Chat app Line has recently celebrated the second anniversary of Line Creators Market. On Thursday last week, Line held a forum on creating original Line stickers and invited creators of famous Line stickers from Japan, Thailand and Taiwan to share their experience designing Line stickers.
Line also announced the 14 Line stickers designed by Taiwanese that are ranked among the top 100 most popular Line stickers in the world. Of all 14 stickers designed by Taiwanese, the sticker set “the Haughty Smelly Cat” is the fourth most popular in the world.
Since it was launched in 2014, the Line Creators Market has released nearly 240,000 original stickers for download in Taiwan. At present, Line has over 57,000 creators of original Line stickers around the world and Taiwanese account for nearly one percent of them. The number of Taiwanese creators shows the nation has endless creative energy.
Photo courtesy of Line
照片：LINE提供
(Translated by Tu Yu-an)
通訊軟體LINE原創市集最近歡慶上市兩週年，上週四舉辦原創貼圖講座，邀請日、泰、台知名貼圖創作者分享創作經驗。
LINE並公布全球百大貼圖榜中，共有十四組台灣貼圖上榜，其中「臭跩貓愛嗆人」更勇奪全球百大貼圖排行榜第四名。
LINE原創市集自前年推出共有近二十四萬組原創貼圖在台灣上架銷售，目前全球超過五十七萬創作者，台灣創作者就占近一成，展現台灣豐沛的創作能量。（中央社）
Rehearsal time is over. The world’s best and most ambitious young pianists have descended on Warsaw for the Frederic Chopin International Piano Competition — for some, a gateway to classical music glory. Fans from around the globe snapped up tickets as much as a year ago. The lucky ones attended the opening night concert on Oct. 3 and will follow along as the contest builds to a thrilling climax on Oct. 20. Winning the Chopin International — held every five years in the 19th-century composer’s homeland — can raise the curtain to playing at venues across the globe and signing contracts
A: K-pop supergroup Blackpink is finally touring Taiwan again. B: I can’t believe we’re going to Blackpink’s concert at the Kaohsiung National Stadium over this weekend. A: The group has caused a global sensation since it went international in 2020. B: And the four members — Jisoo, Jennie, Rose and Lisa — have achieved success as solo artists. A: Seeing them live will be like a dream come true. A: 韓流天團Blackpink終於又來台巡演啦。 B: 真不敢相信我們這週末要去她們在高雄國家體育場的演唱會。 A: 該團自2020年進軍國際，便持續造成全球轟動。 B: 而4位團員––Jisoo、Jennie、Rose、Lisa––單飛也很成功。 A: 這次能去她們的演唱會真是美夢成真！ （By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times／台北時報張迪）
Many popular English expressions originate from the world of sports. While their roots lie in athletics, their meanings extend far beyond the playing field. Here are three examples. Hat Trick This expression comes from cricket. When a bowler dismisses a batter, it’s called “taking a wicket.” Taking three wickets in a row is a great achievement, so in the past, a bowler who achieved this was rewarded with a hat. Later, sports like hockey and soccer adopted it to mean scoring three goals in a game. Nowadays, this phrase means to achieve any three successes consecutively, not just in sports. For example,
A: Is K-pop still popular now? B: Sure! The 110,000 tickets for supergroup Blackpink’s two shows to be held this weekend were all snatched up within three minutes. A: Apart from Blackpink, what other K-pop stars are visiting? B: I-dle’s Taiwanese member Yeh Shu-hua, King of K-pop G-Dragon, and Super Junior are all coming soon next month. A: Super Junior’s 2009 hit “Sorry, Sorry” boosted this Korean “Hallyu” to a peak. Let’s go experience SJ’s magic again. A: 韓國流行音樂還是很受歡迎嗎？ B: 當然啦，光是天團Blackpink本週末兩場演唱會，11萬張門票3分鐘內就被秒殺！ A: 除了Blackpink，還有哪些韓國歌手最近會來台？ B: I-dle的台灣成員葉舒華、韓流天王G-Dragon權志龍、Super Junior下月也都將來台。 A: Super Junior 2009年金曲《Sorry, Sorry》曾將「韓流」推上高峰，我們再去重溫一下SJ的魔力吧。
RSS