Anyone understand Chinese or Japanese?
Anyone understand Chinese or Japanese?
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Discussion

trando

Original Poster:

770 posts

200 months

Tuesday 15th July 2025
quotequote all
Firstly - apologies that I can’t work out the difference between the 2 languages but I am not familiar with either.

I found this old pewter tankard buried in the back of a cupboard at my recently deceased father in laws house and would love to know what the characters mean.

I am familiar with leadless pewter which is what is used these days but this tankard is heavy and has some flex in it when you squeeze it so I am guessing it is the older form of lead pewter. He was extremely well travelled so it could have come from anywhere in the region. If it makes a difference, the tankard has a glass bottom.

Anyway, any info would be great!


RSTurboPaul

13,064 posts

287 months

Tuesday 15th July 2025
quotequote all
Google probably has a service that will translate pictures(!)

Radec

5,926 posts

76 months

Tuesday 15th July 2025
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Metal tea pot

trando

Original Poster:

770 posts

200 months

Tuesday 15th July 2025
quotequote all
Well that’s a good point re Google - it appears to translate as ‘don’t suppress the rebellion’ which is interesting…..

daqinggregg

5,335 posts

158 months

Tuesday 15th July 2025
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According to Mrs DG 'Bird nock no move gram board' that what it reads as in Chinese, translated to English, she agrees makes no sense.

trando

Original Poster:

770 posts

200 months

Tuesday 15th July 2025
quotequote all
'Bird nock no move gram board‘

Brilliant! Just like a dodgy tattoo!!

wolfracesonic

9,177 posts

156 months

Tuesday 15th July 2025
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‘I am out of the office at the moment’.

garythesign

2,702 posts

117 months

Tuesday 15th July 2025
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wolfracesonic said:
I am out of the office at the moment .
Brilliant.

I think you have to be a certain age to appreciate this

80quattro

1,820 posts

224 months

Tuesday 15th July 2025
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It looks like an old Chinese proverb.

Man with one chopstick go hungry.

gotoPzero

20,652 posts

218 months

Tuesday 15th July 2025
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We have been trying to contact you about your cars warranty....

768

20,678 posts

125 months

Tuesday 15th July 2025
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Made in England.

Cyder

7,186 posts

249 months

Tuesday 15th July 2025
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Number 33 Sweet and sour sauce

LimmerickLad

7,176 posts

44 months

Tuesday 15th July 2025
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CarpetRus sale must end today.

768

20,678 posts

125 months

Tuesday 15th July 2025
quotequote all
ChatGPT says it's Chinese, but it's pretty non-sensical with its translation.

Here’s a breakdown of each character:

鳥 (niǎo) – bird
里 (lǐ) – inside, village, or unit of distance
柳 (liǔ) – willow (a type of tree)
克 (kè) – overcome, gram
不 (bù) – not
板 (bǎn) – board, plank, plate

trando

Original Poster:

770 posts

200 months

Tuesday 15th July 2025
quotequote all
1 bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush?

Close-ish?

some bloke

1,692 posts

96 months

Tuesday 15th July 2025
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Google translate gave me buliuke board, and if you do a search for buliuke this pops up:


kurokawa

662 posts

137 months

Tuesday 15th July 2025
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Japanese with a Chinese partner here.
It is not Japanese, look like Kanji but some character I can’t recognised. So likely to be Chinese
Ask my partner, she type it out
烏(not鳥)里挪克,不里克板。
She can read all the words but it mean nothing. She suggested it might be the name of the manufacturer and the 2nd phase might be the series or type of the vase

Dapster

9,407 posts

209 months

Tuesday 15th July 2025
quotequote all
It says that you've inherited 1,000 billion Yuan. If you send me just £100,000 (plus your bank details, mother's maiden name and a recent utility bill) to cover the administration fees, I can ensure the full amount is paid into your bank account forthwith.

Pleasure to be of service!

Turtle Shed

2,965 posts

55 months

Tuesday 15th July 2025
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"A warrior never hammers sausages into his own lawn".

JoshSm

4,929 posts

66 months

Tuesday 15th July 2025
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It's probably purely decorative on an export/tourist piece, suitably complex characters that look the part and nothing beyond that.