Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2014 March 10

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March 10

College Entrance Examination or College Entrance Examinations

In almost all the Chinese-English dictionaries I have consulted, there is College Entrance Examination. But in fact the applicants have to take several examinations, so I think it should be College Entrance Examinations. For example, "My younger brother will take College Entrance Examinations this year." Am I right? I need your opinion. Thank you! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 114.249.214.104 (talk) 04:01, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

Sometimes the singular is used for a set of papers making up a single examination, but if you think of each separate paper as an examination then the plural would be used. I think you are correct to prefer the plural. Dbfirs 12:38, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

If there is a set of several papers contributing towards a single result (ie in this case either admission to college or not) then it would be regarded as a single examination.----Ehrenkater (talk) 14:49, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

Lyudmyla Yosypenko - UK/RU news

I'm trying to ref the last line of Lyudmyla Yosypenko (a BLP), which says she is banned. The best I can find is this article which describes the circumstances of her test leading to disqualification. Google Translate does a fairly good job on it; from that I've written this summary:

In December 2012 the World Anti-Doping Agency notified Yosypenko that levels of hemoglobin in blood samples she had given differed from those described in her biological passport. She competed in the Ukrainian national championships in July 2013, but the Ukrainian Athletic Federation disqualified her the following day. [?? no actual mention of a ban, or of its duration ??] Yosypenko protested, saying the changes in her hemoglobin levels were a result of medical treatments and that she would appeal the ban.

I'd appreciate it if someone who actually speaks Ukrainian or Russian could:

• verify that my summary is accurate
• search UK/RU-language sources to see if we can figure out the duration of the ban
• figure out how whether she did appeal, and what the outcome was

Thanks. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 16:16, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

The duration (4 years) is shown in the title and the first paragraph of the article.--Lüboslóv Yęzýkin (talk) 16:52, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

Silly me, so it is. Thanks. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 22:53, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

What to call characters in The Adventures of Little Carp

Hiya, I've been slowly making changes to The Adventures of Little Carp, a Chinese animated television series for kids, and I noticed that the main character is called Bubbles, which appears to be a direct translation of 泡泡. Google translate pronounces this as PaoPao, and I found this content that calls the fish Popo. How should we refer to the character? Examples:

1. Bubbles (Chinese: 泡泡, pron: PaoPao) - Bubbles is a curious young carp with the ability to blow bubbles.
2. Popo (Chinese: 泡泡, translation: Bubbles) - Popo is a curious young carp with the ability to blow bubbles.
3. some other variation?

I would also appreciate any input about how to properly format the parenthetical content, as I'm not slick with language templates and pronunciation standards (schwas and such.) There are a few other characters on that page, so any help would be appreciated. Thank you! Cyphoidbomb (talk) 18:35, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

My feeling is that if there is an established convention in translated materials outside Wikipedia to call this character "Bubbles", then you should use that name. If not, I think you should call him by the Chinese name, however that is best transliterated, and explain that it means "Bubbles". 86.160.86.139 (talk) 20:48, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

Given that "Popo" is Chinese for "mother-in-law," even though the English speaking audience is not likely to know that, it seems a bit odd to hear that name.--64.134.186.43 (talk) 21:29, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

PouPou is the Cantonese pronunciation for 泡泡. KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 01:02, 11 March 2014 (UTC)

PaoPao is definitely the correct Pinyin, and it literally means Bubbles, so I'd say choose one of the two. --140.180.247.129 (talk) 06:26, 11 March 2014 (UTC)

This is the same poster as 64.134.186.43 above. Despite my qualms about the mother-in-law homophone, which again will be lost on most of the audience of the translated works anyway, there seems to be no perfect solution. Certainly there are often imperfect solutions that translators need to settle for due to flaws with the alternatives. Still, however, "paopao" in anything close to the Mandarin pronunciation will seem awkward and/or not particularly mellifluous to English speaking ears. Converse, Bubbles sounds like a character from a risqué joke (or film). "Poupou" eliminates the "ao" diphthong but is ambiguous in pronunciation -- English speakers may wonder if it should be pronounced like the French "ou," resulting in /Pupu/. One factor to consider is what type of transliteration/translation will be used for the other characters' names and how "foreign" (i.e., how close to pinyin) you think the audience is willing to accept.--2604:2000:1054:7E:9C10:34AD:712:5A7B (talk) 08:41, 12 March 2014 (UTC)

The actual word for "bubble" in Mandarin is just 泡. The reduplicated form 泡泡 could indicate a kind of plural but is more childlike or suggestive of "bubbleness". So, in English, Bubbles works, but if that sounds risqué, a form like Bubbly would work just as well. On the other hand, if you'd rather capture the Mandarin pronunciation, Powpow would be more intuitive for people reading English than Paopao, and less ambiguous than Poupou. Marco polo (talk) 14:21, 12 March 2014 (UTC)

bring down on

Hello！I have a question about "to bring down on". Can it be used to mean "to cause" in the sentence "Heavy smoking brought down a violent cough on the old man." Thank you very much! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 222.128.168.212 (talk) 22:32, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

At the simplest level of meaning, yes, this means "cause", but you can't just arbitrarily substitute it for "cause". The idea is that something negative is imposed on an individual. There's a nuance of punishment here, I think; the judgment of God or nature on the old man for his unwise choice. --Trovatore (talk) 22:43, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

Agreed with Trovatore. The phrase implies the judgment of a person. The judge brought the full weight of the law down on the repeat-offender. Not, the wind brought down relief from the heat.

It's related to incur: the sentence in question can be rephrased as "By smoking, the old man incurred a violent cough." —Tamfang (talk) 09:40, 11 March 2014 (UTC)

Or "By smoking, the old man brought down upon himself a violent cough." Clarityfiend (talk) 23:36, 11 March 2014 (UTC)

I don't know. There's nothing grammatically wrong with that. But something like the old man brought a violent cough down on himself by walking in the dust storm (a singular event) seems a lot more natural. If he smoked over a long time he's develop a cough, not bring one down in one event. μηδείς (talk) 04:38, 12 March 2014 (UTC)

I'm thinking of the violent cough as a chronic condition. Clarityfiend (talk) 08:19, 12 March 2014 (UTC)