Observe no taboos - 百無禁忌?

[Roslyn]

I'm in the process of researching my second Chinese tattoo. I know this isn't recommended, but I'm not going to get anything permanent unless I'm 100% sure that's it's accurate. I refuse to be featured on Hanzismatter :-)

I paid for a Chinese tattoo translation consultation and a phrase that caught my eye was "百無禁忌" which supposedly meant "Observe no taboos". I asked the translator about it and she said that it "conveys positively the message that one should not get stuck in old ways; that one should be willing to stand out even if it's an idea or action that is new and not widely accepted" and also that it had a fairly positive tone to it.

To my chagrin, I found this definition, word for word, on an online dictionary. Upon entering the phrase into online translators I get 'No restrictions whatsoever' which is certainly not what I want inked on me forever. I know online translators can be dodgy at best but I don't want to be in any doubt.

Please could anyone tell me - if "百無禁忌" doesn't mean "Observe no taboos", what phrase does and would be suitable for a tattoo?

[HashiriKata]

百無禁忌 = All is permitted.

(Imagine you're a nice girl like me but with that tattooed on your body! )

Joking apart, the phrase can be interpreted positively, along the line of "without fear". However, it's still a risky business as a tattoo for a girl, since on the body it does look like an invitation.

Edited May 25, 2009 at 07:29 AM by HashiriKata

[studentyoung]

Please could anyone tell me - if "百無禁忌" doesn't mean "Observe no taboos",

In fact the full sentence is姜太公在此,百无禁忌,诸邪回避 / Jiang Taigong (aka Jiang ziya) is here, you can have your own way, and all evils must evade, which is a word considered to have some magic power to exorcise evil spirits, when it is written on a house beam.

百无禁忌 original means you’re protected by God and no evils dare to hurt you, so you can have your own way.

Cheers!

[Roslyn]

If someone saw "百無禁忌" as a tattoo on someone, or even just written down, would 'Observe no taboos' be the most likely idea that comes to mind? Or can it be interpreted in other, more common ways?

[Don_Horhe]

The first thing that would come to my mind is "Nothing is forbidden".

[imron]

I paid for a Chinese tattoo translation consultation

Here's my free Chinese tattoo translation consultation:

Any cool/hip/trendy/personally significant/random phrase you want translated into Chinese for a tattoo will almost certainly have different connotations in the target language than what it does in the source language. That's just the nature of languages. If you want "Observe No Taboos" tattooed on your body, do it in English. At least then you can be guaranteed of what it means.

[HashiriKata]

It also depends on who the tattoo is on. If 百無禁忌 is on an appropriately tough-looking male show-off, it could readily suggest "no fear/ anything goes" as the intended meaning.

[Roslyn]

Is Chinese always so ambiguous? No matter what phrase I get, it can always be misinterpreted?

Part of me thinks "The odds of someone Chinese seeing this are slim to none, let alone someone thinking I'm easy because of it" but most of me thinks that I don't want to get something if the general reaction from Chinese-speakers is going to be "That's stupid, why don't they just use their own language?" even if the meaning's correct.

I'm not just doing this to be trendy or cool (if anything, mentioning my research to other people who are interested in Chinese hanzi tattoos has marked me out as a super-geek). I don't want to get it in English because to me, English is boring. French is boring. European languages in general are, to me personally, boring. Chinese, Japanese, even Russian - they look better and sound more interesting. I don't think they're mysterious or anything like that; I think they're interesting and, given the opportunity, I would learn them. If anything, I felt that getting something in Chinese would reflect my interest in the language rather than making me a target for criticism, lumped in with the idiots who get something meaningless or the wrong thing altogether.

Getting 'Observe no taboos' in English on my lower back would look neither good nor interesting. I want something that both looks nice and has meaning, not sacrificing one for the other.

Does anyone have any constructive criticism rather than just shooting down this idea? Is there something else anyone would suggest? Or am I better off not getting this tattoo because I'll just be lumped in with the 'truth, love and spoon' crowd?

That said, I've already got the traditional Chinese for 'dragon' on me so I'm probably lumped right in there anyway -_-

[imron]

Is Chinese always so ambiguous? No matter what phrase I get, it can always be misinterpreted?

It's not that Chinese is ambiguous, it's just that a word or phrase in one language will have different connotations in different languages, especially when the languages come from countries with very distinct cultural traditions and values.

Take for example "dragon". I guarantee that what you think of when you think of "dragon" is completely different from what a Chinese person thinks of when they think of "dragon". Not just in terms of physical appearance but also in behaviour and other traits associated with dragons.

My constructive advice? If you wish to do something to reflect your interest in the language, then the best thing you can do is spend some time learning it. Once you have a better understanding of the language itself and you still decide you want a Chinese tattoo, then you can consider a phrase in the language that has meaning to you.

[roddy]

To be fair, 'observe no taboos' in English could be used to describe a brave social reformer, or someone with no sense of good taste and discretion. Anything short enough to fit on your back is probably going to allow for some interpretation.

[jbradfor]

I don't want to get it in English because to me, English is boring. French is boring. European languages in general are, to me personally

You ask how it would be viewed in Chinese. Well, to a native Chinese speaker, Chinese is boring. Having it in English would be more interesting. So obviously you're not getting this tattoo for Chinese speakers. So, unless it's truly embarrassing in Chinese, why do you care? Get it if you like it.

Anything short enough to fit on your back is probably going to allow for some interpretation.

If I saw 'observe no taboos' in English, my first thought would be more along the lines that you like incest or bestiality or something like that. [OK, maybe not bestiality if it's on a woman. But other ideas come to mind I'd rather not mention.] The point is get it if it means something to you.

[Roslyn]

I'm less likely to come across Chinese-speakers than English-speakers in the forseeable future, but if I do, I don't want something that could be embarassing or make people judge me unfairly as a result. Not taking the time to make sure I have something I'm completely happy with and ensuring I know what it means makes me just as daft as the people who take 'harmony' from a poster and it turns out to mean 'spoon'.

I chose 'Observe no Taboos' in Chinese since I was told that it was more of a saying than something taken literally - more like not being old-fashioned or not being afraid to try new things. It doesn't have the same connotations in English. I'm looking into other phrases since this one's not gone down well at all. I want a Chinese phrase but really, the best I'm hoping for is a neutral response from someone Chinese. From what I understand, tattoos in general aren't well-accepted in China, let alone Chinese language ones.

I'm glad most of you have at least been helpful, but I don't understand why Imron's posts seem to have had a snide tone at times. They appear to have assumed that I'm just another clueless idiot getting some 'cool Chinese Kanji'. Of course I know dragons are different in China than in the UK - I chose 'dragon' since it's my zodiac animal. To me, it meant something like strength or wisdom. Yeah, I'm walking around with 'dragon' on me, but I don't imagine it looks stupid. I even made sure it meant the same (or at least something innocuous) in Japanese, just in case the traditional Chinese character for 'dragon' had been carried over and meant something different as a Japanese kanji.

Maybe you don't agree with someone getting tattooed in a foreign language they don't know as a principal, but in that case, why take it that step further and assume they know nothing at all?

I hope this is just a misunderstanding on my part.

[whereishunter]

From what I understand, tattoos in general aren't well-accepted in China, let alone Chinese language ones.

This might be true with the older generation but I have a lot of Chinese friends that have some sort of tattoo on them.

As of getting a tattoo of Chinese writing (or any language) and not being able to speak the language is just a little strange. I have lots of friends that have been to Thailand and have a Thai language tattoo. They cant even speak the thai in there tattoo.

But its your skin and if you want to put some writing (that you will not fully understand and be able to say correctly) on it. Go for it!!

[HashiriKata]

I recently watched a back-massage demonstration and the model was a young woman with a tattoo on her back. The tattoo was a motif of something, beautifully done and looks very nice on the model. So I don't dismiss tattoos out of hand and in all circumstances; and if Roslyn wants a tatttoo, I'd recommend adding the motif of an Oriental dragon to the Chinese character "dragon" that you've already got.

[skylee]

百無禁忌 is actually quite positive IMO. It's great that there is nothing that you don't dare to say or to do, right? I think I like it.

After my father died, I chatted with my mom that we should all go to a solicitor to get our wills done and perhaps with bulk purchase we could get us some discount, and what I thought then was that wow, that's great we are laughing about this ... and I described it in my blog as 百無禁忌 ......

But as a tattoo, I don't know. I don't support tattoo. And I think what Hashirikata said in his #2 is not unlikely. But then, if you are genuinely 百無禁忌, why not?