Red-faced China tries to reword 'Chinglish'

Cox News Service ^ | 01.05.2007 | Craig Simons

[Brilliant]

BEIJING — Visitors to China's capital can stroll through "Racist Park," enjoy a plate of "Crap in the Grass" and stop by a Starbucks franchise for a cup for "Christmas Bland" coffee.

Now the Beijing government is trying to clean up such mistranslations and sloppy editing (including the inversion of "a" and "r" in "carp" on menus) before an expected 500,000 foreigners arrive for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

"Some of the translations in China aren't clear or even polite," said Liu Yang, director general of the Beijing Speaks Foreign Languages program. "The government realized that if they weren't changed, the city would lose face."

The campaign includes teaching 300 English phrases to 48,000 taxi drivers, helping restaurants edit menus and standardizing public signs.

The English translations on signs range from charming mistakes to baffling renditions that spread anger and confusion.

At a tourist site in Pingyao, a popular city for weekend trips from Beijing, visitors struggle to make sense of a sign stating, "Coming and going in turn, and don't stretch out your head to watch please."

There is such a plethora of entertaining "Chinglish" — the unusual and sometimes incomprehensible phrases that result when Chinese meets English — that several online communities are devoted entirely to sharing entertaining snippets.

A collection of photographs posted at flicker.com includes of a Chinese sign marking a loading zone but bearing the English message: "Vehicle-taking spot." Many of the funniest examples are found on packaging, such as instructions on a Chinese-made candle warning owners to "keep this candle out of children."

"For a foreigner, eating in a Chinese restaurant can be daunting, especially when you have a choice of dishes on the English menu ranging from 'Swallowing the Clouds' to 'Hot Crap,' " a newspaper reported.

"Racist Park," the English name given to a theme park extolling China's minority cultures, was obviously a bad translation, director Liu said.

[ASOC]

Quite the fun site.

I found while in Japan, my limited skill was accepted with a smile if I began with
"I am a barbarian and speak only a little Japanese".

[x]

"Chinglish"? Who thought that up? Rosie O'Donnell?

Surely Peking realizes that their own language is more than "Ching Chong".