I have heard that some asians & native americans have excess ear wax and in the cultures is this process of candling. Often done by mother's to children and is a form of gentle affection and hygiene.

@koala that vid was fun to watch. Thanks.

Then I wondered what each character meant. Google came up with 'base' or 'foundation' for the first, and 'efforts' and 'strive' for the second character. Is this right? Because if it is, Keanu has an even cooler name then I already thought ;-)

@SaneSun
The official Chinese translation for Keanu Reeves is 基努·里维斯( pronounced as ji-nu·li-wei-si). This is a translation by choosing Chinese characters that have similar pronunciation to the English name. All foreign names are translated this way in the media.

基 means foundation, and 努 means efforts.

Sometimes English alphabet does not have its exact match in Chinese. For example, there is no Chinese character pronounce as "ki" (Ke). The closest we can find is "ji". "ve" does not exist in Chinese as well.

Sometimes, as you pointed out, the translation does not use the closer even though there are closer ones. This is for good or not so good reasons. A good translation deliberately twist it a bit to make the translated name mean better, look better or sound better. A mistranslation might be due to mispronunciation of the original language. For example, the "a" in Keanu is totally missing. On the contrary, Djokovic the tennis star in china is called "Yong De" by his fans because the "D" in his name appears in the translation as "De".

How the name is translated when a foreigner becomes popular is very important because the translation, the best or not, will be widespread and commonly accepted.

Keanu Reeves is written phonetically in Greek alphabet too.

κιανου ριβσ

edit: no greek type either...

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Keanu Reeves is written phonetically in Greek alphabet too

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what do u mean?

http://www.google.nl/#pq=keanu+reeves+greek+alphabet&hl=nl&cp=5&gs_id=51&xhr=t&q=%CE%BA%CE%B9%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%BF%CF%85+%CF%81%CE%B9%CE%B2%CF%83&pf=p&sclient=psy-ab&source=hp&pbx=1&oq=%CE%9A%CE%B9%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%BF&aq=0L&aqi=g-L1g-sL2g-L1&aql=&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&fp=1&biw=1009&bih=703&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&cad=b

@maria89 You're from Cyprus, aren't you, so correct me if I'm wrong.

you're right...

but the letter you refer as phi, is actually the second letter in the alphabet (B). the name is beta and is pronounce as the english v.

I clicked on the link and found out "maps" and "shopping" in Greek are exactly the same as English?

If you are not from Greece, where are you from?

@Maria

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but the letter you refer as phi, is actually the second letter in the alphabet (B). the name is beta and is pronounce as the english v.

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Do you mean beta is pronounced as "v"?

i don't think SaneSun is from Greece. if you noticed the Google page SaneSun used is not .com or .gr(the one we use in Greece), its .nl(the use it in Netherlands). so I'm guessing SaneSun is from the Netherlands.

maps and shopping are not the same in Greek as in English. this is the Greek Google page

http://www.google.gr/

http://entertainment.gr.msn.com/specials/gallery.aspx?cp-documentid=154190428&page=11

There's also a Keanu page on the Greek version of Wikipedia, but I can't link to it here as the URL has Greek letters in it.

is that even true?

(well, Greeks are known for overreacting.. Especially in gossip..)

Keanu Reeves to choose his Asian co-star
08:18 PM Oct 11, 2011
BEIJING - Keanu Reeves is set to film Man Of Tai Chi next year, but first he has to select his co-star, reports Apple Daily.

Chinese actresses Zhang Ziyi, Gong Li and Zhou Xun are all in the running to be the lead actress of the movie, which is Reeves' directorial debut.

According to Apple Daily, it appears that Ziyi has the edge, as Reeves has previously mentioned that he was attracted to her performance in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Her command of the English language also gives her an advantage over Zhou Xun.

As the movie is about tai chi, and Zhang Ziyi's previous experience gives her a leg up over Gong Li.

The movie will feature Reeves as the villain of the film. The film is set to feature both Mandarin and English being spoken.

Reeves is set to fly to Beijing next month to prepare for the film.
AGENCIES