In addition to other post-mortem observations for President Obama's trip to Asia, Evan Osnos at the
New Yorker writes:
The ideal metaphor for the new reality of U.S.-China relations: The U.S. Embassy has been straining, in vain, to get the Chinese government to change the official Chinese transliteration of Obama, from 奥巴马 to 欧巴马—basically, from Ao Ba Ma to Ou Ba Ma. As is often the case when China incorporates a foreign word into Chinese characters, the original Ao Ba Ma spelling popped up organically some years ago and stuck, even though it is not a correct translation. Now, as a great piece on Danwei.org explains, the U.S. is trying to persuade China to change it, but China, so far, says no way. The moral: When you can’t even get your counterpart in a negotiation to spell your name right, you are probably in for a rough ride. The ideal metaphor for the new reality of U.S.-China relations: The U.S. Embassy has been straining, in vain, to get the Chinese government to change the official Chinese transliteration of Obama, from 奥巴马 to 欧巴马—basically, from Ao Ba Ma to Ou Ba Ma. As is often the case when China incorporates a foreign word into Chinese characters, the original Ao Ba Ma spelling popped up organically some years ago and stuck, even though it is not a correct translation. Now, as a great piece on Danwei.org explains, the U.S. is trying to persuade China to change it, but China, so far, says no way. The moral: When you can’t even get your counterpart in a negotiation to spell your name right, you are probably in for a rough ride.
The ideal metaphor for the new reality of U.S.-China relations: The U.S. Embassy has been straining, in vain, to get the Chinese government to change the official Chinese transliteration of Obama, from 奥巴马 to 欧巴马—basically, from Ao Ba Ma to Ou Ba Ma. As is often the case when China incorporates a foreign word into Chinese characters, the original Ao Ba Ma spelling popped up organically some years ago and stuck, even though it is not a correct translation. Now, as a great piece on Danwei.org explains, the U.S. is trying to persuade China to change it, but China, so far, says no way. The moral: When you can’t even get your counterpart in a negotiation to spell your name right, you are probably in for a rough ride. The ideal metaphor for the new reality of U.S.-China relations: The U.S. Embassy has been straining, in vain, to get the Chinese government to change the official Chinese transliteration of Obama, from 奥巴马 to 欧巴马—basically, from Ao Ba Ma to Ou Ba Ma. As is often the case when China incorporates a foreign word into Chinese characters, the original Ao Ba Ma spelling popped up organically some years ago and stuck, even though it is not a correct translation. Now, as a great piece on Danwei.org explains, the U.S. is trying to persuade China to change it, but China, so far, says no way. The moral: When you can’t even get your counterpart in a negotiation to spell your name right, you are probably in for a rough ride. The ideal metaphor for the new reality of U.S.-China relations: The U.S. Embassy has been straining, in vain, to get the Chinese government to change the official Chinese transliteration of Obama, from 奥巴马 to 欧巴马—basically, from Ao Ba Ma to Ou Ba Ma. As is often the case when China incorporates a foreign word into Chinese characters, the original Ao Ba Ma spelling popped up organically some years ago and stuck, even though it is not a correct translation. Now, as a great piece on Danwei.org explains, the U.S. is trying to persuade China to change it, but China, so far, says no way. The moral: When you can’t even get your counterpart in a negotiation to spell your name right, you are probably in for a rough ride.
The ideal metaphor for the new reality of U.S.-China relations: The U.S. Embassy has been straining, in vain, to get the Chinese government to change the official Chinese transliteration of Obama, from 奥巴马 to 欧巴马—basically, from Ao Ba Ma to Ou Ba Ma. As is often the case when China incorporates a foreign word into Chinese characters, the original Ao Ba Ma spelling popped up organically some years ago and stuck, even though it is not a correct translation. Now, as a great piece on Danwei.org explains, the U.S. is trying to persuade China to change it, but China, so far, says no way. The moral: When you can’t even get your counterpart in a negotiation to spell your name right, you are probably in for a rough ride. The ideal metaphor for the new reality of U.S.-China relations: The U.S. Embassy has been straining, in vain, to get the Chinese government to change the official Chinese transliteration of Obama, from 奥巴马 to 欧巴马—basically, from Ao Ba Ma to Ou Ba Ma. As is often the case when China incorporates a foreign word into Chinese characters, the original Ao Ba Ma spelling popped up organically some years ago and stuck, even though it is not a correct translation. Now, as a great piece on Danwei.org explains, the U.S. is trying to persuade China to change it, but China, so far, says no way. The moral: When you can’t even get your counterpart in a negotiation to spell your name right, you are probably in for a rough ride.
