Language can be a weird thing that we all take for granted. That is because there are so many of them and one can easily get lost in translation. The English language is no exception to this and mistranslated English signs can get hilarious at times. Hence, China is cracking down on their unintentionally farcical mistranslated English signs to prepare for the Winter Olympics. Here’s one of them:
Without a doubt, Chinese (usually Mandarin) is a heck of a lot different than English. It is also no secret that Chinese are not very well-versed in English, just as some Americans have no clue how to translate Mandarin. The results can get utterly gut-busting:
Problem is, Beijing, China is set to host the upcoming 2022 Winter Olympics. It would probably be too embarrassing for them to keep these signs. So as part of their correction campaign, the people at Beijing are now on the hunt for mistranslated English, or “Chinglish,” signs across all over the city before 2022.
As you can see, China has its work cut out for them– a lot of work. Most of these signs were implemented in public areas such as schools and hospitals. Oh, and they are also quite ubiquitous in places in Beijing which foreigners frequent such as hotels.
“Translations of public signs not only help foreigners, but their quality also shapes the image of a city,” according to Chen Mingming, Executive Vice President of the Translators Association of China.
Now for anyone who sees those signs as perfect selfie magnets, might want to hurry for your mistranslated sign tourism while some of them are still up.
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