Strictly speaking, neither single character, (Jeff's selection), (Carl Herrera / freemaniam's suggestion), is translated literally as "courage." 英 means hero/heroine or heroic, while 勇 means bravery. For "courage," the closest you can get in Chinese is a two-character word/phrase: 勇气. That said, if I had to choose a single Chinese character, I'd use 勇. The reason is, as mentioned by freemaniam, it only makes sense when you have 智 and 勇 in combination and in that order. Idiomatically (in Chinese), you don't see 英 and 智 used together in phrase. A minor note, Jeff, I checked source of the images in your initial post. On its home page, it lists Raku ceramic sculpture, which is a Japanese art. Many Japanese characters were taken straight from Chinese characters. Over the years, some of their meanings have diverged slightly. I suspect your source of 英 has some Japanese flavor. There is nothing wrong with using Japanese character for tattoo. It's good to see East Asian cultures are appreciated by a Westerner. The calligraphy of the two characters you put there is actually very nice. But since you specifically look for characters in Chinese content, I think a little background may be helpful.
Wow, nice Jeff, I like all those word/letters, I wouldnt be bad to put them all Post pics when you have got the tats
wnes, Thank you very much for all the information. It was extremely helpful. I've always been fascinated by Asian culture, so this is just an extension of that for me. I'm thinking of doing one character on one arm and one on the other rather than putting them right next to one another. Since some have suggested putting them left to right, maybe left arm, right arm? I just like the combination of the concepts and I have never gotten a tattoo before, so I wanted to make sure it is REALLY something I want AND the correct translation. I always knew it would be something Asian. Maybe I was Asian in a previous life.
You are welcome, Jeff. As I was typing my previous post, I actually thought about that. The order of modern Chinese is left to right. In this case, it would be 智 followed by 勇. But here's the dilemma. You may want to put 智 on your left arm, and 勇 on the right, if that's the way your personally view things (in left-to-right order). But when facing you, people see them the other way round, ie., your right arm would be on the left side and your left on the right. You may also want to consider how two sides of human's brain work regarding these two different functionalities and justify the way you tattoo them accordingly.
If you really want to show your "courage" get the tats on your schweddy balls. I can't wait to see you in pain on LA Ink.
Are you sure you want to do that? I think the whole Chinese tat thing will get passe very quickly. If you want to be ahead of the game, try an arabic tat.
Instead of those cliché's.. why not get something like: Earth Wind Fire Which translates to: This way you can be super hip and say you're both environment-friendly and funky.
I'm pretty sure it already is. I think Chinese symbols are considered the new tribal arm band. But if that's what you want to get then by all means go for it. At least Jeff is doing a little research on it rather than just blindly getting a tat like most people.
I have a couple of questions regarding Asian culture/tattoos (Jeff, glad you opened it up). Most of the stuff you find on the internet seems bastardized, and like A-Train noted, you wouldn't want an Asian character that was wrong. -What's the character/combo character for 'discipline' when it refers to strength of mind? -Are there any good Asian tattoo artists in the Houston area? I've been wanting a nice Asian-themed tattoo half-sleeve for years, but don't trust anyone I've seen to do something like that correctly.
I saw a bodaciously ugly fat chick in the gym this morning with two Chinese characters tattooed on her left shoulder. Judging by her size, one probably meant "weight" while the other meant "watchers".
If even the Chinese are confused and uncertain about the character's meaning, might have to think 4 times about getting it, don't ya think?
I'm not really concerned with what is in style or what is passe. I wanted to do this in my mid-20's, but chickened out. At the time, same thing: Chinese characters. But, I didn't have the internet to help me figure out what I'd be putting on my body. Plus, I'm old enough to remember when they were popular the FIRST time in the 80's so while "what is hip today might become passe," like all trends in fashion, it will repeat itself eventually.
We generally use for "discipline" when referring to rules or ordered behaviour. If you want to remind yourself of self-control, we have an old idiom that runs which means "Be strict to yourself" And it is followed by which means "Be generous to others". But man, 8 Chinese characters, it will be so much pain. I may have gotten the meaning of "discipline" wrongly, other clutchfans are welcome to correct me.
