Should you tell people if their Chinese tattoos are wrong?

[Strawberries513]

I was just wondering, if us Chinese learners/speakers see someone with a gibberish or incorrect Chinese tattoo, is it a good idea to tell that person? Or should you just keep your mouth shut?

[Pravit]

Personally I always hate it when some expert on a subject informs me why I'm doing so and so wrong. The vast majority of people who get Chinese tattoos/car decals get them just because they think they look cool, not because they care about the exact meaning or proper stroke order, sadly enough.

[koreth]

Agreed with Pravit. Unless the tattoo says "My Chinese is better than yours," I'd just chuckle to myself and leave the poor sap alone.

[watergrass]

agree with upstairs...

[imron]

I think it depends on how well you know that person. If it's some random stranger on the street maybe it's best to leave it. If it's someone you know, I'm sure there are polite ways of broaching the subject.

[Luobot]

I think that someone who gets a tattoo that’s going to be visible to the community at large has an obligation to be pedagogically correct.

However, if you can’t prevent someone from making a fairly permanent mistake, then there’s no use getting under their skin about it after the fact.

It appears that Pinyin people are more sensible … you never hear about silly Pinyin tattoos. (sh)

[lokki]

This is exactly the same as any other intimate detail about another person.

It depends on how well you know them, what kind of relationship you have with them, their personality and yours, and a thousand other variables and circumstances.

It is almost impossible to give any valid advice without knowing the specifics, except to consider all factors very carefully before deciding whether to say anything or not.

[中文新手]

Reminds me of an old saying I heard many years ago.,.."Opinions are asked for. Criticism is going where you're not invited."

[Jack MacKelly]

I suppose you've all heard the one about the 'disgruntled tattoist' who inks his revenge on the western man

[cintiaghimel]

This happened to me yesterday...I saw this guy who had a tatto on his arm. I don`t know what was written but I`m quite sure it wasn`t correct (I`m talking about strokesd, here）。I didn`t say anything because I didn`t know him, but even if I did I wouldn`t because it`s a tattoo, it`s permanent. If it was something written on paper maybe I`d give my 2 cents.

[Prodigal Son]

Last summer in Thailand I saw someone on the opposing beach volleyball team with a huge 羊 on his chest. Most of them were super tan Scandanavians who'd been in Thailand for several months. I asked him about the tattoo later, he said that it was his zodiac sign. I thought that some tattoo artist had seriously pulled a good one on him..

[haterproof99]

Since my post was never posted, can someone tell me how to translate my family name, Lee-him. I'm getting it on my arm and don't want it to be incorrect

[Czech Cara]

Some 鸡 year born girls should also reconsider having the zodiac sign tattoed. Generally, I quite like how it is done at http://hanzismatter.com Elegant, witty, insults limited.

What does a Chinese man typically get tattooed ? What is the cultural significance?

[Prodigal Son]

Some 鸡 year born girls should also reconsider having the zodiac sign tattoed.

hahaha! I hadn't thought of that, that would be hilarious. I don't know what's worse, getting "sheep" or slang for prostitute tattood on your body.

[onebir]

I'm a 鸡, but I have no plans for the tattoo. Actually, there's a Chinese song about chickens, (the video's a cartoon) & a female chinese friend told me when it came out she couldn't bring herself to sing "我是鸡" in a karaoke room with her friends!

Fortunately for guys the equivalent slang is 鸭, which isn't in the zodiac...

[Pravit]

What does a Chinese man typically get tattooed ? What is the cultural significance?

Tattoos are pretty taboo in most of East Asia, and carry gangster/criminal connotations.

[Prodigal Son]

Tattoos are pretty taboo in most of East Asia, and carry gangster/criminal connotations.

Really? I don't know about that, tattoos are really common among young people in China, and I'm not talking about anything related to crime or violence. Poorly done tattoos on the forearm are super common, in addition to more traditional tattoo spots like upper arms, back, and chest. I've been living in Chongqing for a few weeks and probably half of my chinese friends here have tattoos, men and women.

[heifeng]

Sometimes I wonder if by some cosmic karma, we are destined to see tons of nonsensical English T-shirts in China to make up for the poor 汉字 tattoo choices of some westerners..

Scary thought...maybe with the popularity of tattoos growing among Chinese youths we'll also start seeing random English inked across people in China soon...That actually might be good for a nice chuckle or two...it will even be funnier if it's all in arial font like everything in English in China appears to be typed...(unless that just happens to be everything I unfortuantely come across....ok, technically it may not all be arial font, but it looks like it but with the huge gap between the apostrophe and the 's') ...

However, back to the topic at hand. No, don't tell them. They didn't do the research before hand, so that's what they get. Secondly, it's also just possible they don't really care and that their tattoo just has a special meaning to them. Thirdly, unless you are embarrassed by the fact you are walking hand-in-hand with a girl that has 鸡 tatooed on herself or something, it's no sweat off your back, why actively search for a headache unless you really want to prove you know more than they do (or did at the time).

Once I saw a store check out clerk in the US who had 别相信女人 tattooed on his arm. Of course I had to ask him about it and he said it was just from personal experience. Then I at least knew he really wanted that tattooed and the tattoo artist didn't pull one over on him...That was one interesting check out conversation. So the moral of the story is the tattoo is just a part of that person and tells a lil' bit about them, whether the actual Chinese is correct or not------ and you can't fight the universe...people are still going random tattoos (and wear equally random English T-shirts )