What does 太平間 (태평간) mean in China?

ANSWER: I don't want to tell you right now, but I will give you a hint. 太平間 (태평간) literally means "a very (太) peaceful (平) room (間)." To find out what that means, you need to read the story below.

 

一(일)位(위)醫(의)生(생)在(재)做(주)完(완)急(급)診(진)後(후)已(이)是(시)午(오)夜(야), 正(정)準(준)備(비)回(회)家(가).

When a doctor finishes his shift in the emergency room, it is already midnight as he prepares to go home.

走(주)到(도)電(전)梯(제)門(문)口(구), 見(견)一(일)女(여)護(호)理(리)師(사), 便(편)一(일)同(동)乘(승)電(전)梯(제)下(하)樓(루).

He walks to the elevator entrance and sees a female nurse. They then take the elevator down together.

可(가)電(전)梯(제)到(도)了(료)一(일)樓(루)還(환)不(불)停(정), 一(일)直(직)向(향)下(하).

But when the elevator arrives at the first floor, it doesn’t stop and still continues downward.

到(도)了(료)B3時(시)門(문)開(개)了(료)電(전)梯(제)門(문)開(개)了(료).

When it arrives at sublevel 3, and the elevator door opens.

一(일)個(개)小(소)女(여)孩(해)出(출)現(현)在(재)他(타)們(문)眼(안)前(전)低(저)著(저)頭(두)說(설)要(요)搭(탑)電(전)梯(제).

A little girl appears in front of them and, with her head lowered, she says she wants to get on the elevator.

醫(의)生(생)見(견)狀(상)急(급)忙(망)關(관)上(상)電(전)梯(제)門(문). 護(호)理(리)師(사)奇(기)怪(괴)地(지)問(문): “爲(위)什(십)麽(마)不(불)讓(양)她(타)上(상)來(래)?”

Upon seeing this, the doctor hastily closes the elevator door. Baffled, the nurse asks, “Why didn’t you let her get on?”

醫(의)生(생)說(설): B3是(시)我(아)們(문)醫(의)院(원)的(적)太(태)平(평)間(간).  醫(의)院(원)給(급)每(매)個(개)屍(시)體(처)的(적)右(우)手(수)都(도)綁(방)了(료) 一(일)根(근)紅(홍)絲(사)帶(대).她(타)的(적)右(우)手(수), 她(타)的(적)右(우)手(수)有(유)一(일)根(근)紅(홍)絲(사)帶(대).

The doctor says, “Sublevel 3 is our hospital’s morgue, and the hospital always ties a red ribbon around the right wrist of every corpse. Her right wrist, on her right wrist, there was a red ribbon.”

護(호)士(사)聽(청)了(료)漸(점)漸(점)伸(신)出(출)右(우)手(우)陰(음)笑(소)一(일)聲(성)說(설): “是(시)不(불)是(시)這(저)樣(양)的(적)一(일)根(근)紅(홍)絲(사)帶(대)啊(아)?”

Hearing this, the nurse gradually extends her right hand, and with an evil laugh asks, “Was it like this red ribbon?”

How many Chinese characters were used to translate the Harry Potter book series into traditional Chinese?

ANSWER: Well, according to the video below, 1.7 million characters were used, and of those 4,026 were unique characters. So, to read the seven books of the Harry Potter series in traditional Chinese without a dictionary, you would need to know a little more than 4,000 characters.

So, how long would it take to read the Harry Potter series in Chinese?

ANSWER: Well, just to count to 1.7 million in English would take more than 472 hours if you could count 1 number every second. That is equivalent to about 19.7 days. So, it would take you more than 19 days to read the Harry Potter series in Chinese if you could read it at a rate of one character per second 24 hours a day for 19.7 days.

So, how long would it take me to read the Harry Potter series in traditional Chinese?

ANSWER: Well, just forever.

What does 地道 (지도) mean in China?

ANSWER: As a noun, 地道 (지도) can mean either "tunnel" or "causeway," but as an adjective, it means either "authentic," "genuine," or "proper."

By itself, the character 地 (지) can mean "ground," "earth," "land" or "place." And by itself, 道 (도) can mean either "road" or "path." So, together 地道 (지도) literally means "ground (地) road (道)," where "ground" here seems to mean "underground (地下 지하)."

So, in China, I guess the phrase 地道地道 (지도지도) could be translated as "a (一個) real (地道) tunnel (地道)," not a fake one.

By the way, in Taiwan, 地道 (지도) is also used to mean "tunnel," but it is not used to mean "authentic." Instead, in Taiwan, they switch the characters and write 道地 (도지) to mean "authentic."

    

What does the Chinese phrase 開夜車 (개야차) literally mean?

ANSWER: "to drive (開) a night (夜) car (車)"
And what does "to drive a night car" mean in Chinese? It means "to burn the midnight oil" or "to work late into the night."

In the following Taylor Swift (泰勒絲 태륵사) song, the sentence "I stay out too late" was translated into Chinese as 昨晩開了夜車 (작만개료야차), which can literally translate as "Last night (昨晩) [I] drove (開了) a night car (夜車)."