| Saturday, December 7, 2002 |
16:45 - Aw, that's no fun...
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-china-bad-signs1206dec06,0
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China is starting a concerted campaign against signs and other literature written in badly translated English:
"There are many 'Chinglish' words on road signs, public notices, menus and signs describing scenic spots, which often puzzle foreigners," Xiong Yumei, vice director of the Beijing Tourism Bureau, was quoted as saying.
The signs feature misspellings, obscure abbreviations and jarring word-for-word translations of Chinese characters into English.
Some examples: "Collecting Money Toilet" for a public toilet, and "To take notice of safe, the slippery are very crafty" on a sign warning that roads are slippery.
And thus dies a great and cherished art form. Well, I guess it's a bit much to expect that this initiative will have much effect; but even so.
Ah well... Japan has always had a much better sense of style with their Engrish-- instead of just simple misspellings and grammatical errors, it's a joyously vacuous need to attach random, meaningless English sentences to completely unrelated contexts-- often containing bizarre and obtuse "informative" factoids. Like shopping bags and restaurant signs that say "Elephant family are happy with us. Their dancing makes us feel happy", or "Switzerland: Seaside City", or "Greenwood: 'To go to greenwood' means 'to become an outlaw' in English". Oh really?
Long live Engrish!
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