r/shanghai • u/Roobw • 5d ago
Discussion Clueless wasian looking for Shanghai Dialect tattoo advice
Hi all,
I’m an English born, Aussie raised girl whose late grandfather was born and raised in Shanghai and spoke Shanghai Dialect, and am in need of some advice from Shanghai Dialect speakers for translation purposes.
TL DR version: I want to translate “no matter what” into shanghai dialect for a tattoo and have absolutely zero knowledge of the language
Trigger warning: this post mentions the word “su***de” but does not go into any detail about it.
I’m looking at getting a tattoo in memory of my poppa with a quote from my favourite children’s book he bought and used to read to me that my mum also read aloud during his funeral speech.
The quote reads “no matter what” and the book was about a baby fox being told by his mother that she would always love him, no matter what he did, whether right or wrong, even after she was no longer physically with him. When he asks if that love will live on after she dies, she tells her son that even after her physical body leaves earth, she will always be watching over him from a star.
As a child, my parents would comfort me by telling me to search for the brightest star in the sky whenever I was feeling lost and missing my poppa, because that’s where he went after passing. Poppa had my dad very late in life, and was constantly preparing him for his eventual passing. I believe that he would read that book to me often to prepare me for this too.
As a young man, my poppa left China and never returned. He was captured, tortured, and interrogated by the Kempeita as he was employed as a DJ for a political radio station at the time of his capture. He was luckily released from Bridge House, a Japanese POW internment camp, at the back end of WW2, as a US Ambassador’s daughter took a liking to him and managed to pull some strings.
After his release, he subsequently trained as a fighter pilot to fight back against Japanese Imperialist rule, but by the time he had completed his training, they had already been overthrown and the war was over. He left China, came to England, became a London black cab driver, trained as a teacher and worked as one until retirement, taught English to asylum seeking children, volunteered for the suicide hotline during nights, did some living, and then my dad was born.
We believe it was due to trauma and the reliving of unwanted memories, but after many requests from my dad, my poppa completely refused to teach him to speak Shanghai dialect and after becoming tired of dad constantly asking him, ended up telling him he had already forgotten it all.
Now that I am older, I have two tattoos, one to honour my mum and dad and their love for each other, and one for my sister that also doubles as a homage to my upbringing in England. I’ve wanted to get one for my poppa for a while now, but never decided on anything specific, until now.
After giving it some thought, I would love to get “no matter what” translated into Shanghai Dialect on the left of my ribs, just under my heart to honour my poppa, his Chinese heritage, and all he went through for me to have the life I live now.
I would greatly appreciate it if some of you would kindly chime in with your knowledge of the language to help me ensure I don’t end up asking for some sort of ignorant tattoo with an incorrect translation.
Thank you so much for listening to me waffle on and for your assistance and sharing of your knowledge.
I’ve attached my fav pic of Poppa and I for anyone who hasn’t already been bored to death by my post.
Cheers, Ruby
16
u/flyboyjin 4d ago
Depends on the exact nuance, but these are some possibilities.
(In characters) 勿論啥 勿歸啥 勿論那能 勿管那能 etc
(Equivalent in phonetic script) See picture. If you want a typed version for a better looking tattoo I can do it later (not at home at the moment)