Posted on 02/04/2007 10:54:53 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
BEIJING -- For years, foreigners in China have delighted in the loopy English translations that appear on the nation's signs. They range from the offensive ("Deformed Man," outside toilets for the handicapped) to the sublime (on park lawns, "Show Mercy to the Slender Grass").
Last week, Beijing city officials unveiled a plan to stop the laughter. With hordes of foreign visitors expected in town for the 2008 Summer Olympics, Beijing wants to cleanse its signs of translation nonsense. For the next eight months, 10 teams of linguistic monitors will patrol the city's parks, museums, subway stations and other public places searching for gaffes to fix.
Already, fans of the genre are mourning the end of an era, and some Web sites dedicated to it have seen traffic spike. The bewildering signs were "one of the great things we want to show people visiting us," says financial-services consultant Josh Kurtzig, a Washington native who lives in Beijing. Correcting them is "really taking away one of the joys of China."
Stuck in Beijing traffic recently, Mr. Kurtzig noticed workers replacing one of the classics: "Dongda Hospital for Anus and Intestine Disease Beijing." The new sign: "Hospital of Proctology." He grabbed his Blackberry and emailed the news to friends around the globe. Their reactions, he says, were swift, and mostly unfavorable. "Nooooooooooo," read an email from one friend.
Not many locals share this sense of loss. "We cannot leave [these signs] up just for the amusement of foreigners," says Olive Wang, marketing manager for a major sportswear company.
Many in China regard the Olympics as the nation's coming-out party -- a milestone in its ascent as a global power.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
"All your bases are belong to us."
OLIVE WANG??? BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!
You know what you doing.
There is a local one called the Poo Ping Palace.
That's Japanese.
That's Japanese too.
Apparently Asian language don't machine translate very well into English.
Japanese rong been mastelfur at Engrish.
"masterful" in Japanese would be MASUTAAFURU or MASUTARUFURU hehe. That "r" is something special in Japanese.
"That's Japanese."
Correct, but humor in the same vein. I work for a Japanese company. In technical manuals there are humorous misinterpretations all the time. We lovingly refer to it as 'Jinglish'
Japan felt the same way in 1966 as WWII was put in the past.
Please do not put wet dogs in the microwave.
"Last week, Beijing city officials unveiled a plan to stop the laughter."
Nazi Germany had a plan to "stop the laughter" too.
"My hovercraft is full of eels."
Got to amazon.com and look up "The Heavenly Man". Story the Chinese government's terrible treatment of Christians. A must read book.
Giggles.
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