I know a dude who wanted 挑戦 (challenge) tattooed on his arm in Japan. Dude went to the tattoo parlor, told him he wanted the kanji for "chousen", which is how the word is pronounced. So far so good, right?
Dude ended up proudly showing off his tattoo which said 朝鮮, which is also pronounced the same way, but means North Korea. Like, unambiguously the DPRK.
He was not pleased when I told him. The whole thing could have been avoided if he had just shown the kanji to the artist.
I know a dude who wanted 挑戦 (challenge) tattooed on his arm in Japan. Dude went to the tattoo parlor, told him he wanted the kanji for "chousen", which is how the word is pronounced. So far so good, right?
Dude ended up proudly showing off his tattoo which said 朝鮮, which is also pronounced the same way, but means North Korea. Like, unambiguously the DPRK.
He was not pleased when I told him. The whole thing could have been avoided if he had just shown the kanji to the artist.
I'd rather have the DPRK tattoo than some generic mantra anyway, tbh.
Chinese Forums has a subforum where you can get your tattoo translated . Most of them are just poorly phrased or nonsensical, though. The Hanzis Matter guy had the really good ones. No idea where he found that gold mine.