Does anyone read chinese?

[twistedtree]

I know..! Connect your multimeter to each wire end, in the circuit continuity mode, ie ohms resistance, or better still the buzzer, if yours has it. That would tell if they were the ends of the same wire...course you'd have to add in fairly lengthy extra extension wires to the pos and neg leads of the meter...

Yup, or put a resistor across two of the conductors at one end, then measure that resistance on the other end.

 

[ranger58sb]

Here are two of the labels. It's possible they say the same thing, but I don't know the subtleties of the characters.

I'm sure they say the same thing, but my exposure to Chinese was about character usage when I took beginning Korean... a boatload of years ago.

Wifey does (used to do more) Chinese; I'll ask her to have a look when she gets home this evening...

It'd take me way too long to puzzle through our Chinese dictionaries by myself, and I don't do "nuance" so probably wouldn't get it right anyway.

-Chris

 

[Yahoo 1]

Please find bellow the response from a friend of mine who is a Chinese native (PRC), professor at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), very fluent in Chinese dialects. Hope that would help.

'(...) Some traditional characters in your pictures lead me to believe that it is Taiwanese. Why that ? The entire mainland China or PRC is writing in simplified characters, while Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau are the only places still using sometimes traditional ones. There are 2 traditional characters which I seem to sense Taiwanese.

There are about 10 native languages of Taiwan, about a dozen different languages spoken on the island of Taiwan, the difference is similar to the difference between Spanish - Italian - French even if these 3 European languages have the same alphabet.

If a few characters appear to be correct at first glance, the whole text is actually misspelled. Perhaps the text was based on a clear original idea but the way of writing is very confusing therefore the instructions are simply not to be trusted.

I would give up with the experimentation of translation then I'd surround myself with a good marine qualified electrician'.

 

[Pgitug]

It's a dialect from SE China.
It says "Buy American You Silly Yankee".

 

[bilge53]

Hold it up to a mirror.

 

[Yahoo 1]

It's a dialect from SE China.
It says "Buy American You Silly Yankee".

How is that supposed to moving this thread forward ?

 

[Fletcher500]

My daughter in law can read and write it. Still need help?

 

[JDCAVE]

I've passed it on to a couple of colleagues who speak/read Mandarin adn Cantonese.

 

[JDCAVE]

From my colleague: “Drive (driver?) -> Backups for engine compartment”

It's quite possible the text was to inform either the same individual, or a co-worker about the identity of a cable when it was pulled through a chase, having been subsequently cut. What it means now might no longer be relevant.

Might be from a cable from the helm to the engine room, perhaps between the main engine and the helm-"driver".

 

[FlyWright]

You bought the boat from PAE and this is a label on their boat. I'd send the photo to them and let them tell you what it means.

 

[twistedtree]

From my colleague: “Drive (driver?) -> Backups for engine compartment”

It's quite possible the text was to inform either the same individual, or a co-worker about the identity of a cable when it was pulled through a chase, having been subsequently cut. What it means now might no longer be relevant.

Might be from a cable from the helm to the engine room, perhaps between the main engine and the helm-"driver".

Oohhhh, I think you got it. Diver means helm. And backup means spare. It's a spare cable from the helm to the engine room, which is exactly what it is.

So that takes care of one cable. Now I need to get the label off the other cable end up at my flybridge helm and figure out where the other end of it is.

 

[twistedtree]

Please find bellow the response from a friend of mine who is a Chinese native (PRC), professor at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), very fluent in Chinese dialects. Hope that would help.

'(...) Some traditional characters in your pictures lead me to believe that it is Taiwanese. Why that ? The entire mainland China or PRC is writing in simplified characters, while Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau are the only places still using sometimes traditional ones. There are 2 traditional characters which I seem to sense Taiwanese.

There are about 10 native languages of Taiwan, about a dozen different languages spoken on the island of Taiwan, the difference is similar to the difference between Spanish - Italian - French even if these 3 European languages have the same alphabet.

If a few characters appear to be correct at first glance, the whole text is actually misspelled. Perhaps the text was based on a clear original idea but the way of writing is very confusing therefore the instructions are simply not to be trusted.

I would give up with the experimentation of translation then I'd surround myself with a good marine qualified electrician'.

I could very well be Taiwanese. A number of the more senior workers and all of the management at the yard are Taiwanese.

 

[Northern Spy]

Pretty interesting thread actually.

 

[twistedtree]

Pretty interesting thread actually.

I've learned a bunch. It's a great illustration of how much more there is to language than just translating words. I remember a long time ago a friend told be that in Chinese there is no gender, and I suddenly understand why all my Chinese friends were always mixing up he and she.

 

[Peter B]

Yup, or put a resistor across two of the conductors at one end, then measure that resistance on the other end.

Or...you could just do that, yes. But that would be too easy.

 

[Ski in NC]

Some electricians have a "pinger" tool. Hook up tool to one end of a lead and it puts a little RF signal down the line. Then with a handheld "sniffer" it beeps as you get close to the lead in the cable chase.

 

[N4712]

Update based on second picture.

"Ahh, Annie said Engine steering paddle and last two words ReUse"

Possibly for a rudder feedback indicator?