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University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses
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After Babel: exploring the complexities of cross-cultural translation and appropriation
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After Babel: exploring the complexities of cross-cultural translation and appropriation
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Content
After Babel
Exploring the Complexities of Cross-Cultural T ranslation and Appropriation
by
Jiayun Chen
A Thesis Presented to the
F ACUL TY OF THE USC ROSKI SCHOOL OF AR T AND DESIGN
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF FINE AR TS
May 2023
Acknowledgments
I would love to thank my committee members for being incredibly generous and supportive
throughout my writing and making process.
Chair: Jennifer W est
Thomas Mueller
Edgar Arceneanx
Language is a tricky thing but I wish to express my gratitude for the mentorships that nurtured
me in Roski. As well as my peers, faculties, and Roski staf f who have helped me along this
journey . Here is to Social Practice and Fluxus—cheers!
i i
T able of Contents
Acknowledgments……………………………………………………………..………………….ii
List of Figures……………………………………………………………………………….……iv
Abstract……………………………………………………………………………….…….……..v
Introduction ……………………………………………………………………….………………1
Chapter one: Chinese T attoos…………………………………...………..……………….……..3
Categorization and Ordering of T attoos………………………………….………………..5
Brief History of Chinese T attoos in the US……………………………………….………7
Creation of Chinese tattoos in the US: Character T ranslation T emplate………….………8
Personal T attoo Narratives: Who gets Chinese tattoos?…………………………………12
T ranslation and AI……………………………………………………………………….13
Chapter T wo: Poorly T ranslated English T -shirts in Asia………..….…………….……………16
Humor in Mistranslation…………………………………………………………………19
Chapter thr ee: My W ork………………………………………………………………….…….23
Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………...……...30
iii
List of Figur es
Figure 1. Diagram for thesis exhibition. Jiayun Chen, 2023. Los Angeles……………………… 2
Figure 2. Chinese tattoo submission. Hanzi Smatter , photograph, Blogspot, July 22,
2015.…………………………………………………………………………………………..….. 9
Figure 3. T ang, T an. Invented English to Chinese translation template, Blogspot, August 31,
2006…………………………………………………………………………………………...….10
Figure 4. Poorly translated English T -shirts in Asia. Screenshoot from Shangzhai L yric talk.
CCCB. …………………………………………………………………………………...………16
Figure 5. Figure 5. Bruegel, d.A. Pieter , “The T ower of Babel”, Oil on oakwood,
Kunsthistorisches Museum W ien………………………………………………………………...24
Figure 6. Figure 6. Sanson with the Jawbone. Bray , Salomon de. Oil on canvas. 1636. J.Paul
Getty Museum, Los Angeles……………………………………………………………………..27
i v
Abstract
Through a cultural, theoretical, and literary lens, this thesis delves into the notion of translation
and mistranslation. This writing is both self-reflective and observant of cultural phenomena that
bear with mistakes of translation within a lar ger , rigid system.
v
Intr oduction
A translation would not seek to say this or that, to transport this or that content, to
communicate such a char ge of meaning, but to r e-mark the affinity among the languages, to
exhibit its own possibility .
— Jacques Derrida , Des T ours de Babel
T ranslation seems to always fail the expectation of ef ficiency and accuracy according to
Derrida. If translation is indeed pur ely a cr eative task, would it be a fundamental curse to
the accuracy of communication acr oss cultur es? In this paper , I will discuss language and
translation (mistranslation) in cultural exchange and appropriation. Investigating the
sociolinguistics of translation/mistranslation in dif ferent cultural phenomenons that center around
images of texts on the body found on the Internet. T o be specific, the mistranslated Chinese
tattoos and poorly translated English T -shirts in Asia. Utilizing classification as a tool to
understand their characteristics and cultural impacts. I used the two phenomena and their
histories to consider mistranslation not just as mistakes, but as an intermediate space for
possibilities of poetics and resistance of the asymmetrical power structure between languages.
Further , I used the biblical story The T ower of Babel to deconstruct the idea of translation, its
contradictions, and its impossibilities. I think about errors or mistakes in translation as an
inevitable gesture that falls into the aesthetics of failure.
1
This thesis is written to understand the internal link between the surface and my very
personal artistic interest. For that intention, I created diagrams to help myself draw connections
between language and architecture, order and disorder . (see figure 1)
Figure 1. Chen, diagram for thesis exhibition
2
Chapter One: Chinese T attoo
Out of curiosity and petty revenge, I started collecting images of mistranslated Chinese
tattoos. There are thousands of them circulating on the internet. Learning English as a second
language was a long and dreadful journey , it began with the dry memorization of vocabulary and
ended with quizzes and tests. There is always a sole right answer and no room for discussion.
Critiquing the Chinese language used in the tattoo industry gives me the power to think about my
experience with languages and their power dynamics. It is finally my turn to say: “wrong word
choice”, or “wrong grammar”. A standard Chinese tattoo black-inked words like “love”,
“loyalty” or “Sara” in mandarin (very often with translation mistakes or miswriting), inked on
skins in various colors. I remember my first time seeing them as a teenager when T ieba was the
hub of funny images and early memes on the Chinese internet. That must be at least ten years
ago.
After many years of the peak popularity of the Chinese tattoo phenomenon in the US in
the 90s, photos of them eventually made their way to the Chinese internet. It is not till ten years
later that I see these tattoos in real life, on the skin of ordinary Americans. Chinese tattoos that I
have encountered in real life are by no means less entertaining than the legendary ones online. I
am amused by their percentage of mistranslations—-it is nearly a miracle when the characters are
written correctly . Mistakes like incorrect translations and letters turned upside down are common
errors. Other errors include made-up characters, grammar and syntax mistakes, etc... It didn’ t
surprise me when I heard someone makes a living of f a Chinese tattoo consulting service (these
services can be found on T ikT ok @Candiselin86).
3
After spending a few weeks of deep internet mining, the Chinese tattoo started to unravel
itself like a for gotten cultural spectacle. My research simply starts with typing “Funny Chinese
tattoos” on Google, and soon some Y outube videos and blog posts gave me leads to more
resources. During the search for tattoo images, I tried to distinguish if they are genuine tattoos or
temporary ones—-it makes a huge dif ference in the process and their physicality . It is worth
noting that in some images, tattoos are embedded in redness and irritated skin as they have just
been freshly completed. The irritated flesh is a clear indication of pain and ef fort in getting
tattoos, a reminder that these tattoos are on real people’ s bodies.
A lot of the tattoo images are low-fidelity photos. They are pixelated due to poor camera
quality and distortion from wide circulation on the internet. Borrowing Hito Steyerl’ s term, they
are in the category of “poor images”. Steyerl’ s essay In defense of the Poor Image
1
, the writer
investigates the political implication of the poor image. The circulation of the image comes with
a recognition of the value that the public sees in the images and thus results in the degraded
resolution in the process of massive circulation. The immediate value of the mistranslated
Chinese tattoos is first and foremost humor . A kind of humor that has to do with failure and
permanency; a kind of failure that I like to see from “the other”. For years the images of
mistranslated tattoos can be found on compilations of “epic fail” tattoos on entertainment
websites, titled something like “7 Hilarious and Cringe-worthy Chinese T attoo fails”
2
.
2
F a n g , A n g e l a . “ 7 H i l a r i o u s a n d C r i n g e - W o r t h y C h i n e s e T a t t o o F a i l s . ” C h i n e s e L e a r n i n g T i p s . A c c e s s e d J a n u a r y
2 7 , 2 0 2 3 .
h t t p s : / / b l o g . t u t o r a b c c h i n e s e . c o m / m a n d a r i n - c h i n e s e - l e a r n i n g - t i p s / 7 - h i l a r i o u s - a n d - c r i n g e - w o r t h y - c h i n e s e - t a t t o o - f a i l s .
1
H i t o S t e y e r l , “ I n D e f e n s e o f t h e P o o r I m a g e , ” e - F l u x J o u r n a l , n o . 1 0 ( N o v e m b e r 2 0 0 9 ) .
4
Categorization and Ordering of T attoos
T o make sense of the cultural associations of Chinese tattoos, I used a taxonomic
ordering system. Putting them into categories would help to understand Chinese tattoos as a
cultural product. In short, the tattoo images I have collected can be roughly broken down into
three categories in terms of their subject matter .
1) Names . Example: 亚历山大 (Alexsander). Perhaps it is universally a tempting idea to
write the name of your loved one on surfaces, especially surfaces that implicate forms of
risk (trees, walls, and of course, skins). T attoos of names are not unique to Chinese
tattoos. However , a lar ge amount of Chinese name tattoos appeared to be gibberish—they
were products of a completely made-up template which will be discussed further in the
paper .
2) Lifestyle/personality . Example: 坏孩男 (bad boy). This group of tattoos speaks to a
specific character or quality . There are more conventional ones, like “ 勇(brave)” or “ 忠
(loyalty)”, and other more punky ones like “ 狂贱人(crazy bitch)”, or “ 坏孩男(bad boy)”.
3) Food . Example: 鸡面汤 (chicken noodle soup). Surprisingly , food is a distinct category
that dominates a fair percentage of Chinese tattoos.
Other than the categorization of their subject matter , I also arranged them on a spectrum that
emphasizes the severity of their errors, including written and grammatical mistakes.
Alternatively , I call this “levels of sense-making”. There are four groups.
1. W riting err ors . The tattoos in this group are oftentimes readable but there is something
wrong with the writing of the characters. Common mistakes such as misspellings,
characters turned upside down, and characters broken into parts.
5
2. Lost in translation . The Chinese words or phrases in this category sound odd because of
what I call “stif f: translation. For example, the tattoo 狂贱人(translation: crazy bitch) (see
figure*) explains how a common phrase in one language might sound strange in a
dif ferent cultural context when translated literally .
3. Bizarr e denotation. The words are often correctly written, however , what the words and
phrases denote are weird enough to question if they are mistakes. For example 阿呆美国
人(translation: dumb American). There is no way to trace the truth if this is purely a
tattoo artist playing tricks on their customer , but I suspect that is the story .
4. Made-up characters. The characters in this category are butchered so horribly that they
are unrecognizable of their intention. Though some of the made-up characters remind me
of one or multiple Chinese characters. Generally speaking, this is a similar but more
severe group compared to the first category .
5. T otal poetic failur e . Similar to the ones in the third category , Bizarr e denotation , the
characters are correct but they do not make sense as a sentence. A good example would
be 家母永猪笑 (word-to-word literal translation: home mom forever pig laugh). The
poetic potential comes from its rejection to make sense or following rigid grammatical
rules.
While listing (or grading) their errors, I feel a furtive excitement that has to do with my trauma
with language. The action of putting their errors into categories gives me flashbacks of being
graded on English writing in school systems, where one is judged closely on sentence structure,
spelling, and word choice, for example. My project and research allow me to reverse the position
and create my own grading rubrics. Y et, examining tattoos is also nothing like grading papers.
6
The mistakes made on the skin can only be fixed by tattoo removal or cover -ups, both cost
enormous pain and money . While feeling a sense of victorious revenge, I also felt empathy .
Further , the categorization system helps me to understand Chinese character tattoos, not
as individual fragments, but as belonging to a bigger picture that is constituted by many personal
stories. This bigger picture can disclose tendencies of social value, dif ferences in language
systems, and cultural dif ferences.
A b r i e f H i s t o r y o f C h i n e s e t a t t o o s i n t h e U S
When Ariana Grande released her album Seven Rings in 2019, a tattoo got her into a bit
of controversy . Grande chose to ink the title of her album on the upper palm of her hand, though
in Japanese. Just like how most Asian Character tattoos go, the actual meaning is far from what
Grande intended. The literal translation is “seven wheels” (which is not too bad). T ragically , “ 七
輪” also refers to a small Japanese barbeque grill and Grande ended up modifying the tattoo
3
,
bringing back the conversation of misspelled Asian tattoos to the popular discourse.
But who puts the crazy idea of getting tattoos in a foreign language in peoples’
heads? Everything started with the loosening of immigration law in the 1960s. W ith an
influx of Asian immigrants coming into the US, immigrants brought their culture along with
them and soon impacted American pop culture. While Japanese anime and Chinese cuisine made
their first introduction in the 1960s, Richard Nixon’ s visit to China in 1970 sparked public
interest in Chinese culture—Kung Fu films and Chinese cuisine became widely popular .
3
“ A r i a n a G r a n d e M o c k e d f o r J a p a n e s e T a t t o o T y p o : ' L e a v e M e a n d M y G r i l l A l o n e ' , ” T h e G u a r d i a n ( G u a r d i a n
N e w s a n d M e d i a , J a n u a r y 3 1 , 2 0 1 9 ) ,
h t t p s : / / w w w . t h e g u a r d i a n . c o m / m u s i c / 2 0 1 9 / j a n / 3 1 / a r i a n a - g r a n d e - m o c k e d - f o r - j a p a n e s e - t a t t o o - t y p o - l e a v e - m e - a n d - m y -
g r i l l - a l o n e .
7
The exposure to Asian culture was exciting to the American public. Everything seemed
foreign and fresh. However , this new fascination with the east also leads to an abstract view and
exoticization. Like looking through a blurred glass, elements of culture were flattened into
mass-spreading cultural symbols, and the original context inevitably gets distorted and
appropriated. Among others, Asian characters (especially Japanese and Chinese), became one of
the evident cultural symbols.
Over the next three decades, Asian characters developed a sense of cool, they showed
their appearance on T -shirts, music videos, logos, and of course, tattoos.
Though the popularity of Asian-character tattoos was cultural, how they became a
phenomenon was a story of economics. At its peak in 2000, Asian character tattoos (mostly
Chinese characters) occupied 40 percent of the tattoo market. This extreme popularity can be
explained for the following reasons: first, character tattoos are fairly easy to duplicate, and the
level of skills required is less than tattooing images. Second, Chinese character tattoos are mostly
done in one colored ink (mostly black ink), the simplicity of it means reasonable prices. Perhaps
af fordability takes a huge role in promotion, the Chinese character soon became a go-to in most
tattoo parlors across America.
Cr eation of Chinese tattoos in the US: Character T ranslation T emplate
Perhaps I will never know exactly how the mistakes are made in the tattoos, when the
tattoo artist doesn’ t speak Chinese, the words don’ t have meanings attached to them and lean
towards graphics or images. Y et, the ambiguity in these failed tattoos is always an intriguing
factor . I have no way of knowing what exactly happened—whether they are intentionally created
8
or purely made for a joke. The failed tattoos with their unknown causes are full of mystery . In
my cyber digging, I bumped into a fascinating template that provides some answers to the
questions.
Out of hundreds of tattoo images, a fair amount of them is gibberish. Though they are
written in correct Chinese characters, the characters seem to be randomly puzzled together
without an appointed purpose. For example, this tattoo in figure 1 translates to “women path
kung fu hand”. After seeing more and more of them, they start to form loose patterns. For
instance, characters like “ 女” or “ 术” hold a regular appearance in the gibberish tattoos, and they
are normally constituted by four to seven characters. It was not until I stumbled upon a blog
dedicated to mistranslated Chinese tattoos, the mystery was finally revealed.
It turns out that they do follow a specific logic––a whimsical one. According to T ian
T ang, a native mandarin speaker who runs a blog all about mistranslated Chinese tattoos
4
, these
4
T i a n T a n g , “ H a n z i S m a t t e r : 一 知 半 解 . D e d i c a t e d t o t h e M i u s e o f C h i n e s e C h a r a c t e r s i n W e s t e r n C u l t u r e , ” H a n z i
S m a t t e r : 一 知 半 解 . D e d i c a t e d t o t h e M i s u s e o f C h i n e s e C h a r a c t e r s i n W e s t e r n C u l t u r e ( b l o g ) , S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 4 ,
h t t p s : / / h a n z i s m a t t e r . b l o g s p o t . c o m / .
9
gibberish tattoos are products of a made-up chart that matches random Chinese characters to
English alphabets (see figure 2). Over the years, T ian would receive submissions of Chinese
Figure 2. Chinese T attoo submission, Hanzi Smatter , photograph, Blogspot, July 22, 2015
tattoo images from the public with questions if the words mean the same as intended. After
reviewing a lot of them, T ang retraced a translation template that can translate what the gibberish
tattoos are meant to say .
Figure 3. T ian T ang Invented English to Chinese translation template, blogspot, August
31, 2006
In hopes of providing a view of a native Chinese speaker , I wrote the following
observations of this chart: first, the handwriting in Chinese characters is objectively childish and
it is fair to say it’ s presumably not written by a native Chinese speaker . Second, having said that
there is no direct correlation between the alphabet and the Chinese character chosen, there are
some matches that are alike in terms of their visual forms, such as 女-A and 夫-F . Third, a lar ge
amount of the characters on this chart are words related to Kung Fu, which may have
1 0
associations with the Chinese martial arts movies that started with Bruce Lee in the 70s and were
trending in the US in the 90s.
As an invented translation system, the chart serves the purpose of fitting the Chinese
language into alphabetical order . This attempt assumes that both languages are inherently aligned
in the same linguistic category . This assumption utterly ignores the logographic nature of the
Chinese language. Such behavior displays a view that centers the English language and
simultaneously simplifies other language systems.
Because of the borrowing of Chinese characters in this invented language system,
Chinese speakers face a slippery entry in understanding them. The random choices of characters
together connotate arbitrary meanings. For example, the tattoo 術女空功 indicates “Jake”
according to the template, the word-to-word translation in Chinese means “technique, women,
empty , power”. This huge gap between the interpretation and the intention demonstrates the
inherent dif ference between the two languages that was underlooked by this chart.
This template perhaps has stepped over the concept of mistranslation and derives a
semi-independent and enclosed coding system. Even though linguists would not qualify the
template as a new language, the chart itself greatly impacted real life. Over the course of its
existence, the template was commonly used in tattoo parlors in the US, functioning as a
translation device translating specific names from English to Chinese. Consequently , it has
produced abundant mistranslated name tattoos that can only be deciphered with the help of this
template.
1 1
Personal T attoo Narratives: Who gets Chinese tattoos?
In an episode of the podcast Decoder Rings, a woman reveals a personal story of her
experience with Chinese tattoos. Growing up in a small town in Illinois, getting a tattoo was an
act of rebellion. The Chinese characters seemed exotic to her . She ended up getting a tattoo
meaning (as she was told) “immorality” when she turned 20. On a deep level, the tattoo was an
empowerment act to escape everyday life in a small town where she doesn’ t belong. Later she
moved away from the small town, came out of the closet, and eventually found out from a
Chinese colleague that her tattoo actually means “fairy princess”.
5
Perhaps, there is no
dif ference if the tattoo means “fairy princess” “immorality”, or “rainbow unicorn” in this story . If
the woman stayed in her hometown, the real meaning of her tattoo may never be revealed. In an
environment with no Chinese speakers, the meaning of the tattoo becomes fluid and solely
confidential by the person who wears it on their skin.
Even though the Chinese characters are not considered “proper Chinese”, the personal
meanings that it contains are solid. Like the woman in the story , despite the fact that
“immorality” becomes a “fairy princess”, the tattoo still helped her to feel a sense of
empowerment as a queer woman. On this level, the mistranslation would not be a total failure,
but rather a failure that does its job.
So far I have used the word “mistake” and “failure” many times in this paper . It is
important to note that they are not interchangeable and it is necessary to distinguish the
dif ference. Emanele Arielli in his essay The Anxieties of Contr ol and The Aesthetics of Failur e
5
B e n j a m i n F r i s c h , T a t t o o F l a s h , D e c o d e r R i n g , P o d c a s t a u d i o , J u l y 2 7 ,
2 0 2 1 . h t t p s : / / s l a t e . c o m / p o d c a s t s / d e c o d e r - r i n g / 2 0 2 1 / 0 7 / t a t t o o - h i s t o r y
1 2
pointed out that while failure suggests a linkage to a tragic sense of defeat and grief, mistakes
have a mundane and fleeting quality . The mistranslation itself on skin or T -shirts is a mistake,
they are accidental, minor errors that are rather mundane. However , they don’ t become failures
until there is a language insider who sees and therefore activates the misplacement of means. In
other words, to be a failure takes a relational dynamic to complete the story .
T ranslation and AI
In a situation where both the consumer and the tattoo artist are not familiar with the
language, mistakes can very easily be made. The tattoo artists often rely on help from
dictionaries (Google translation didn’ t come out till April 2006) or T attoo books, resulting in all
kinds of translation errors.
As a popular translation device, tattoo books were widely used to inspire consumers. Not
everyone walks into the tattoo shop knowing what to get, thus tattoo books play an important
role in demonstrating a range of examples. In the case of Chinese tattoos, the books would
include Chinese characters along with the translation next to them. Back in the 90s and 2000s,
most tattoo shops across the US used Chinese tattoo books for reference and translation which
had an enormous impact on the course of Chinese character tattoos.
Due to the sole reliance on tattoo books and dictionaries, the task of translation in tattoo
shops often results in a stif f outcome. The “stiffness” in translation comes from a passive
process—they are either a collage of examples found in the tattoo book or a montage of
individual words from a dictionary joint to sentences.
Geor ges Bataille would ar gue that dictionaries are books full of dead words, as he insists
on the universe's informe (formlessness) nature. The dictionary is nothing but a flock coat to give
1 3
language a shape, which fails to encapsulate the whole meaning of words
6
. The translation in
Chinese tattoos similarly plays with the corpse of language (as they exclusively come from
dictionaries), talking bits and collaging them together . In a way , this ramification accidentally
assembles a zombie-esque language creature—a body that wanders between the familiar and the
other; the dead and the alive.
W ithout a flesh-and-bone translator , the zombie-esque lacks flexibility and resilience in
translation. It has always been a debated question whether AI can replace human translators, and
the answer is often no. While various methods are applied to increasingly translate languages
more accurately , the machine fails to capture the nuances of each language’ s dif ferent
grammatical rules, semantics, syntax, and cultural influences. Interestingly , even the most
widely-recognized translation application today , Google T ranslation itself disclaims that “no
automated translation is perfect nor is it intended to replace human translators”(Google Cloud)
7
.
As long as the flawed nature of automated translation is still concerned, reliance on human
translators would still be necessary .
The zombie-esque quality of these Chinese tattoos results in dif ferent levels of
grammatical, lexical, and tonal errors. While it might be extremely hard for a non-Chinese
speaker to detect any inharmonious glitch in the phrases tattooed, native Chinese speakers
immediately see the mistakes. This clear division of understanding made these tattoo images
viral on the Chinese Internet in the late 2000s.
At this time, Chinese speakers found it hilarious to see their language permanently drawn
on W estern bodies, with obvious flaws. The pain and permanency of these tattoos ferment an
7
“ A t t r i b u t i o n R e q u i r e m e n t s | C l o u d T r a n s l a t i o n | G o o g l e C l o u d , ” G o o g l e ( G o o g l e ) , a c c e s s e d M a r c h 3 0 , 2 0 2 3 ,
h t t p s : / / c l o u d . g o o g l e . c o m / t r a n s l a t e / a t t r i b u t i o n .
6
G e o r g e s B a t a i l l e , V i s i o n s o f E x c e s s : S e l e c t e d W r i t i n g s , 1 9 2 7 - 1 9 3 9 , t r a n s . A l l a n S t o e k l , L e s l i e D o n a l d M J r , a n d
C a r l R . L o v i t t ( U n i v e r s i t y o f M i n n e s o t a P r e s s , 2 0 1 7 ) , p 3 0 .
1 4
irony of appropriating a language, an unexpected backlash that comes from ignorance and
abusing an unfamiliar language and the culture within it.
On the other hand, laughing at these nonsensical tattoo images gives a sense of
empowerment to Chinese speakers. The humor in the mistranslated/miswritten tattoos is
definitely not universal. T o be exact, A non-Chinese speaker might find the scenario of the
mistranslated tattoos funny , however , the tattooed person is most likely unable to comprehend
the layers of rich cultural context that come with the phrase or sentences.
1 5
Chapter T wo: Poorly T ranslated English T -shirts in Asia
Mistranslation of tattoos does not only happen exclusively to Chinese tattoos on western
bodies. Chinese or Asian people get English tattoos mistranslated too, but it is never the former .
In fact, when you are walking in public in Asia, there is a good chance to spot strange English
slogans and mistranslations on T -shirts and outfits.
The mistranslated English T -shirts can roughly be called “shanzhai” in China, a Chinese
neologism meaning “knock of f or rip of f”. The term is idiomatically used to describe bootleg
clothing, phones, and other merchandise that are counterfeit. Literally , the word “shanzhai”
translates to “mountain hamlet”, with the modern usage being “in reference to this enclave on the
outskirts of the empire, where bandits stockpile goods to redistribute among people living on
those mar gins, or in the mountain stronghold area”
8
. The shanzhai T -shirt is not always the exact
replica of the original, they are often mimicries of the original, with particular creativity . In the
case of the mistranslated English on T -shirts, the cr eativity takes action in experimental
translation, using strategies of mimicry , hybridity , and permutations.
Here are some examples of mistranslation. The first is the mistranslation of brand names
to avoid legal issues. Famous brand names like Nike turns into Naike; Adidas became Dasida.
Other ones are often nonsensical like “texas it’ s a triangle omg/ so hipster/triangle”, or “I feel
happiness When I eat a him”. There are also literal keys-mashings (see figure 3). All of those
incorrect English finds its way onto shirts, becoming a common scene. Growing up with poorly
translated English on outfits, I was nearly desensitized by them. I only started to learn English as
8
B e n S c h w a r t z , “ U n l i c e n s e d : S h a n z h a i L y r i c , ” W a l k e r A r t C e n t e r , O c t o b e r 2 9 , 2 0 1 8 ,
h t t p s : / / w a l k e r a r t . o r g / m a g a z i n e / b o o t l e g g i n g - s h a n z h a i - l y r i c .
1 6
a second language in school when I was ten, before that, the character on shirts just appeared to
be aesthetic words with no meaning attached.
Figure 4. Poorly translated English T -shirts in Asia. Screenshoot from Shangzhai L yric
talk. CCCB. https://www .cccb.or g/en/multimedia/videos/shanzhai-lyric/233920
The artist duo Shanzhai L yric looks closely at the radical logistics and linguistics of the
phenomena of the mistranslation of English T -shirts made in China. W ith an appreciation of the
play in language, Ming Lin and Alexandra T atars call it, “experimental English”. Using
Byung-Chul Han’ s notion of Shanzhai, Ming Lin and Alexandra defend the originality of the
English text on the T -shirt made in China. In their research, they found out that these designs are
mostly made by Chinese women working in clothing factories. Through a collage-like making
style—compiling luxury logos, and found text, the female factory workers developed a new
language that manifests creative agencies against a set of perceived global hierarchies. The play
and poetics of the mistranslation here break the explicit rules of the English language to carve
room for utopian imagination
9
.
9
B e n S c h w a r t z , “ U n l i c e n s e d : S h a n z h a i L y r i c , ” W a l k e r A r t C e n t e r , a c c e s s e d M a r c h 5 , 2 0 2 3 ,
h t t p s : / / w a l k e r a r t . o r g / m a g a z i n e / b o o t l e g g i n g - s h a n z h a i - l y r i c .
1 7
Even though the two mistranslation phenomenons (mistranslated Chinese character
tattoos and poorly translated English T -shirts) are both concerning the misuse of language as a
result of the fascination with the other culture, they are also overtly dif ferent as they are standing
in asymmetrical power structures. Perhaps one can answer the question: can the English
language be exploited? On this note, we might be able to find some ideas through Richard A.
Roger ’ s article on cultural appropriation.
According to Rogers, the premise of cultural exploitation is based on the appropriation of
elements of a subordinate culture by a dominant culture without permission
1 0
. In simple words,
the powerful take advantage of the elements from a less powerful culture. Even though the
English language was appropriated for multiple purposes (including more economic value for the
T -shirts, more cool-looking and fast-selling), it all functions within the lar ger system where
W estern labels stand on a higher position. Thus, the use of English is a passive motive under the
influence of a lar ger global hierarchy . Following Rogers’ logic, the appropriation of the English
language on T -shirts falls outside of the category of cultural exploitation.
Both being confused messages carried by bodies, the tattoo and T -shirts are
fundamentally dif ferent in terms of their permanency . While T -shirts are flexible and fluid to
one’ s decorative choice, tattoos embrace permanency in their firmest form: one’ s skin. The
words attached to shirts are a temporary statement, it can be easily changed simply by swapping
the outfit.
1 0
R i c h a r d A . R o g e r s . “ F r o m C u l t u r a l E x c h a n g e t o T r a n s c u l t u r a t i o n : A R e v i e w a n d R e c o n c e p t u a l i z a t i o n o f C u l t u r a l
A p p r o p r i a t i o n , ” i n C o m m u n i c a t i o n t h e o r y 1 6 , n o . 4 ( 2 0 0 6 ) : 4 7 4 – 5 0 3 .
1 8
Humor in Mistranslation
Mistranslated Chinese tattoos are first and foremost a product of cultural appropriation.
Y et, there are nuances to the dynamic of cultural appropriation that allows us to think about the
relationship between the two sides (Chinese speaker and non-Chinese speaker), and humor is the
key to it.
T o talk about humor in mistranslation, I would ar gue and emphasize the dif ferent kinds of
humor experienced by English and Chinese speakers when looking at a mistranslated Chinese
tattoo. T o borrow Simon Critchley’ s categorization, it could be put into the type of ethnic humor .
He writes that ethnic humor is the behavior where “the ethos of a place is expressed by laughing
at people who are not like us, and usually believed to be either excessively stupid or peculiarly
canny”(Critchley , 69)
1 1
. In the case of mistranslated tattoos, while a Chinese person laughs at the
misuse of the Chinese language, it evidently falls into the stupidity trope. It involves an
oppositional dynamic: Chinese speakers vs. English speakers. Moreover , ethnic humor is
structured in a belief in self-pride, or superior to the other . In Critchley’ s words, it is “the
Hobbesian laughter of superiority or sudden glory at our eminence and the other ’ s
stupidity”(Critchley ,70). Thinking about the asymmetrical power that identifies cultural
exploitation in appropriated Chinese language, laughter could function as a strategy that
disturbs/interferes with the existing power infrastructure. Hence, I would ar gue that humor plays
a fundamental role that resists/challenges the seemingly stable relationship between a dominant
and subordinate culture.
1 1
C r i t c h l e y , S i m o n . O n H u m o u r . R o u t l e d g e . 2 0 1 0
1 9
Additionally , the kind of humor that English speakers are experiencing essentially is
triggered by the translation of mistranslation (tattoos themselves are mistranslation, then
translated back to English to provide content for English speakers). The alternating motion of
translation here only complicates and adds another layer on top of the initial mistake.
Appropriately , what the two tropes are laughing at, have grown apart with nuanced references
behind words and phrases. Or to use Saussure’ s terms, the relationship between signifier and
signified has deviated through multiple attempts of translation. In other words, the content before
and after translation is hardly identical.
The errors in mistranslation bring an unexpected poetic touch to the pathetic nature of the
tattoos. Firstly a grand gesture—when the needle goes in and out of the skin, pain, and ef fort are
the premises of getting permanent marks on bodies. It could be considered as an act of
machismo, a sense of pride and bravado that displays boldness that either intends to impress or
intimidate. Then comes failure. While the meaning of the characters does not match one’ s
intention, the core collapses, leaving only the appearance barely holding up its structure—like a
paper house.
The poetry in the mistranslated tattoos is rich in layers. First is the tattoos themselves,
and second, the meanings that the words fabricate. The pathetic within the grandness stretches
between extreme qualities, creating tension that results in a poetic gesture—an epic failure but at
the same time, highly empathetic. On the other hand, the poetic is also produced by the words
themselves. Though the accidental play in mistranslation blurs the intention of words, it leaves
more room for ways of interpretation. So to speak, the inaccurate twist in translation becomes an
accidental poem generator that unexpectedly widens and rejects a finite meaning.
2 0
The tattoo that says: 生命欢乐哀发展 (literal translation: life happiness sorrow development)
can be a good example. Though the original meaning can no longer be identified (as some of
them can), the tattoo became poetic partially due to its ignorance of grammatical rules and
existentialist theme.
As I look closer and think more about these tattoos, what stands out is their emotional,
historical, and linguistic complexity . On one hand, they are coded with cultural specificities, and
on the other hand, they were put on such an acute cultural slippage that welcome all
interpretations with open arms; they are invested with private messages, yet displayed in ways to
fit into a particular image. T o me, they are mysteries coated with layers of contradictions. Or
perhaps they don’ t need to make sense—their existences themselves are glitches in-between
cultures, thus grounded in a space of unexpected and irrationality .
As mentioned earlier in the paper , I believe the humor I experience (like all Chinese
speakers) with mistranslated Chinese tattoos is fundamentally dif ferent compared to non-Chinese
speakers, due to Critchley’ s ethic humor . I also want to emphasize the role that translation plays
in understanding the issue of mistranslated tattoos. T ranslation, a process that initially causes the
problems of these tattoos, in fact still haunts and tickles the aftermath. Senses of humor are often
hard to translate, as well as poetry . It is still a heated debate in the literature about whether poetry
can be authentically translated into a dif ferent language. While the conversation might never be
concluded, there is no denying the untransparency of translation which causes hardship.
T o some extent, the poetics and humor I experienced as a Chinese speaker could never be
truly translated and understood by a non-Chinese speaker . The words mistranslated and needles
on skins are the tip of the iceber g that is supported by the rich complexities of culture. Thus, it is
empowering to consider the untranslatability of the joy of looking into mistranslated Chinese
2 1
tattoos through the lens of a Chinese speaker . Surprisingly , translation as an initial problem now
turns into a security system that requires a specific cultural context to decipher . In order to be an
insider and get this particular joy from mistranslated Chinese tattoos, one has to be exposed to
and familiar with a certain cultural environment, whether it was passively or actively learned.
The power in the untranslatability of joy could be seen defense mechanism within an
asymmetrical power structure, where power is rather fluid and goes against the structure itself.
T o circle back and think about the joy and empathy I experienced with mistranslated
Chinese tattoos, it seems to always have a b-side to the story . A narrative that stays forever
unsettled. Y et, I am eagerly looking for the nuances in such mumbled conditions. As I am writing
my written thesis in English and thinking about translation (and the untranslatable), it seems to
me that translation to me is not about accuracy , but about curiosity and the attempt to deduct the
razor edges of division by language.
2 2
Chapter 3: My W ork
While developing the bodies of work in graduate school, I’ve learned and confirmed the
fact that I’m a maker . My excitement about art-making comes from visioning objects that exist in
a physical world; how they interact and define space around them phenomenologically . T o me art
is a way of communication that does not require the presence of language, even if there are texts
involved, their functions are reconsidered and revalued.
T o me, art always has a linkage to failure. From the physical object itself to the intended
message; from decoding to the potential feedback from the audience, the communication of
artwork requires pointed attention and thoughts. Like a sculpture barely able to hold its weight,
the precariousness of it all can easily change an artwork.
“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter . T ry again. Fail again. Fail better .” Samuel Beckett’ s
famous line from W ortwar d Ho is a catchphrase of managerial language today , ironically . The
quote is often inserted in relaxing photos of nature and becomes a motto encouraging
fearlessness. The inspirational quotes almost remind me of Ed Ruscha’ s text-based paintings, but
unaware of their sarcasm. I have no way of knowing how Beckett would feel that his words are
used in an entirely dif ferent tongue context today . But I guess he had no faith in the reliance of
language to begin with, perhaps he would laugh at it.
The absurdity of Samuel Beckett’ s poetry is embedded in the experimentation of
linguistics. His almost nonsensical words show a distrust of language and sole accurate
interpretations. I find a special connection to his writing. T o rethink the quote here, “T ry again.
2 3
Fail again. Fail better .” is never about success, instead merely the rejection of success where
words are in the mer ge of sense-making, like new possibilities that arise out of ruins.
Attracted by the unusual linguistic performance in the Chinese tattoos and English
T -shirts, I was interested in their poetic value and attempt to use both languages as material to
produce visual poetries in physical space. A kind of visual poetry that embraces mistranslation in
a loving, yet critical way . On a certain level, The tattoos and T -shirts have some Beckettian
quality to them. Their mistakes and failures; their ridiculousness of proud public display (like
how the failure quote is widely misunderstood).
I was one of these kids who was forced to read the Bible. There were a series of books of
selected bible stories in my household, with beautiful renaissance paintings on the side. My way
of killing time in bible studies was to look at the paintings extensively , there are lots of buildings
and nudes in them. Though in the book, there wasn't any information about the paintings, there is
one that strikes me as an almost sublime experience, despite the low resolution and small scale. I
later learned that my favorite one is called The (Gr eat) T ower of Babel , by Dutch painter Pieter
Bruegel. The painting introduced me to the story of language, a biblical explanation of the
multiplicity of tongues.
In bible literature, a grand city project was visioned by men. The city also includes a
tower “with its top in the heavens”, symbolizing the ambition for unity . However , God interrupts
the completion of the tower by confusing tongues, thus people can no longer understand each
other and the world is left with diverse languages. The (Gr eat) T ower of Babel (see figure 5)
depicts the grand process of the construction. It of fers a view of the tower ’ s interiors as it is in
progress. I loved to stare at the countless windows in this painting as a kid, imagining the infinite
windows in the inner layers. There is also a cloud floating near the top level, indicating the
2 4
shocking height of the tower . If you zoom closely into the top level of the tower , you can see a
few silhouetted bricklayers are tirelessly adding to the verticality of the tower .
Figure 5. B r u e g e l , d . A . P i e t e r , “ T h e T o w e r o f B a b e l ” , O i l o n o a k w o o d , K u n s t h i s t o r i s c h e s
M u s e u m W i e n , h t t p s : / / w w w . k h m . a t / e n / o b j e c t d b / d e t a i l / 3 2 3 /
The tower of babel as a motif attracts me on dif ferent levels. First is its relation to
language and translation. If diverse languages are assigned to interrupt the smooth
communications between humans, then the story frankly suggests the uselessness of
translation—-it automatically denies the functionality of translation or at least questions its very
performance. After God’ s consequential confusion of words in the story of babel, the gap
between dif ferent tongues appears to be unimaginably dif ficult and no translator is able to
complete the task. Thus translation is invalid or at any rate inef fective in the story setting. While
2 5
the classical interpretation of the story of babel only focuses on the lesson of human’ s
inappropriate ambition, the aspect of language is underlooked in this story .
Jacques Derrida also questions the very notion of translation in his essay Des T ours de
Babel , by interrogating the Babel as a proper name and common noun. In Derrida’ s suspicious
tone, he writes about God and the name of Babel:
He breaks the lineage. He at the same time imposes and forbids translation. He imposes it and
forbids it, constrains, but as if to failure, the children who henceforth will bear his name, the
name that he gives to the city . It is from a proper name of God, come from God, descended from
God or from the father (and it is indeed said that YHWH, an unpronounceable name, descends
toward the tower) and by him that tongues are scattered, confounded or multiplied[….]
1 2
W ith such fascination and doubt about the myth and confusion of tongues, I began
making my own version of Babel: a group of ceramic towers that are wobbly and obsessed with
verticality . Each constructed in various forms and heights, the towers obtain their personality
almost in an anthropoid way . Their multiplicity to me means a force that goes against singularity ,
singularity as forced and dominant narratives.
It must be the materiality of clay that motivated me to build towers. In the process of
making towers, clay is hand-rolled into rope-like, consistent coils; they are hand-pinched to
adhere and go taller . Coil building as an ancient technique is used in various cultures, the history
of this building knowledge speaks for commonality in the development of dif ferent civilizations.
Though the method is collective and common, it is also deeply personal considering the touch
and care of the maker . I was obsessed with the traces left on building the towers, the layers of
marks that imprint the evidence of labor . Round after round, layer after layer , my fingerprints are
1 2
D e r r i d a , J a c q u e s . “ O n T o w e r o f B a b e l . ” I n D i f f e r e n c e o f T r a n s l a t i o n . T r a n s l a t e d a n d e d i t e d b y G r a h a m ,
J o s e p h F . I t h a c a : C o r n e l l U n i v e r s i t y P r e s s , 1 9 8 5 .
2 6
embedded in the clay by pinching the coils together . The repetitive motion of pinching and
rolling coil provides a meditative space, I would listen to techno and house music and build
following the rhythms. It was important to me that the music I rely on in the making are mostly
wordless and instrumental. Feeling like being immersed in a never -ending loop was essential to
my making process. At a certain point, I realized the linguistic potential that my finger marks
hold. They each are like a unit of phonemes, digit after digit. Thus they construct words and
sentences, though lacking meaning, they are placeholders for language to fit on.
T owers are first and foremost structural architectures. They take up physical space and
stand vertically . T o visualize the T ower of Babel is nearly sublime in terms of its shocking height
and volume. In its construction, each brick carries the metaphor of language. It is still
deconstructed, and languages show its instability and impossibility of completion. The biblical
story of babel to me is a singular explanation of the diversity of languages, with God’ s
contradiction of translation I find the ur gency to make my versions of Babel. Accepting and
embracing the flaws of translation, celebrating the poetics in dif ference. In this way , failure of
unity and understanding is merely a beginning that fuels new possibilities.
Speaking of the failure of translation in relation to Bible stories, there are fruitful
examples of biblical paintings depicting strange scenarios that are derived directly from mistaken
translation in missionization. Among them, Samson W ith the Jawbone by Salomon de Bray (see
figure 6) is a good one. Like the title suggests, the painting portrays Samson holding a jawbone
in his hand and looking upward. Surprisingly , there is a thin stream of water squirts out from the
jawbone, adding a surreal touch. A translation error in the Dutch Bible causes this bizarre image.
In the original passage (Judges 15:19), Samson drinks water from the rock at Lechi. In Hebrew
the name Lechi also means “jawbone”, hence it leads to the misinterpretation of the bible. Seeing
2 7
this painting for the first time at the Getty I was fascinated by its whimsical nature (as it was in
the room with other serious sacred paintings).
Figure 6. Sanson with the Jawbone. Bray , Salomon de. Oil on canvas. 1636. J.Paul Getty
Museum, Los Angeles. https://www .getty .edu/art/collection/object/103RA1
The God who breaks the lineage of words, in turn, has his words twisted, misinterpreted,
and misunderstood by his creations. Furthermore, how do we wrap our heads around the topic of
God’ s contradiction? The inef fective translation on one hand interrupts the construction tower ,
but on the other hand, it also is hard for humans to recognize and follow God’ s law in such a
state of disorder and confusion. If The T ower of Babel tells a lesson about the impossibility of
transparent translation, Samson W ith the Jawbone demonstrates how mistranslation exists so
extensively in reality and the products of religion. T o think about the disorder of language in the
2 8
context of tattoos and t-shirts, they seem to me so mundane yet they are powerful gestures that
cut the throat of normality .
Conclusion
In my investigation of the mistranslated, the mistakes worn or inked on the body are
motivated by a fantasized identity that is dif ferent from the original, driven by the fascination
and curiosity of a dif ferent culture. W ithin the cultural gaps, mistakes are recognized, and it
generates humor in ways that slip the seemingly solid power structures of language.
The mistakes in translations are powerful in ways that they rupture the rigid order of the
language system, breaking and carving space for minor disorders and utopian imagination.
Failures of mistranslation flirt with the poetic, they exist in the liminal space between rigidity
and nonsense. Failures in mistranslation are the start of new possibilities.
I see The T ower of Babel as an allegory that tells the disorder of language; a comforting
story that is embedded in failure: a failure that is approximate to sublimity . Pieter Bruegel’ s
painting illustrates the grandness and the intricate structure of the tower of Babel--before it falls.
Though there is religious baggage to the tower of babel, Derrida’ s destruction of the story helps
me to understand translation as a contradictory concept in the story , as well as the logical faults
of the absolute authority (God).
2 9
Bibliography
“Ariana Grande Mocked for Japanese T attoo T ypo: 'Leave Me and My Grill Alone'.” The
Guardian. Guardian News and Media, January 31, 2019.
Arielli, Emanuele. “The Anxieties of Control and the Aesthetics of Failure.” Studi di estetica
(Bologna, Italy : 1973) 49, no. 19 (2021): 41–57.
“Attribution Requirements | Cloud T ranslation | Google Cloud.” Google. Google. Accessed
March 30, 2023. https://cloud.google.com/translate/attribution.
Bataille, Geor ges. V isions of Excess: Selected W ritings, 1927-1939 . T ranslated by Allan Stoekl,
Leslie Donald M Jr , and Carl R. Lovitt. University of Minnesota Press, 2017.
Beckett, Samuel. W orstward Ho. 1st ed. New Y ork: Grove Press, 1983.
Derrida, Jacques. “On T ower of Babel.” In Dif ference of T ranslation. T ranslated and edited by
Graham, Joseph F . Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985.
Fang, Angela. “7 Hilarious and Cringe-W orthy Chinese T attoo Fails.” Chinese Learning T ips.
Accessed January 27, 2023.
https://blog.tutorabcchinese.com/mandarin-chinese-learning-tips/7-hilarious-and-cringe-worthy-c
hinese-tattoo-fails.
Rogers, Richard A. “From Cultural Exchange to T ransculturation: A Review and
Reconceptualization of Cultural Appropriation.” Communication theory 16, no. 4 (2006):
474–503.
Schwartz, Ben. “Unlicensed: Shanzhai L yric.” W alker Art Center . Accessed March 5, 2023.
https://walkerart.or g/magazine/bootlegging-shanzhai-lyric.
3 0
Steyerl, Hito. “In Defense of the Poor Image.” e-flux Journal , no. 10 (November 2009).
3 1
Abstract (if available)
Abstract
Through a cultural, theoretical, and literary lens, this thesis delves into the notion of translation and mistranslation. This writing is both self-reflective and observant of cultural phenomena that bear with mistakes of translation within a larger, rigid system.
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Asset Metadata
Creator
Chen, Jiayun
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Core Title
After Babel: exploring the complexities of cross-cultural translation and appropriation
School
Roski School of Art and Design
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Master of Fine Arts
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Fine Arts
Degree Conferral Date
2023-05
Publication Date
05/05/2023
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05/05/2023
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