Recently I came to know that one very popular Japanese novel was translated in Chinese. The original book consists of 1000 pages. But the Chinese version only consists of 700 pages ! That is almost short of one-third of pages. Some days ago, Google restricted 280 words on each comment but no limitation for Chinese. It is because that classical Chinese phrase consists of multiple meanings. For instance, even an super advance AI translation soft ware would not translate this phrase :《米己成饭》into English language. Its meaning is that : once an event started, it would be irreversible ! Sometimes only 4 words could imply a historical story e.g. 《破斧沉舟》，《卧薪尝胆》….etc. Let me quote a typical example :《此地无银三百两》 that a few words could tell an very cue story as follows : Once ago, a business-man brought an amount of $300 going for a distant journey. On his way, he stayed in a small inn. At night he could not sleep. He was worried about the safety of his money. Finally he decided to hide his money under the bed. Until mid-night, he still could not sleep, he thought it should be safer to write a few words aside, like “No money being $300, kept under the bed !”. Then he slept soundly. Next morning, he found his money disappear. By the side he found a short note: The only waiter in this inn did not steal your money !” This story indicates that Naji denied all allegories of corruption against him by saying : “ignorance”, but obviously he revealed the fact that he knew everything !”
Google+The mystery of the Chinese language
