Dear Mr. Debian,
I am one of the Chinese users of Debian GNU/Linux. Debian is
more and more popular here for its facile apt-system and wide-spread
mirrors. I would like to introduce this system to more of my friends.
However, one problem is here.
The word "Debian" sounds not very good in Chinese. The most
easily recalled sound is very like "dah-bian" which means "shit" in
Chinese. Surely, Chinese people would like to have good names for good
things, and I think everyone does. Thus, avoiding this "connotation"
should be of significant importance for Debian promotion. Since I do not
see the reason and possibility to change the word "Debian" itself, the
only suggestion is to give it a translated Chinese name.
In my opinion, to choose a good name is not only an important
thing, but not very simple or easy as well. The best translated Chinese
name should bear both the similar sound and the similar meaning and the
second-class translated names should have at least sound and meaning
related to the original word. Maybe there has been already a selected
Chinese name? If not, I think that collecting a name is a good try.
In addition, I should give my suggest. "D系统" (D-System) may be my
vote. Telling a joke, I see that "得编" (dei-bian) has the best sound
with Debian, and a meaning best with Gentoo (means Requiring Complilation).
Yours, sincerely
yzg_hello