四海为家 » chinglish http://www.fourseasashome.com four seas as home -- thoughts and observations on china Sat, 17 Dec 2011 14:56:32 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 Warm safe prompt: when in Sanya, beware of getting pillaged http://www.fourseasashome.com/2010/02/warm-safe-prompt-when-in-sanya-beware-of-getting-pillaged/ http://www.fourseasashome.com/2010/02/warm-safe-prompt-when-in-sanya-beware-of-getting-pillaged/#comments Sun, 07 Feb 2010 13:35:55 +0000 Maria http://www.fourseasashome.com/?p=766

I hate getting pillaged

]]> http://www.fourseasashome.com/2010/02/warm-safe-prompt-when-in-sanya-beware-of-getting-pillaged/feed/ 1 In Sanya, the tiny grass dreams in many languages http://www.fourseasashome.com/2010/01/in-sanya-the-tiny-grass-dreams-in-many-languages/ http://www.fourseasashome.com/2010/01/in-sanya-the-tiny-grass-dreams-in-many-languages/#comments Sat, 23 Jan 2010 02:36:27 +0000 Maria http://www.fourseasashome.com/?p=687

]]> http://www.fourseasashome.com/2010/01/in-sanya-the-tiny-grass-dreams-in-many-languages/feed/ 0 Happy Birthday in Chinglish http://www.fourseasashome.com/2009/12/happy-birthday-in-chinglish/ http://www.fourseasashome.com/2009/12/happy-birthday-in-chinglish/#comments Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:00:32 +0000 Maria http://www.fourseasashome.com/?p=556 My boyfriend searched far and wide to find me a birthday card. There were many options in English, but few that made any sense. He finally settled on this one:

]]> http://www.fourseasashome.com/2009/12/happy-birthday-in-chinglish/feed/ 0 No ragamuffins allowed http://www.fourseasashome.com/2009/10/no-ragamuffins-allowed/ http://www.fourseasashome.com/2009/10/no-ragamuffins-allowed/#comments Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:58:00 +0000 Maria http://www.fourseasashome.com/?p=10 Every now and then collections of funny Chinglish spotted on signs or menus in China make their way around the web. This BBC article from August 2009 once again highlights the phenomenon of amusing English translations, and claims that Shanghai is trying to clean up its English in preparation for the 2010 World Expo (much as Beijing tried to do before the Olympics).

The article comes complete with a slide show of some of the best examples of Chinglish. My favorite: a sign at the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai that warns visitors that “The ragamuffin,drunken people and psychotics are forbidden to enter the Tower,” goes on to list forbidden articles such as “kitchen  knife,scissors,fruit knife,sword and so on,” and finally reminds visitors not to bring “articles which disturb common sanitation (including the peculiar smell of effluvium)”.

Maybe a sign-proofreading company would be a good business idea…

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