Here are a few “Chinglish” discoveries from my recent trip through southern China (plus a couple from an earlier trip), offered in the spirit of celebrating not only fine translations but the occasional poetic joys to be found in inadvertently poor ones (as well as to commemorate humbly my disastrously poor Mandarin in an impromptu speech I found myself having to give while there):
“Welcome, so do you! Your journey is more interesting.”
“Warm Prompt: This elevator has been disinfected.”
“Warm Suggested: Caution Wet Floor.”
“Protecting tree, please not shinning.”
“No explosive. No weapon. No pet. No balloon.” [Posted at the entry to a railway station]
[Items on a restaurant menu in Kunming]:
“Cook in Soy Sauce Pig Hand”
“Tingle and Hot Crisp Fish”
“Mountain Pepper Pomegranate Flower”
“Sheet Iron Bullfrog”
“The Shredded Ginger Fries the Meat”
“The Frog Embrace the Jade Pillar”
“Red Meat Insid Snow”
“The Old Adopted Mother Bitter Vegetable Flower”
“Fuck Fris Potato Silk”
“Cool Mix the Vegetables and Big Hot Pepper”
“Fuck to Fry of Small and Yellow Fish”
“Fragrant Frailty Hair Belly”
“Have a Happy Reunion the Cool Vegetables of Exquisite Article”
And finally, from an astonishingly lengthy set of rules for a hotel in a small city in Jiangxi:
“Bibulosity, bustup, and hullabaloo and other behavior which will disturb other are prohibited by the Hotel.”
What fun! But alarming in a sense because mistranslation could, theoretically, start a war! :p
ReplyDeleteIn this part of the world we have what we call "Taglish." Not really an attempt at a translation but the combination of English and Tagalog words in sentences.