Calling all geeks.

[sthubbar]

I have often asked my Chinese friends, "How would you describe someone who spends too much time studying; really likes math, science, and computers; would most likely be uncomfortable in a bar; and likes to watch science fiction TV programs." The usual response is a blank stare.

The only real response I've ever had is "shu dai zi" (bookworm) It's just not the same meaning.

Is education so revered in this society that terms like "Four eyes" just aren't funny because it would apply to the majority of the students.

What is one or two semi-derogatory words to describe someone who likes to go to Star Trek conventions or Comic-con, akin to geek or nerd?

[roddy]

Try 极客. But I suspect only geeks will know it . . .

[sthubbar]

Just showed that to my Chinese roomate and he has never seen those two characters used together. It's not in the Bible either, ie Pleco.

I'm pretty sure showing the work "geek" to 97.2% of American youths will be recognized. The .2% shows my geekiness.

[adrianlondon]

http://www.geekg.com/site/page/aboutgeek/ has a description as to where "jike" comes from. My mandarin isn't good enough to understand it clearly, but I get the jist.

[sthubbar]

My idea was to find a term that the general populace would understand.

I had another idea to unravel this mystery. Is there some service where I can look up the Chinese translation of foreign movie titles?

How is the show "Freaks and Geeks" translated into Chinese? How about "Revenge of the Nerds"?

[gato]

How about "Revenge of the Nerds"?

Pre-1990s. Pre-pirate DVD. Sorry.

"Freaks and Geeks"

Take a look at Baidu:

http://www.baidu.com/s?lm=0&si=&rn=10&ie=gb2312&ct=0&wd=freaks+and+geeks&pn=10&cn=baidu08&cl=3

It doesn't really have a standard definition. Don't think it was popular here like "Prison Break" or "Lost." Too culturally difficult for most Chinese to understand probably.

[sthubbar]

Thanks Gato, that's a good start.

It's still quite arduous for me to wade through that many characters. Can anyone assist with picking out the section that is the translation for "Freaks and Geeks"?

[gato]

According to baidu, "Freaks and Geeks" is variously translated as《学校怪人一箩筐 》,《怪胎们》, and 《怪人与小丑》. The focus seems on the "freaks" part of the title.

The closest you're going to come to geeks/nerds in Chinese, at least in standard Mandarin Chinese, is "书呆子", which is used to refer to someone who's good at school work but hopeless in anything else, and it's used derisively. It has a more negative connotation than "bookworm." Notice that its root word is 呆子, which means "fool."

Since there are no Star Trek convention in China and being smart or being good at math and computers doesn't have the geeky connotation it does in the U.S., I think you'll just going to have to settle for "书呆子“.

Are the words "nerd" and "geek" widely used in UK, by the way, as they are American inventions? How about in other European countries?

[c_redman]

Are the words "nerd" and "geek" widely used in UK, by the way, as they are American inventions? How about in other European countries?

That's an interesting question. As a social phenomenon, is that kind of extreme fandom associated with geeks and otaku found in just the US and Japan? That would be a good question for Slashdot.

[Shadowdh]

Geek is used much more than nerd (which is an older term and not much heard (at least by me) nowadays) but yep they are used in the UK...

[Lu]

There is just no cultural equivalent in China of the American/Western geek, I think. Studies day and night? Loves playing computer games? Uncomfortable in a bar? That description fits a really large portion of the Chinese students. They would hardly have derogatory terms about themselves...