Posted on 03/19/2008 4:53:14 PM PDT by blam
Signs of panic over 'Chinglish' in Beijing
By Aislinn Simpson
Last Updated: 7:38am GMT 19/03/2008
For years, badly translated signs have had the Englishman abroad in stitches. But for tourism officials in Beijing, a city preparing for the arrival of millions of visitors for the Olympic Games in August, the problem is far from funny.
In pictures: 'Chinglish' signs in Beijing
The Beijing Municipal Tourism Bureau has hired English linguists to eradicate "Chinglish" from signs and shop fronts.
It has also instructed the city's 4,000 unrated hotels to translate their names, service hours, room rates, menus and notices into accurate English.
Restaurateurs have been given a list of the proper English names for the most commonly mistranslated items, including "virgin chicken" for a young chicken dish, "steamed crap" instead of crab, and "burnt lion's head" describing Chinese pork meatballs.
"These translations either scare or embarrass foreign customers and may cause misunderstanding on China's diet habits," the state news agency said.
Some of the signs have been celebrated on websites and books, including one sign that greets Western visitors to a café with the words: "Welcome big nose friends" and another for the Tibetan "Reception Centre for the Unorganised Tourists".
English speakers in Beijing have been invited to visit "Racist Park" - more accurately translated as the Park of Ethnic Minorities - and warned to take care on wet roads as "the slippery are very crafty".
Doug Lansky, an American travel writer, said part of the charm of the direct translations - such as signs on lawns pleading "don't walk on me" - was that they revealed the Chinese way of viewing the world. "On one hand I can understand why they are doing it - they don't want people making fun of their language skills or culture, but on the other hand, it's a real shame," he said.
"The travelling experience should be a little bit quirky, and throw people off balance a bit."
In some languages – particularly Korean – there is no distinction between the “puh” and “buh” sounds (in some cases there isn’t a distinction between “buh,” “puh,” and “tuh”). Bulgogi = pulgogi, for instance, at least for English purposes. “Crap vs. crab” isn’t a big deal.
They mean that. That is not a translation error. They think blacks are barely people, whites are big-nosed freaks and Japanese and Koreans are beneath them.
Except to us Anglophones. Thanks for the explanation.
I gotta billion slanted-eyed friends!
Yes, I remember the Korean waitress who worked at the NCO club offering the soup of the day. “Vegabu Beepba”. Course, she also called Japan “Jafan”. I told her to take the “Fa” from “Jafan” and put it after the “bee” for beef. No “a” on the end. So, trying her hardest, she scrunched up her face and said.... “Vegabu beepa”.
The interesting part is that it’s probably the best “vegabu beepa” soup you’ve had lately. LOL.
Also the best bulgogi. And kimchi. And whatever-else.
Koreans, for being somewhat tiny, are quite “sturdy.” They’re quite “durable.” I suspect it comes from a steady diet of kimchi, rice, noodle soup, “beepa,” and other stuff.
There’s the greatest Korean restaurant nearby on EARTH. I forget the name. It’s off I-5 on Culver BL in Irvine. “Tofu House” – I think it’s called… mmm .. I gotta make plans...
In Tokyo expats go around with magic markers correcting sineage ... there’s an expression: You’ve been too long in Japan when: -
In Tokyo expats go around with magic markers correcting sineage ... there’s an expression: You’ve been too long in Japan when: -
Good night mrs. Karabash, whelleva you are!
We have an offshoot of chingrish here, in Rochester, NY. We call it New Yor-ican.
----
Send treats to the troops...
Great because you did it!
www.AnySoldier.com
You can’t even toss your roaches.
I’m not goin’ there.
Well put. This IS another instance of a dictatorial regime with a sense of its own superiority trying to assume the internationalist egalitarian mantle of being host to the Olympics.
Didn’t work for Hitler. And don’t forget how the Soviet’s Moscow Olympics bombed in 1980. Remember their lovable Misha the Bear mascot?
Anyway, Chinglish/Engrish is fun. As in,
“Bite the Wax Tadpole!” Or, “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead!”
;^)
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