06.24.07
Posted in Beijing, Curious English, Travel Log (Asia) at 5:09 pm by Benjamin Ross
In preparation for the 2008 Olympics, the Chinese government has launched a campaign to rid Beijing of all improperly translated English signs and replace them with correct ones. Based on my recent trip to Beijing, it appears they still have a lot of work to do.
 |
| My parents get their first taste of curious English just outside the Forbidden City. |
 |
| Once we were inside the Forbidden City, I took immediate alarm to the impending perilous hills inside. |
 |
|
Behold…the Perilous Hills!!!
|
 |
|
Fortunately, there was a “way out.”
|
 |
Everybody likes to get noticed from time to time, even this lonely sign at Badaling.
. |
 |
| Anybody know where I can find a “help protect the railings” bumper sticker? |
 |
| This shot was taken 2 years ago at Simatai, so I’m not positive whether or not it is still there. Nonetheless, it takes the cake. |
note: Did anybody else notice that in the aforementioned China Daily article they misspelled “Chinglish” in the first line? Irony at its best.
Permalink
/* line below was changed, used to be wp-comments-post.php */
Guan Yang
said,
June 24, 2007 at 6:14 pm
Have you ever been to England? “Way out” is standard signage there.
Lisa
said,
June 24, 2007 at 7:59 pm
That’s too bad…Chinglish was one of our favorite things while in China! We snapped some photos as well: http://www.adoptionshare.com/portal/nathanandlisa/Photos/tabid/140/Default.aspx
francis
said,
June 24, 2007 at 8:24 pm
almost everywhere in china you can find this kind of wrongly translated signs. though the number of people who know the language is increasing, the existing signs are still there and more are being produced. that’s a problem we’re facing. To get rid of all of these, we all including you guys visiting or living in china should do our bit to improve. so could you give some idiomatic translations here?
Birgit
said,
June 24, 2007 at 9:08 pm
Hi, I was so happy to stumble upon your blog. Spent some time in China myself. Actually, I had lived and taught English in Japan. I always had a good laugh at the English written on their T-Shirts. Thank you, Birgit
jon byrne
said,
June 24, 2007 at 10:10 pm
hi ben , im still an avid reader of your blog and enjoy reading the stories you share everytime i return home from work , i also had many experiences like this on my trips ,one in particular made me laugh ,i was in lijiang and the hotels description of the area was impossible for me to read ,try as i might i could make no sense of it at all .just a quickie,those “perilous hills ” are they in the forbidden city the summer palace or somewhere else because i do not remember these inside the city ?
joyce
said,
June 25, 2007 at 3:47 am
chinglish~
the “Perilous Hills” is funny~haha
there are some old jokes about chinglish:
one car come, one car go, two car pong pong,one car die
xiao ming：I am sorry!
foreigner：I am sorry too!
xiao ming：I am sorry three!
foreigner：What are you sorry for?
xiao ming：I am sorry five!
i call Li old big. toyear 25.
我叫李老大，今年25。
表妹 is “watch sister”
马马虎虎 is “horse horse tiger tiger”…
they translated every single character into english.
Jen
said,
June 25, 2007 at 7:59 am
I don’t speak Chinese, so I’m left to wonder at the “Way Out” sign. If you’ve ever travelled on the London Underground, you’ll notice signs everywhere that say “Way Out” to help the millions of zombies on the trains figure out how to get out of the stations (and some of the stations are more complicated than others). So, is it a translation thing? Do the characters say something else?
Benjamin Ross
said,
June 25, 2007 at 8:45 am
@Jon
Those are indeed the Perilous Hills of the Forbidden City. They are in the garden, near the back gate.
By the way, here’s my personal favorite Fuzhou Chinglish if anybody is interested.
http://www.benross.net/wordpress/?p=20
RedKemp
said,
June 25, 2007 at 10:21 am
I believe I saw that “help protect the railings” sign at the summer palace. It’s pretty logical though. The railings protect the cultural relics, therefore protecting the railings protects the relics. I love it.
maxiewawa
said,
June 25, 2007 at 12:46 pm
This isn’t Chinglish, or even Chinglis, but I think it’s still really funny. It’s from today’s Shanghai Daily.
Shakespeare’s plays, like the ballet “Swan Lake,” are the long-time favorites of Shanghai audiences.
I just imagine Shakespeare jumping around in tights and laugh.
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2007/200706/20070625/article_320758.htm
sarah
said,
June 26, 2007 at 8:50 am
At a temple in Kunming, I saw my favorite Chinglish sign ever: “Please don’t make confused noise when chanting.”
So, remember that in your future temple visits–no confused noises.
I also lived in Taibei for a bit near an building called Grand Quality Quintessence…which I guess meant the apartments were just fantastic?
Freda
said,
June 26, 2007 at 9:50 am
Hi, Ben, I know your blog from 21st century. I enjoy reading the stories you have experienced. Good luck!
Jeremy Yeh
said,
June 28, 2007 at 10:36 pm
here is my collection.
how r u?–怎麼是你？
how old r u?–怎麼老是你？
China Law Blog
said,
June 29, 2007 at 8:57 am
I’ve never understood these “crackdowns.” Who is going to lead them? The same people who did the signs in the first place? I mean, if they have all these great translators, wouldn’t one think they would have used them in the first place.
I have a Korean friend/client who is very high up at a very large Korean company. He has an MBA from a very good US business school and he lived in the US for around ten years. I told him I did not like reading his company’s e-mailed newsletter because the language was so stitled. It was usually a correct (though not always) but it was clearly written by a foreigner. My friend vehemently agreed with me and told me that he had been urging his company to bring on an American editor but they had refused, out of a belief the editor would (1) not fit in, (2) charge too much, and (3) not understand the company. Lastly, they were afraid it would make their highly paid and highly qualified staff look bad. So in the end, they are spending all this money (and it is pretty slick) producing crap. I see the same thing happening in China.
长舟丫
said,
June 30, 2007 at 4:28 pm
Like your blog a lot! BTW I second what others have said – there’s nothing freaky about “WAY OUT”. In fact it’s a very useful thing to have around, and let’s face it, “EXIT” is soooo latinate. Can it be that there are no Way Out signs in the States?
Punax
said,
July 2, 2007 at 6:53 pm
hey why don’t you send your images to engrish.com ?