iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Brett @brett.mobi · 18/04/2026

What’s the term in Vietnamese? Thanks

Brett @brett.mobi · 08/04/2026

And speaking of binomials, there are also irreversible binomials like “salt and pepper” or “bits and pieces” which sound odd if the order is reversed. In English we have “husband and wife” but in Vietnamese they do it the other way around: Vợ chồng

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Brett @brett.mobi · 08/04/2026

I’m polishing my translation of Chí Phèo and working on some fun Vietnamese binomial verbs Doạ nạt = to browbeat Giật cướp = to take by force Each individual word is in the dictionary, but the combined verb isn’t. Doạ: threaten Nạt: bully Giật: snatch Cướp: rob/steal How would you do it?

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Brett @brett.mobi · 08/04/2026

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Brett @brett.mobi · 21/02/2026

A very cool book! My friend Steve turned me on to this about twenty years ago and I keep coming back to it regularly.

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Brett @brett.mobi · 17/02/2026

“A man of high standing does not enter a lowly establishment.”

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Brett @brett.mobi · 17/02/2026

“Fear not the official, just the office.”

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Brett @brett.mobi · 17/02/2026

“When the train whistle blows, a river of gold flows.”

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Brett @brett.mobi · 17/02/2026

“Repeat something three times, and not even the dogs will listen.”

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Brett @brett.mobi · 17/02/2026

“A great man overlooks the flaws of a lesser man, and a Prime Minister has a capacious nature.”

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Brett @brett.mobi · 17/02/2026

“A warrior can be killed but not dishonored; a woman can die but not be defiled.”

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Brett @brett.mobi · 17/02/2026

“Get snakebit once and you’ll fear ropes for three years.”

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Brett @brett.mobi · 17/02/2026

“Wild geese leave behind their cry; men leave behind a name.”

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Brett @brett.mobi · 17/02/2026

“The best work requires the finest tools.”

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Brett @brett.mobi · 17/02/2026

“A scholar will die for a true friend, a bird will sing for an admirer.”

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Brett @brett.mobi · 16/02/2026

“If you want to defeat an enemy, first go after his king.”

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Brett @brett.mobi · 16/02/2026

“Obedience is the path to survival, stubbornness only leads to trouble.”

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Brett @brett.mobi · 16/02/2026

“A carriage cannot reach the mountain without a road, but a boat can sail even against the wind.”

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Brett @brett.mobi · 16/02/2026

“Better a live rat than a dead prefect.”

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Brett @brett.mobi · 16/02/2026

“You can tell a mule from a horse by taking it out for a ride.”

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Brett @brett.mobi · 16/02/2026

“Scare the monkeys by killing the chicken.”

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Brett @brett.mobi · 16/02/2026

“One beauty mark can negate a hundred moles.”

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Brett @brett.mobi · 16/02/2026

“Throw a meaty bun at a dog and it’ll never come back.”

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Brett @brett.mobi · 16/02/2026

“When virtue rises one foot, vice rises ten.”

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Brett @brett.mobi · 16/02/2026

“A desirable man is burdened with an undesirable wife, while an ugly man marries a lovely maiden.”

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Brett @brett.mobi · 16/02/2026

“A revered husband deserves an honored wife.”

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Brett @brett.mobi · 16/02/2026

“Fortunate people live a life of ease; the wretched among us spend their life on their knees.

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Brett @brett.mobi · 16/02/2026

“Cast a brick to attract jade.”

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Brett @brett.mobi · 15/02/2026

“When the moon is bright, a bald man shines, and when the water rises, the ferryboat floats highest.”

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Brett @brett.mobi · 15/02/2026

“While we are not related, we come from the same place.”

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Brett @brett.mobi · 14/02/2026

“Whether one lives or dies is already written somewhere.”

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Brett @brett.mobi · 14/02/2026

“Do not hit someone in the face or reveal another’s shortcomings.”

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Brett @brett.mobi · 14/02/2026

“A lack of forbearance in small matters upsets great plans.”

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Brett @brett.mobi · 14/02/2026

“Confront soldiers with generals and dam water with earth.”

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Brett @brett.mobi · 14/02/2026

“When the beans are fried, everyone eats; but if the pot is broke, you suffer the consequences alone.”

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Brett @brett.mobi · 14/02/2026

“You hit the tree whether there are dates or not; you treat a dead horse as if it were alive.”

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Brett @brett.mobi · 14/02/2026

“Better to live three days and go out in a blaze of glory than to live a thousand years as a timid soul.”

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Brett @brett.mobi · 14/02/2026

I’m gonna catalog the novel’s many adages here. “When the moon is full, the decline begins; when the river is high, water flows away. When someone is too happy, bad things happen; and when dogs feel good, they fight over shit.”

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Brett @brett.mobi · 14/02/2026

Got my reading set for a quiet Tết holiday in Hanoi 🧧

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Brett @brett.mobi · 13/01/2026

My translation of Nam Cao’s short story “A Full Meal” was just published in Asymptote as part of their translation Tuesday series www.asymptotejournal.com/blog/2026/01...

asymptotejournal.com

Translation Tuesday: “A Full Meal” by Nam Cao - Asymptote Blog

How simple life would be if people didn’t have to eat. But food never just jumps into your mouth—you have to work for it.

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Brett @brett.mobi · 09/01/2026

Came across this passage in the final pages of Constance Garnett’s 1914 translation of Crime & Punishment, from Dostoevsky’s 1866 original. Wow… it seems to have something to say about the madness of the world we live in today, 160 years later

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Brett @brett.mobi · 08/01/2026

This is amazing thank you for sharing

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Brett @brett.mobi · 05/01/2026

Also just obviously French and Russian too

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Brett @brett.mobi · 05/01/2026

In no particular order, foreign languages I wish I knew so I could read these authors in their original Han Kang - Korean Mo Yan - Chinese Alejo Carpentier - Spanish Jon Fosse - Norwegian Needless to say I won’t be learning anytime soon, so for now bless the translators, thank you thank you

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Brett @brett.mobi · 03/01/2026

I might need to add more 0’s to my translations

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Brett @brett.mobi · 03/01/2026

Opening paragraph of Renee Gladman’s “The Ravickians” is wonderful on the limitations of translation

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Brett @brett.mobi · 18/12/2025

The pushback won’t come from the readers but rather from the authors who won’t want to consent having their works translated by AI. I suspect. I could very well be wrong.

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Brett @brett.mobi · 18/12/2025

Some publishers will try this. It may even be passable for some major languages (ie English/French) today. It will continue to get better and better over the years. But imo the real work of translation is about subjective decisions that only humans working as *artists* can make. Translation is art

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Brett @brett.mobi · 26/11/2025

Here’s Đức Lưu playing Thị Nở (the ugliest woman in Vietnamese literature) from the film adaptation.

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