I’m putting together a Chinese character font that will be useful for people making scrapbooks (travel, adoption, missionaries, whatever). It’s almost done, but I’m looking for a nice short way to say “memory book” in Chinese (preferably two characters, as I’m running out of room) and “life book,” while I’m at it (this one can be longer since I already have characters for life).
I’ve come up with a few different possiblities, which I have posted here. Do any of these make sense?
If you describe what a “memory book” and what a “life book” is, maybe I can help.
I’m guessing a diary or journal?
A memory book is basically a scrapbook (photos and stuff, with writing). “Lifebook” is a term commonly used by adoptive parents. I’m not really sure how it differs from a regular scrapbook, but I get the impression it generally incorporates some of the culture of the country of origin and tells the story of the adoption, and whatever else the parents want to add, I guess.
Here’s my input:
Neither of your compounds for “memory book” seem to be in use. In Chinese, memory is a two-character compound word, jìyì. You form that word by taking the first characters of your two titles.
If you mean by “memory book” some sort of diary, I could suggest the more litteral rìjì. The first character means “day” and the second is the same jì as above.
The problem you have with “life book” is that “life” doesn’t translate neatly into Chinese. Your first example is actually used but it refers to books about “lifestyles”. Probably not what you’re looking for.
The second compound, however, seems more accurate - a record of what you’ve been doing in your daily life.
So for now, I’d say:
“Memory book” -> jìyìlù (Yhe lù character is the last one from the last title.)
“Life book” -> shenghuolù (Your last title.)
Anyway, it’s a bit hard indeed to give you any better advice without knowing more about what’s meant to go into those books.
Sorry, missed your last post.
Hmmm… If I was making those books, I’d probably eschew the “book” part altogether and just have:
**MEMORIES **
LIFE
Which gives you:
**JIYI **
SHENGHUO
Or you can stick lù at the end, like I suggested in my last post.
“memory book” -> ji4nian4ce4. ji4nian4: memory, something to remember by. ce4: a notebook, a scrapbook, a notepad - for writing down things.
“life book” -> no idea yet
The following messages contain characters in Big5 code:
“memory book” 記念冊
But those are traditional characters, does the OP want short-form characters? Where does he stand on the PRC - Taiwan issue? 
UnuMondo
I go for traditional characters, mostly.
That helps, thanks!
