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The expression "yan yiu," which translates as "human monster," was used 23 times during a report on transgender people in Thailand broadcast by the ATV television station, the South China Morning Post said.

The expression also appeared in subtitles 28 times in the segment which lasted 11 minutes and 45 seconds.

I thought Thailand was tolerant of us.

How can you be Human and a Monster at the same time?

Some parts of the world are still very old fashioned and stupid.

But at least their food is good.

Are we sure it's an insult and not just a strange linguistic quirk?

Yeah, not everything translates perfectly across.  The meaning might be lost in translation as they say.

The words are Cantonese.

人 Yan means 'person, human being', cognate of Mandarin rén.
妖 Yiu is translated, according to an online Cantonese dictionary, 'supernatural, goblin, ghost', cognate of Mandarin yāo-- my Mandarin dictionary translates it as (1) 'goblin; demon; evil spirit' (2) 'evil and fraudulent' (3) 'bewitching; coquettish'. The Chinese Character Dictionary translates it as 'strange, weird, supernatural'.

The latter word is used, for example, in the compound 妖精 yāojing which has two translations: (1) 'evil spirit; demon' (2) 'alluring woman'  Various other compounds using this character mean either 'evil' or 'pretty and coquettish'.

I detect a distinct whiff of MISOGYNY here. If you do a Google image search for 妖, you get: http://images.google.com/images?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS274&=&q=%E5%A6%96&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi
lots of cheesecake pics of sexy women but no monsters or demons. Actually, taking a closer look, several of those are pics of Thai transgender women, and the label used on them is 人妖 rén yāo / yan yiu, the term in question. The ever-misogynist Urban Dictionary translates renyao as 'Chinese insult which means a man without a stick'.

Not only that, the character 妖 is written with the radical 女 meaning 'woman'. I mean, WTF?! Sexist as hell!

Well China is a whole 'nother culture from Thailand, same continent is about all they share, and I would take anything on the Chinese News, a total tool of the Red Chinese Army with a bit of salt.

I heard there has been a big change in Thailand since the military coup a while back.  The new government is basically anti lady boy.  They put a stop to internet traffic, for example.  There were a lot of problemes with Thai SRS surgeons websites being blocked.  And I've heard a few other rumors that basically amount to the police putting pressure on the lady boys to stay off the street and out of sight.  Has anyone else heard similar info?

Hypatia,

It certainly sounds misogynist. Of course, as Glenda says the military is in-charge in Siam once more and militaries are often hot-beds of penis-comparisons and misogyny. The pics on your link do indeed appear a bit on that side of things as well.

Kat, Chinese culture throughout South-east, west-central and and north-east Asia is insidious. That the derivation from Cantonese and Mandarin is probable is probable.

A Chinese adept, Hypatia? You sound as if, and I know you aren't just a rarified dandy with a little knowledge about not a lot.

Hugs,

Nichole

Umm... actually I don't know Chinese. Or Cantonese for that matter. I know lots of languages, but Chinese isn't one of them, I just know a few basic words like 女人 nürén 'woman'.

What I do know is linguistics, how to identify a given language at a glance, and how to use the internet and reference books to look up linguistic information.

This was a Chinese programme that was shot in Thailand.

Thailand. I believe that just recently they stopped labeling TS women as mental when they showed up for their exemption to serve in the armed forces. That should hopefully improve the chances for decent employment for the up and coming generation there.

Quote from: Rebis on July 20, 2008, 11:13:41 AM
How can you be Human and a Monster at the same time?

Oh, I don't know.  I've thought of myself as a human monster for years.

Let's try Japanese:

Human = Jinteki

Monster = Mon

Jintekimon, gotta catch 'em all!

Quote from: Hypatia on July 20, 2008, 07:47:02 PM


I detect a distinct whiff of MISOGYNY here. If you do a Google image search for 妖, you get: http://images.google.com/images?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS274&=&q=%E5%A6%96&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi
lots of cheesecake pics of sexy women but no monsters or demons.

Cheesecake... now there evil i can live with!

I am not quite sure what the chinese chaeracters were, but attitudes toward transsexual or transgender people vary greatly in Asian countries. Calling like that is unusual in my country, and can be sued.


A recent story on a transsexual person in my country:

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200705/200705210008.html

Ha Ri Su might be exceptional when compared with other transsexual women who mostly work at transgender bars.

Barbie~~