Sichuan dialect competition winner

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Danwei’s competition to translate phrases (some of them dirty!) of Sichuan dialect into English and standard Mandarin is over.

Only one person got everything right: Alex Lopez. Congratulations! You will shortly receive an email telling you how to claim your bottle of Domain Ste. Michelle Brut, courtesy of ASC Fine Wines.

Bocaj got all the English translations correct and provided informative notes, but didn’t provide translations into standard Chinese. We can’t therefore give you a bottle of wine, but we will send you a color poster, courtesy of Plastered T-shirts.

You can see the Sichuan dialect colloquialisms here, with all the answers submitted in the comments section at the bottom.

Coincidentally, the Sichuan-born novelist Fan Wen, who now lives in Yunnan, made an interesting blog post about the Chongqing dialect yesterday. Here’s an excerpt:

Regrettably, I’ve been away from Chongqing for many years, so I’ve forgotten much of the Chongqing dialect. What impressed me most deeply was that in the past, whenever people of Chongqing spoke it was always, “mother-fucker” this and that—really spicy stuff. Talking with people from Chongqing was like eating Chongqing hotpot. Here’s a funny example: when two pretty Chongqing girls meet, their dialogue goes like this:

Girl A: I fucking asked you out for hotpot yesterday. How come you didn’t show?

Girl B: I fucking had things to do at home yesterday.

Girl A: Fucking bastard, that’s all you ever do.

Girl B: Mother-fucker! Like you’ve never had anything you couldn’t get away from.

You say their speech is uncivilized? Not the case. Are they angry at each other? Heh, it’s just that you mother-fucking bastards don’t understand the Chongqing dialect. It’s just an imperative statement used as a verbal tick. Coming straight to the point in with the first sentence: “So what.” People from Chongqing are kind of cocky like that.

Talking to people anywhere else, you’d find your face slapped as soon as the words “mother-fucker” came out of your mouth.

The rest of Fan Wen’s post delves into usage and transcription of various terms in Sichuanese.

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