A tea marketer is in need of some translation help at Far Outliers:

YUNNAN JING MAI HILL OLD TREES TEA

This article chooses to use Yunnan Jingmai hill old trees tea is raw material, was steam, rumple, nhibitted by traditional craftbut become, that tea Fa-Etty strengthen to show the milli-, green and yellow bright aroma pure and unadulterated of the teaEsoup, the tase joss-stick and return sweet hold out for long time. Often drimking can help the dig-Eest, go to greasy, the pure spirit of adsolute deing is great. Come to wine etc. This,article more Ch-Een is more fragrant can be collect in dry, well ventilated, avoid the light to have no strange Esmell of environment.

Bruce Humes asks why we need English as an intermediary in the translation of Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk’s work, Other Colors…

Öteki Renkler -> Other Colors -> 别样的色彩

… versus leaving out the middle man: Öteki Renkler -> 别样的色彩

Arguments for the teaching of Chinese, from John McWhorter, who also blogs on Language Log (h/t Bruce Humes):

A Martian would be baffled as to why anyone would think of French, German or Italian as more important for young Americans to learn than Chinese. Or—in response to the objection that no one is saying European languages are more important—let’s face it, the Martian wouldn’t understand why Chinese was not thought more important.

And another argument for Americans in particular to learn Chinese, but only after Spanish, from NYT reporter Nicholas Kristof, who feels compelled to include yet another gratuitous impossible tone mix-up scenario* in the article, just to prove Chinese is difficult

The standard way to ask somebody a question in Chinese is “qing wen,” with the “wen” in a falling tone. That means roughly: May I ask something? But ask the same “qing wen” with the “wen” first falling and then rising, and it means roughly: May I have a kiss?

——-

*Don’t get me wrong, I’m practically rabid about the need to teach tones early and strictly to second language Mandarin learners. But this kind of snickery snafu (请问 will never be mistaken for 请吻 in context, I promise) smells to me like someone who wants to promote a mystique that makes his language skill more valuable, rather than someone who really wants to illustrate something about the language.