This is the log of a chat I just had with a colleague working on a translation of a technical specification document from English to Chinese. No need to comment on, just plain reality:
[16:39] Colleague: hi
[16:39] Colleague: birger
[16:39] Birger Hoppe [Shanghai]: Hi! How are you guys?
[16:39] Colleague: would u plz give a short explaination of “Committing the transaction”?
[16:40] Birger Hoppe [Shanghai]: Every heard of a “database commit”?
[16:40] Colleague: still working….
[16:41] Colleague: like check in check out
[16:41] Colleague: ?
[16:43] Birger Hoppe [Shanghai]: Ah, no, not really…
A transaction, also often called a “unit of work”, combines a couple of changes to transform one consistent data constellation into another consistent one.
That’s very technical…here’s an example:
[16:44] Birger Hoppe [Shanghai]: The “hello world” example for transactions is moving money from one bank account to the other:
You have to deduct the amount from one bank account and at the same time add it to the other. That’s two individual database operations, but it must be ensures, that they happen either both or (in case of a failure) not at all.
[16:44] Birger Hoppe [Shanghai]: A so-called ATOMIC operation.
[16:45] Colleague: en
[16:45] Birger Hoppe [Shanghai]: A Commit is the positive end of such a transaction and tells the involved database/file manager that they not should make the changes permament and visible to other applications.
[16:45] Colleague: not permanent and visible to other apps?
[16:45] Birger Hoppe [Shanghai]: Uups, typo: “…that they NOW should makepermanent…”
[16:46] Colleague: ……….
[16:46] Birger Hoppe [Shanghai]: (I received only dots, was that Chinese?)
[16:46] Colleague: not chinese…
[16:47] Birger Hoppe [Shanghai]: By the way: The negative end of a transaction is called Rollback.
[16:47] Colleague: -_-b
[16:47] Colleague: o
[16:47] Colleague: ok
[16:47] Colleague: i got it
[16:47] Colleague: but i still dun have the proper translation….
[16:47] Colleague: can i translate it into “operation confirmed”?
[16:47] Birger Hoppe [Shanghai]: Just a second, should be in the database by now, I’m checking
[16:48] Colleague: k
[16:48] Birger Hoppe [Shanghai]: There must be a fixed technical term in Chinese for that as it is an absolut standard in database technology. We must find that term.
[16:48] Colleague: i’ve searched it in some technical online dictionary
[16:49] Birger Hoppe [Shanghai]: We have a Notes Glossary for those occasions…
Transaction has still two translations there:
[16:49] Colleague: but no solution….
[16:49] Colleague: en
[16:49] Birger Hoppe [Shanghai]: 交易(或事务)
[16:49] Colleague: ya
[16:49] Birger Hoppe [Shanghai]: 交易事务
[16:49] Colleague: i know that
[16:50] Colleague: but wut i want is “committing
[16:50] Colleague: ”
[16:50] Colleague: 🙂
[16:50] Birger Hoppe [Shanghai]: true, and that
[16:50] Birger Hoppe [Shanghai]: ‘s not in
[16:50] Birger Hoppe [Shanghai]: only “committed amount of foreign investment”, which be something different..
[16:51] Colleague: yes, different
[16:51] Birger Hoppe [Shanghai]: Can you give me your Chinese attempt of translation?
[16:54] Colleague: would u plz tell me how far is it to “operation confirmed”?
[16:54] Colleague: close to or faraway ?
[16:55] Birger Hoppe [Shanghai]: SOunds good, but I really wanted to have the Chinese characters.
[16:55] Colleague: eh….
[16:55] Colleague: my choice will be …
[16:56] Colleague: committing the transaction 交易操作完成(finish the trading operation)
[16:56] Birger Hoppe [Shanghai]: just a second…
[16:56] Colleague: ok
[16:58] Birger Hoppe [Shanghai]: The translations I get for 交易 sound a bit too much in the direction of trading. It’s actually a pure technical thing, no matter if trading is involved. Anything available in the direction of “unit of work”?
[16:58] Colleague: 事务
[16:59] Birger Hoppe [Shanghai]: Ah, that’s the transaction from the glossary, just a second…
[16:59] Colleague: aha, u can quickly recognize that
[16:59] Birger Hoppe [Shanghai]: Pattern matching, easy thing… 🙂
[16:59] Birger Hoppe [Shanghai]: But the translation I get sound awful…
n. (Trad=事務, Pinyin=shi4 wu4) work, routine, general affairs, affair
[17:00] Colleague: u dun have to rollback that, we know the translation la..
[17:00] Colleague: 🙂
[17:00] Birger Hoppe [Shanghai]: Aha, and the winner is….
[17:00] Colleague: it’s a technology term,
[17:00] Birger Hoppe [Shanghai]: true
[17:01] Colleague: 苣 苜 苴 莒 茝8-P
[17:02] Birger Hoppe [Shanghai]: Wow, they all look alike…
[17:02] Colleague: ok i will leave this translation highlighted
[17:02] Colleague: gonna discuss with [other colleagues]
[17:02] Colleague: will that be ok?
[17:03] Birger Hoppe [Shanghai]: Yeah, leave it highlighted, the translation for the above includes funny things like “water chestnuts”…
[17:04] Colleague: yes….
[17:04] Colleague: the head of these characters means plant and vegatables
[17:04] Colleague: 🙂
[17:05] Birger Hoppe [Shanghai]: Wow, I wonder how that relates to technical units of work…
and all the rest does not translate at all in Babylon…I’ve to try some internet sites.
[17:05] Colleague: haha
[17:05] Colleague: ok
[17:05] Colleague: that’s only a joke
[17:05] Colleague: go back to translation now
[17:05] Colleague: hope u enjoy your hotpot tonight
[17:05] Colleague: 😉
[…]
[17:06] Birger Hoppe [Shanghai]: Aha, you dont take me serious. That’s a great start into the New Year… 😉
Oh I will enjoy it.
[…]
[17:07] Colleague: 😀
[17:07] Colleague: :)~
[…]
[17:08] Birger Hoppe [Shanghai]: Fine, then have fun, both the last hour at work and certainly later at home.
Whish you a smooth start into the New Year!
[17:09] Birger Hoppe [Shanghai]: (What again was the Chinese greeting?)
[17:09] Colleague: Xin Nian Kuai Le
[17:09] Birger Hoppe [Shanghai]: So it be!
[17:09] Colleague: (H)
[17:09] Colleague: cu
[17:09] Birger Hoppe [Shanghai]: bye
Addendum
The correct pronunciation of Happy New Year is: Xīn nián kuài lè (新年快乐), but Xīn nián actually is for the western new year on Juanuary 1. (Kuài lè simply means ‘happy’.)
Chinese New Year is chūn jié (春节), but here I’m unsure if it’s used in greetings. I’ll gonna find out tonight!
Categories: Shanghai
Originally Created: 02/08/2005 10:17:47 AM
Last Edited: 02/08/2005