to the tailoring of clothing.
Of or relating to the quality of dress.
Of or relating to the sartorius muscle ( a long muscle in the leg.

It comes from New Latin sartorius (pertaining to a tailor), from Late Latin sartor (mender, patcher, tailor), from Latin sarcire (to patch, mend), sarciō (to patch, botch, mend, repair, restore, to make amends, recompense), from Proto-Indo-European *serḱ- (to mend, make good, recompense) [source].

Words from the same roots include sastre (tailor) in Spanish, Tagalog and Chavacano, xastre (tailor) in Asturian, Galician and Portuguese, sarto (tailor) in Italian, sertir (to crimp, set, socket [jewellery]) and the surname Sartre in French, and the obsolete English word sartor (tailor) [source].

The English word tailor, which refers to a person who makes, repairs, or alters clothes professionally, especially suits and men’s clothing, comes from Middle English taillour (tailor), from Anglo-Norman tailloru (tailor), from Old French tailleor (tailor), from taillier (to cut, shape), from Late Latin tāliō (retaliation, to cut, prune), from Latin tālea (rod, stick, stake, a cutting, twig, sprig), the origins of which are uncertain [source].

Related words include tally (any account or score kept by notches or marks) in English, taille (size, waist) and tailler (to cut) in French, Teller (plate, dish) in German, táille (fee, charge) in Irish, talea (cutting, scion) in Italian, and taior (woman’s suit) in Romanian tajar (to cut, slice, chop) in Spanish [source].

I was inspired to write this post after learning that tailor in Spanish is sastre, and wondering where it comes from.

By the way, Happy New Year! Blwyddyn newydd dda! Bonne année ! ¡Feliz Año Nuevo! 新年快樂！新年快乐！ Felice anno nuovo! 新年おめでとうございます! Bliain úr faoi shéan is faoi mhaise duit! Bliadhna mhath ùr! Blein Vie Noa! Ein gutes neues Jahr! Feliĉan novan jaron! Поздравляю с Новым Годом! Šťastný nový rok! Godt nytår! Gott nytt år! La Mulți Ani! Onnellista uutta vuotta! 🎆🎉🥂🥳

Omniglot Blog

Adventures in the world of words and language

Category: Chinese (中文)