Chinglish

Martial Media, Culture and Other Arts Off Topic
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I thought we already had a thread on this. If anyone finds it, add it here and I’ll merge it.

You must follow the link to see the pix. I’m only C&Ping a few of the first ones.

35 Hilarious Chinese Translation Fails

China is fascinating, and visiting it is bound to leave you with some amazing impressions. Sometimes, however, the English-speaking guests might have some difficulties finding their way around the country. Due to poor English knowledge and clumsy translation, signs that are supposed to help you out, only end up causing outbursts of unstoppable laughter!

Inspired by Buzzfeed’s “22 Chinese Signs That Got Seriously Lost In Translation”, we decided to make our own list of hilarious translation fails in China. And yes, there are definitely enough of them for many more such compilations! Check these out, so that if you ever do go to China, you wouldn’t be too surprised about fresh crap in fish tanks and wild germs that hate soup. Oh, and never order the greenstuff!

Never!
F*** Vegetables

“” means dried vegetables and “” means type. So as a whole, it should be the dried vegetables section. The translator was way too concerned about the Chinese character “” which is also a slang for f***.” (Image credits: chinalert.com)

Don’t Order the Greenstuffs!

Image credits: MFinChina

Hand Grenade

Image credits: imgur.com

Slip and Fall Down Carefully!

Image credits: tinypic.com

Husband

Image credits: MFinChina

Beware of Missing Foot

Image credits: Chris Radley

The Wild Germ Hates Soup

Image credits: David Feng

Potato the Crap

Image credits: Andy Stoll

Stupid Beans

Image credits: MFinChina

Grab Me Now!

Image credits: unknown

Whatever

Image credits: AtticDweller

Dumping

Image credits: sousveillance

Wang Had to Burn

Image credits: mursu909

Fresh Crap

Image credits: offbeatchina.com

Cat Ear or..?

Image credits: joshbateman

You Are the Best!

Image credits: imgur.com

Evil Rubbish

Image credits: engrish.com

Poor Duck…

Image credits: offbeatchina.com

One of Those Time Sex Things…

Image credits: keso

No ****ting

Image credits: TrevinC

Beware of Safety

Image credits: Chris Radley

Don’t Be Edible

Image credits: dingadingdang

Whisky&****

Image credits: stefan

Crap Stick

Image credits: mtrank

Deformed

Image credits: megoizzy

Examination

Image credits: imgur.com

No Dis****

Image credits: AtticDweller

Don’t Touch Yourself

Image credits: offbeatchina.com

Racist Park

Image credits: offbeatchina.com

Execution in Progress

Image credits: chinawhisper.com

Reverse Psychology

Image credits: chinawhisper.com

New Flavor

Image credits: imgur.com

Unlike Put Your Shoes On My Face

Image credits: buzzfeed.com

Cheap, Fast & Easy

Image credits: mstaken.com

Do Not Disturb

Image credits: imgur.com

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I walked into the doctor’s office and suddenly a few fellas were poking at me and making commentary. What I really wanted was custody of a fetal heart, but I guess I got the wrong room. They seemed angry…

3

Do these count? engrish.com/

4

ttt 4 2015!

From China Daily, no less. :slight_smile:

Chinglish, amusing or just plain embarrassing?
( bbs.chinadaily.com.cn) Updated: 2015-02-02 08:38

Editor’s Note: Is it funny if strangers from other countries mock our attempts to help them on their travels? What are your thoughts on Chinglish? And do you think it’s reasonable to expect non-English speaking countries to have perfect English on their public signage? Forum readers share their opinions and you are welcome to add yours.

BlondeAmber (Ireland)

Countries in Europe make sure translations in public places are linguistically correct if there are multilingual signs, and are hastily fixed if they are wrong. It is a matter of respect. China wants to appear international and to those who don’t speak English I am sure it does. To the rest it is just laziness not getting things right and slightly contemptuous of foreigners. I would call it a ‘back-handed compliment.’

KIyer (Australia)

When it is necessary to communicate to those who do not know Chinese, extra care should be taken to get the translation right. It is shameful to have shoddy translation. Finding better local or blended words to be more accurate or define a new term is very good. There is no one rule or judgment for Chinglish or Indglish or whatever. It depends on the circumstance and application.

Girdyerloins (Spain)

Language purists abound, but language changes. The Arab saying, I believe, is: “the dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.” Chinese is my most recent - and most challenging - language and I would love to attain that lofty ideal of fluency whereby I can speak Chinglish.

Think how many words there are in Chinese now which, using Chinese ****nyms, try to approximate words and names from other cultures. I admire what little I know of what is called “martian Chinese”, the highly inventive, constantly evolving patois used by young people on the internet to dodge censorship. It is likely to become a language unto itself, another of the hundreds of Chinese sub-dialects. To deny the dynamism of language is to get left behind.

Pleb (China)

Chinglish is great. It is a way for all of us to communicate. Teachers, step out of your square, move forward and embrace the future. I love the variations. Examples: “Soonly”, “middlee”, “troublee”, “foot fingers” and “I will be true heartlee for this job”. All of us understand what is meant when we hear Chinglish.

I also find the misspelling of signs (although amusing) actually makes me pay more attention to them. It is really not that hard to grasp the meaning, is it? This is not our country and we must respect our hosts’ kindness in trying to safeguard our well-being and security. Don’t knock it. Embrace it. Also someone said they did not like the eating of chicken’s feet, “pig’s guts” etc. I am always asked what I would like to eat when we go to dinner. You do have a choice when they offer you the menu.

Mixamixa (Finland)

It always amazes me that the people ordering signs do not ask a foreigner if the translation is correct or not? Chinese people trust Baidu Translate more. Sometimes the problem is the company making the signs. These Einsteins can’t even copy names, addresses or emails correctly. I once returned a set of business cards three times because of spelling errors. After the third attempt the guy refused to do it again.

Ronny (Australia)

The most important thing is to communicate. Grammar and vocabulary are secondary as long as it gets the message across. “Be careful don’t be stupid falling off cliff” and “Please stand back from the railing.” The first is just my made up example, but describes quite well the type of sign talked about. It is quite clear, while the second one represents a normal English sign which is not so clear. A native can easily understand either.

Mind Crotch - that should be my Dubstep DJ name. :cool:

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Just to make things clear.

image.jpeg
image.jpeg480×613 65.3 KB

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[QUOTE=-N-;1280575]Just to make things clear.

[/QUOTE]

LOL! That almost made my day…

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[QUOTE=Jimbo;1280582]LOL! That almost made my day…[/QUOTE]

One of the proudest recollections of my brother-in-law was getting kicked out and banished from an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet back when we were in college.

Never underestimate the eating abilities of hungry students.

Some of us were pretty indiscriminant about where we ate. One establishment, the Dynasty Restaurant, was known as the Die Nasty in our group.

8

Sometime back in the late '90s, I, along with some of my kung fu brothers, attended the grand opening of another martial arts school in another part of town. One of my friends (who is Filipino) was late, then comes in looking flustered. He kept looking out the front window of the school and up the block. He says some owner of a Chinese restaurant had been hassling him about parking on the street in front of the restaurant.

A couple minutes later, a small, middle-aged Chinese man in cooking garb bursts into the school, screaming, “You! You!”(pointing at my friend), “You pahking in fwont my westawant! You get out! Move-a you car! You stopping my business!”

The school was packed with MA people, and the nearest ones held him back. He was carrying something and raised it up (could have been a broom or mop handle, I can’t remember exactly). My friend says, “I’m parked on the street! You don’t own the street!” The restaurant owner screams, “I kill you! I kill you!” He made as if to charge, but was easily being restrained. After much screaming and more threats, he finally left, but my friend spent the whole time worrying that the guy might try to mess up his car (he didn’t).

The whole thing was pretty embarrassing. The guy was the perfect stereotypical image that many Westerners have of an irate Chinese (Cantonese) cook. All he was missing was a cleaver.

Note: Any Chinglish (or maybe it’s not really Chinglish) quoted is to the best of my recollection, which is usually pretty accurate. Hopefully no one takes offense.

9

mmmmm. mermaid. nom nom nom

Awesome Engrish menus. :smiley:

Mermaids and Fried Wikipedia: the art of translating menu items into English
KK Miller
10 hours ago

Traveling in a country where you aren’t super confident with the lingo can be extremely daunting, and simple acts like ordering food become a bit of a nightmare. If you don’t speak the language, you won’t know what foods are on the menu or how they are prepared. Dictionaries, both paper and electronic, are definitely helpful tools when deciphering a menu and many restaurants also try to provide at least some English—one of the most used languages in the world—on their menus.

But sometimes, for all their good intentions, restaurants fail. While this may make ordering lunch a little bit trickier, it is at times like these that we are blessed with some wonderfully bad translated food names.

Today’s special dishes come compliments of restaurants in Taiwan and China that just couldn’t quite find the right words to describe their respective delicacies. Look forward to dishes including mermaids, fried Wikipedia and confused pizzas after the jump.

They always say that if you are visiting China or Taiwan, be sure to lose 10 pounds before you go, because you’ll easily eat that much in delicious food while you’re there. But perhaps if all the menus were translated like these, you’d be able to keep from gaining too much Wikipedia weight.

We’re confused by this menu, what’s your excuse, pizza?

[QUOTE]
My friend saw this on a menu in China. He didn’t know what to order.
43,292 views

Maybe the restaurant is trying to be cute, like “we worked our a$$ off for you to make this” and not, you know…


My friend is visiting China and went to a restaurant. This is from the menu.
JNighthawk · 67,123 views

Bullfrog may be a part of this dish, but it’s just cooked in a griddle, so get your mind out of it!


Menu in Beijing
smarcuccio · 39,443 views · 9 comments

Be sure to click through all these fine menu items. Care for any of them?


Prev 1/5 images Next
sanekangaroo · 3,086 views · 10 comments

You probably won’t find any estimated nutritional values for Wikipedia on Wikipedia’s Wikipedia entry.


Stir Fried Wikipedia
40,551 views

And finally, the most epic way to translate anything, ever.


An interesting Chinese Menu
ThomasCheng · 293,218 views · 1 comments

If you’re trying to find a way to pique the interest of English-speaking tourists, putting “I can’t find on google but it’s delicious” on the menu might be the perfect way! At this restaurant, if you order their “Google fail”, you’d be eating a stir-fried lotus dish, which probably would be quite delicious. Order it with a side of “Mermaid in Deep sea” (calamari rings) and you’re all set! Curious about what “McDonald’s best friend” might be? That would just be some fried nuggets for your culinary pleasure.

We’d like to say, “Hey, maybe think about consulting an English speaker about these things!” but then where would we get our daily dose of Engrish? A well-balanced meal is important, but so is a hearty dose of laughter and today, and today we got plenty of both!

Top Image: Flickr/Kevin Trotman[/QUOTE]

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[QUOTE=GeneChing;1287429]Awesome Engrish menus. :D[/QUOTE]

Some of those are too funny. Love “I can’t find on Google but it’s delicious.”

“7 Bacteria Chicken” was my personal favorite from the Kunming restaurants.

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Rape us now

Don’t Use Rape to Advertise Your Black Friday Sale
By Jessica Roy
December 1, 2015
5:03 p.m.


Photo: shopsupergurl.com

Thanks to a terrible landing page advertising its Black Friday sales, one Singapore retailer is now learning the hard way that it’s gross as hell to use words associated with sexual assault to sell your cheap crap.

SuperGurl, which sells discounted women’s apparel, decided to get attention for its sales by putting a big pink “RAPE US NOW” button next to a photo of a young woman with her hands above her head. Predictably, this did not go over very well.

The brand’s creative director Jordus Lim decided to do what you always do in situations like these: He blamed an underling. This time, in a refreshing change of course, it was a graphic designer and not a social-media intern.

“I have failed to review my Graphic Designer’s work before approving the image to be displayed on our site,” Lim wrote in an apology posted to Facebook. “I hereby acknowledge that we have made a mistake, and that our caption does not advocate the right values to the young women community today.”

Heh. Graphic designers…:rolleyes:

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Wah!

Wah! East Asian words enter Oxford English Dictionary
BY AFP
13 MAY 2016

Hong Kong – Words most commonly heard on the streets of Hong Kong and Singapore like “yum cha” and “wah” have entered the linguistic mainstream, with the Oxford English Dictionary including them in its latest update.

The terms — a type of Chinese breakfast and an expression of delight, respectively — enter along with phrases like “dai pai dong”, “ang moh” and “chilli crab” (an open-air food stall, a light-skinned person, and a regional delicacy).

Other new entries are “compensated dating,” a Hong Kong phrase that refers to a relationship provided in return for cash or gifts, and “Chinese Helicopter,” a Singaporean who was educated in Mandarin and has little knowledge of English.

The March update to the OED, which styles itself as the definitive record of the English language, includes some 500 new words and phrases from around the world, such as “vlog”, “bro-hug” and “Dad’s Army.”

lol at ang moh.

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This is *****

This is great

The slogan for Apple’s new iPhone 7 translates into “This is *****” in Hong Kong


What? (Reuters/Beck Diefenbach)

WRITTEN BY Zheping Huang
OBSESSION Language
September 09, 2016

Marketing blunders happen when international companies fail to consider the translations of new slogans in other languages. This is a big challenge for Apple in China, one of its top markets, as its iPhone slogans—from “This changes everything. Again” to “Bigger than bigger” to “This is 7—sound even more banal in Chinese than they do in English.
When the American tech giant launched the newest iPhone 7 and 7 Plus this week, Apple fans in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan realized that the Chinese translations of the new “This is 7” slogan vary, a lot.

The three Chinese translations of “This is 7” on Apple’s China, Taiwan and Hong Kong sites (from left to right).
Quartz put them back into English, with their literal meanings:

[QUOTE]China: 7, is here.
Taiwan: Exactly is 7.
Hong Kong: This, is exactly iPhone 7.

“This is 7” (7) sounds a bit like a nonsense in Chinese. The version in China changes the word order to make it less colloquial, while the Taiwan version adds “,” which means exactly or precisely, to, er, make it sound more affirmative. The Hong Kong slogan, meanwhile, seems to be wordy, failing to capture the simplicity of the original English version.

Here’s why they’re different: Hong Kongers speak Cantonese, while mainlanders and Taiwanese speak Mandarin. Speakers of the two biggest dialects of the Chinese language can find each other impossible to understand and even use different written characters.
And in Cantonese, “seven,” or , is pronounced tsat, and is also slang for “*****.” The word isn’t particularly offensive. Instead, it is often used to describe a hilarious person or thing, or mock someone gently. Let’s say a friend slipped in public, or got a goofy haircut: you can say to him in Cantonese “You are so seven,” without hurting his feelings too much.
Or, you can take the literal meaning. That’s why “This is ” or “, is here” or “Exactly is *****” were not great choices for Apple’s Hong Kong marketing push.
Already, Hong Kongers are enjoying the gaffe. “Without a 3.5mm earbud jack, this is exactly *****,” one Hong Konger, who is apparently not happy with iPhone’s new design philosophy, commented under a Facebook post about the Chinese translations of the slogan that already has 39,000 reactions.
Apple could have learned a lesson from Samsung. After the Korean company released the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone earlier this year, Hong Kongers joked that “Note 7” sounds like “a stick of *****” in Cantonese.
Echo Huang Yinyin contributed to this article.[/QUOTE]

Think different. Think *****.

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ttt 4 2017!

Say WHAT? Hilarious signs from China show what happens when the little details are lost in translation

Embarrassing English translations have been amusing baffled tourists to China
These ridiculous translation fails can be found on signs, menus, and tourist sites
Now Chinese authorities are cracking down, vowing to get rid of the mistakes
They believe these ‘Chinglish’ signs are damaging their country’s image abroad

By Sam Duncan For Daily Mail Australia
PUBLISHED: 21:16 EDT, 22 June 2017 | UPDATED: 07:05 EDT, 23 June 2017

Photos from China show the hilarious results of translations gone wrong, with signs, menus, and even brand names damaging the country’s image.

Now the Chinese government has declared war on ‘Chinglish,’ vowing to wipe out the hilariously bad English translations that can be found all over the country.

The new national standard will require correct grammar, and ban rare words and expressions, as well as hate speech, the People’s Daily reports.


The Chinese government is cracking down on hilarious English translation fails like this one


Tourists have been greeted by signs like ‘Racist Park,’ meant to be ‘Park of Ethnic Minorities’


Direct or machine translations are often to blame for signs like this that should say ‘Dried Vegetables.’


Authorities in China are worried that ‘Chinglish’ is damaging their country’s image worldwide

China’s Standardization Administration and General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine has provided sample translations, and cautioned against direct translations that have resulted in signs like ‘Big F*** Hall.’

Although ‘Chinglish’ has been amusing tourists for years, the Chinese government are taking it seriously, and are worried such signs damage their nation’s image.

Chinese linguists are also concerned that ‘Chinglish’ is causing social problems, and holding back the development of a multilingual society.


Tourists have been snapping pictures of ‘Chinglish’ signs for years and posting them online


Chinese authorities have established a new national standard which will require correct grammar


Chinese linguists are worried that bad translations are preventing China from becoming a multilingual society


‘Chinglish’ signs can be spotted all over China, on signs, menus, and even in bathroom stalls

continued next post

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Continued from previous post

If the new standard is successful, it will see an end to signs such as ‘Racist Park,’ a previous embarrassing translation for the Park of Ethnic Minorities.

Many of the unfortunate signs are due to direct or machine translations, such as ‘F*** Vegetables’ for ‘Dried Vegetables,’ and ‘Dangerous, be careful drowning.’

Users on Reddit’s popular China forum were skeptical about the new measures, with one user named Smirth writing, ‘This could be solved with like 1 app and 2 foreigners working part time. But it won’t be!’


The new national standard warns translators to avoid direct translations and rare expressions


It remains to be seen whether the new standard will be effective in reducing ‘Chinglish’ signs


Similar attempts to stop ‘Chinglish’ in the past have failed, and online observers are skeptical


China is increasingly focused on its global image, and hopes the new rules will improve it


If the measures are successful, signs like this will be a thing of the past, saving face for China

‘So they’re going to eradicate Chinglish by handing out another set of guidelines that no one is going to read. If I had a nickel for every time I saw a plan to eradicate Chinglish, and a nostalgic article lamenting its impending demise, I could buy a nice hot plate of victim of government violence chicken,’ wrote Xiefeilaga.

Others lamented ‘Chinglish’s’ impending demise, ‘Oh no. Where am I going to get my daily dose of hilarious Chinese fail now?!’ asked Drew627.

Previous efforts to eradicate ‘Chinglish,’ such as a widely publicised campaign in Shanghai in 2012, have fallen flat, but authorities will be hoping the new measures can help improve China’s global image for good.

Some of these are repeats but they bear repeating. I would sorely miss Chinglish. Chinglish hunting is one of my favorite pastimes.

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This makes me sad

I’ll miss Chinglish signs. Hunting them down was one of my fav pastimes when travelling in China.

October 28, 2017, 1:45 PM
Lost in translation: Chinese government aims to reduce awkward English signs

If you’ve ever traveled to a foreign country, you may have noticed directional signs or menu items with an English translation that isn’t quite right. In China, these linguistic misfires, while amusing to some, have become something of a sore spot for the government, which wants to present a more sophisticated image to the rest of the world.

Laura Zhao has been a tour guide in Beijing for 10 years. She said she sees a misspelled or badly translated sign about every 20 minutes.

“I think it’s probably because we don’t really use English,” Zhao said.

There are helpful reminders to “please wait outside a noodle” and always remember to “enjoy the fresh air after you finish civilized urinating.”

“To be honest I think it’s because lots of people [are] lazy,” Zhao said. “When I say this – lazy – it’s because they directly put it online and translate it and the designer may not really know English at all.”

For example, a shoe store sign reads “Old Beijing shoes,” which according to Zhao means they sell traditional-style shoes – not old shoes.

A warning not to step on the growing grass can become “I like your smile but unlike you put your shoes on my face.”

Many find the signs pretty funny, but the Chinese government finds it kind of embarrassing, so they have now issued a 10-part guide which has hundreds of official translations, everything from how to write “sunbathing” to “ski resort” to “closing time” and “under construction.”

Under the new guidelines, the once widely used “execution in progress” will become “under construction.” The highly offensive “deformed men’s toilet” sign will now read “accessible toilet.”

China first tried to rid itself of embarrassing “chinglish” before the 2008 Olympics. That’s when “Racist Park” near the Olympic stadium officially became “Chinese Ethnic Culture Park.”

But a harder problem to solve may be all of those menu items – like “spicy beauty shoes” or “grandma hand bamboo shoots” – that sound less than appetizing.

“‘Spicy’ because the flavor is spicy, and it’s supposed to make you beautiful and it’s a pig’s foot,” Zhao explained.

After the new guidelines take effect in December. Zhao expects most chinglish signs will be tossed into the “poisonous and evil rubbish.”

“Chinese people we are good at following rules, so when the government give you a list of what it should be then everything become[s] easier,” she said.

Sadly, it may no longer be easy to find the “exotic romance zone.”

17

Tats

34 Ridiculous Chinese Character Tattoos Translated
MEANIE CRIME POET HUSBAND HANDS.

Posted on August 2, 2013, at 10:43 a.m.
Ellie Hall
BuzzFeed News Reporter
Kevin Tang
BuzzFeed Staff

  1. “What are you up to these days?” “Oh, being a meanie crime poet.”

    Via spiderdaily.wayi.com.tw

  2. Thank you for telling us what kind of hands you have.

    Via w.baike.com

  3. A chill death metal jam band?

    hanzismatter.blogspot.com

  4. Whoa there.

    Via xinhaiguang2008.blog.sohu.com

  5. Stop fishing for compliments!

    hanzismatter.blogspot.com

  6. Me bite too.

    Via epic-chinese-tattoo-fails.tumblr.com


hanzismatter.blogspot.com

  1. Cryptic review of Babe 2: Pig in the City.

    hanzismatter.blogspot.com

  2. I would actually get this.

    hanzismatter.blogspot.com

  3. This one too.

    Via sports.qq.com
    continued next post

18

Continued from previous post

  1. This one not so much.

  2. I would name my baby this.

    Via bbs.tiexue.net


Via spiderdaily.wayi.com.tw


hanzismatter.blogspot.com


hanzismatter.blogspot.com

  1. I guess this could be a legit broke-pride tatt.

    hanzismatter.blogspot.com

  2. I think Shawne Merriman meant it to sound tougher than this.

  3. All right, Marat Safin.

  4. This sounds like a level in Diablo II.

    Via xinhaiguang2008.blog.sohu.com

  5. Sure thing, Sean May.

    Via sports.espn.go.com

continued next post

19

Continued from previous post

  1. Duuude…

  2. I wasn’t sure what it was.

    Via plchinese.com

  3. Ew.

    Via epic-chinese-tattoo-fails.tumblr.com

  4. At least it’s free?

    Via hanzismatter.blogspot.com

  5. Does not take kindly to the divine mortgage crises.

    Via hanzismatter.blogspot.com

  6. Great lifestyle brand.

    Via hanzismatter.blogspot.com

Tattoos and reverse Chinglish

20

slightly OT

…but totally irresistible.

Cathay Pacific
Verified account

@cathaypacific
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Oops this special livery won’t last long! She’s going back to the shop!
(Source: HKADB)

8:23 PM - 18 Sep 2018

Copy editing falls under my job description so this sort of thing amuses the heck out of me. I can totally relate.