Sunday, March 22, 2009

Lost in Translation

You have to love the classic Chinese to English phrases that somehow become "lost in translation." Here are my favorite ones that I saw.

Most came from the Great Wall. You can't see this one very well (sorry) but it says "Pay Attention To Fireproof"- For what? The sign is on stone bricks, not wood . . .

I didn't see any "heart cerebral disease sufferer" (whatever that is) when I ascended

I didn't know that Chinese cell phones could talk to you- except during a thunderstorm

This was at the Panda house where they had glass stairs so that you could see the panda's below. I couldn't tell if they were telling you to be cautious about using the stairs or to really use them to "look out" and see the pandas

The final sign was from the Lama Temple, a still active Buddhist temple so not only were we not allowed to take photos inside, but we couldn't burn them either.

Although slightly off, I really was grateful for these translations because many places didn't have any English signs which made things difficult for me to even know what I could and couldn't do.

2 comments:

The Richardsons said...

Those signs are hilarious! I think they probably leave the reader more unsure of what to do than if they hadn't been posted at all. Maybe the Chinese just get a kick out of watching Americans stand there trying to figure them out :) And climbing the great wall? Wow! Totally jealous!

jularun7 said...

When we were in China with the Laytons we also got a HUGE kick out of all the "translations" we found both in Hong Kong and Beijing. You should see their collection of pictures that they took. HILARIOUS!