Posted on 08/31/2007 11:15:53 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
BEIJING (AP) - Hungry visitors to next summer's Beijing Olympics won't have to choose between "steamed crap" and "virgin chicken" if Chinese authorities succeed in ridding restaurant menus of mangled English translations.
The Beijing Tourism Bureau has released a list with 2,753 proposed names for dishes and drinks, designed to replace bizarre and sometimes ridiculous translations on menus, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Friday.
Foreigners are often stumped by dish names such as "virgin chicken" (a young chicken dish) or "burnt lion's head" (Chinese-style pork meatballs). Other garbled names include "The temple explodes the chicken cube" (kung pao chicken) or "steamed crap" (steamed carp).
"These translations either scare or embarrass foreign customers and may cause misunderstanding on China's diet habits," Xinhua said.
It's the latest effort by Beijing Olympics organizers to clean up the city and ensure that the best image is presented to the hundreds of thousands of visitors expected next summer.
Etiquette campaigns are afoot to stamp out bad manners such as jumping ahead in line, spitting, littering and reckless driving. The revised menu names are part of an effort to ban unintelligible English, known as "Chinglish," that abounds on signs everywhere.
A team set up by the Beijing Municipal Foreign Affairs Office and Beijing Tourism Bureau has been working on the menu names for more than a year, Xinhua said. Translators developed names for dishes based on one of four categories: ingredients, cooking method, taste, or the name of a person or place.
For example, a dish with mushrooms and ducks' feet will be listed as simply "Mushroom-Duck's Foot." Others proposed names include "Fish Filets in Hot Chili Oil" and "Crispy Chicken."
The tourism bureau is soliciting public opinion on the translations. Once a final decision is made on the list of names, they will be used in restaurants across China, Xinhua said.
We'd appreciate it if they would clean up the junk that leaves China for America too!
The NyetTimes, WaPoo, and SeeBS news outlets always have a steaming pile served daily...
My wife has the greatest story. She was overseas on business and had the room service menu as she was hungry. The chef’s salad was listed as lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, cheese...and all that other sh!t.
Literally.
I agree. They are wonderful.
Then there used to be the sigh posted on the street entrance to the 2nd floor
“HAPPY VD CLINIC”
in Taipei.
errrr, sign not sigh . . . though there were likely plenty of sigh’s, too.
I agree. They are wonderful.
Then there used to be the sign posted on the street entrance to the 2nd floor
“HAPPY VD CLINIC”
in Taipei.
Purchase products that are 100% MADE IN THE USA!
Continue to take a stand and be a voice for our pets and our loved ones! Do everything you can to boycott goods made by China and this includes ingredients made in China, Chinese plant processing and Chinese exporting!
Our animals couldn’t speak for themselves.
Were they the canaries of the food chain?
We have to protect our families now.
BOYCOTT CHINA!!!!!!
Is it too late to cancel that flight?
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/21/asia/AS-SPT-OLY-Beijing-Hijacking.php
Is it too late to cancel that flight?
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/21/asia/AS-SPT-OLY-Beijing-Hijacking.php
Larry Flynt no longer allowed in restaurant.
The Chinese are 2000 years behind, working 14 days a week to catch up. Some mistakes are inevitable in the march to modernize.
Oh noes! the garbled translations are half the fun of eating Chinese food!
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