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A new phonetic writing system

Saturday, September 26th, 2009

The other day I saw a tourist bus from Nanjing that caught my eye. On one side the name of the travel company was written in Chinese characters, and below it there was a text written in a mysterious language:

“ISGNOG NAIXUOY EHCIQ UOYVL NAITGNEH GNIJ NAN”

Initially I thought it must be Uyghur, but then I realized the combination of letters was bizarre even for that language, and it led to some diabolical phonetics. A satanic chant? A magic formula? After a while I was too curious to leave, so I had to ask the tour guide who was sitting inside.

Can you guess the language before you continue?

Click to continue »

Posted in Language Thursdays | 15 Responses »

THE MINIYOUREN
- Kissinger and China by Jonathan D. Spence | The New York Review of Books
- The Jamestown Foundation: The Dragon and the Mamba: China’s Growing Presence in Mozambique
  Fascinating article (in spite of the title). For all the humanitarian blah-blah of the West, this single hypocritical action, the agricultural subsidies in our developed countries, has caused more suffering in Africa than all the Chinese factory supervisors ... if there is any hope for Africa, it will come from the BRICS.
- Why China’s left is up in arms - China Media Project
  Interesting article, but I think too optimistic. All this "debate" we are seeing is probably just a reflection of internal struggle for power in the run up to 2012. As soon as the seats are assigned and the match is settled, these "debates" will die out and the leaders will go on with their business. They are not ideological driven leaders, but mostly pragmatic. <br><br>Looking at it from a different angle: if somethings works well, why on earth would they want to change it? China is still growing at amazing speed, the PEW surveys show high levels of satisfaction, the miracle is still in full force. I don't believe for a second that Bo and the others want to return to Maoist politics in any meaningful way. They want to maintain the status quo, and to increase their own power, that's all.
- Book Review - On China - By Henry Kissinger - NYTimes.com
  Interesting article, and a good warning by an old fox. This idea of a "next cold war" has been worrying me for a while, it is not at all impossible we end up that way.
- Shanghai Scrap » Ring Them Bells: Dylan Wasn’t Censored.
  And I agree.
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