Lost in Translation or Chinese Food for Thought?

June 28, 2007 — -- "Virtue Soup" or "Sticky Rice"?

Your preference may depend on your politics.

A ballot issue in the city of Boston has pinned the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division against the Massachusetts secretary of state's office -- and the controversy may end up in court.

Under a 2005 agreement with the Justice Department, Massachusetts agreed to make ballots translated from English into Cantonese and Mandarin available to Boston's Chinese voters.

While some critics balked at the idea of offering ballots in any language except English, Massachusetts -- like New York and California -- complied. Or so it thought.

Now the federal government is pressuring the Bay State to not only transliterate -- to write in the characters of another alphabet -- the contents of the ballot, such as instructions and offices, but also the surnames of candidates.

With the 2008 presidential election approaching, state election officials took a look at how some of the big political names, transliterated from English to Chinese, might appear in character form.

For some, the translation, which must be done syllable by syllable, painted a better picture than others.

On the Republican side, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's name, for example, might translate to "Sticky Rice" on the ballot. If former senator and "Law and Order" star Fred Thompson officially hops into the GOP race, Chinese voters could have the option of voting for "Virtue Soup."

Of course, the soup and rice would face a challenges from "Triumphant Wheat," aka Arizona Sen. John McCain, and Rudy Guiliani, the former New York City mayor, whose Chinese translation might be read as "Peaceful Nun."

On the Democratic side of the aisle, N.Y. Sen. Hillary Clinton may not be happy to see her name translated into "Tired Forest," while Illinois Sen. Barack Obama might be read, to his satisfaction, as "Profound Horse."

Brian McNiff, a spokesman for Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin, said the issue goes beyond the big names of the presidential campaign. Many of Boston's Chinese voters, he said, may likely recognize those candidates. But throw in city councilor and state representative candidates and other more obscure potential officeholders and the confusion only mounts.