Poorly translated signs slide carefully to the export
Print Edition
Do not glissade when you see a sign in a washroom telling you to “Slide carefully!” as it actually means “Caution wet floor!”
Likewise, do not look for a bowl when a bank sign asks you to “wait outside a rice noodle.” Instead, search for a yellow line, or “one-meter line,” which is spelled the same as “a (serving of) rice noodle” in Chinese.
Such mind-boggling mis-translations on public signs, once commonplace in Beijing, are quickly disappearing thanks to a corrections campaign to make the city more foreigner-friendly.
Beijing’s foreign affairs office has vetted more than 2 million Chinese characters on signs and notices that have English versions since a national standard for English translations in public service took effect on December 1, 2017.
Working with Chinese and foreign experts and volunteers, the city this year has run translation checks in the central business district, international hotels and other areas frequented by foreigners, as well as public venues like schools and hospitals.
The public can also report mistakes on a website that offers rewards.
“Translations of public signs not only help foreigners, but their quality also shapes the image of a city,” said Chen Mingming of the Translators Association and advisor to the corrections campaign.
Some mistranslations were a result of verbatim translations such as a shop sign that read “name smoke name liquor” (branded cigarette and liquor), while some others stumbled at polysemantic Chinese words like an emergency exit whose English translation sign reads “export” (export and exit share the same word in Chinese).
Private businesses using the Internet for a cheap literal translation were also at fault.
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