We were surprised, but their friendly staff spoke almost flawless English and I had some memorable conversations with one of them!
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What Will She Paint?
Monday, April 11, 2011
HILARIOUS SIGN
In the youth hostel we were staying in Beijing (the year before the Olympics) I saw this sign - on the bathroom door. Then I called hubby to make sure it wasn't me having a lapse of understanding. Then we called our son (who lives in China). It probably makes perfect sense in Chinese, but we call it "English but not English." The longer we were reading it, the more hilarious it became. Do you know what to do when a fire really breaks out?
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9 comments:
Haha. I have a friend who collects pictures of signs like these from his travels in northern Asia. That's what they call "Engrish." There are many more examples at www.engrish.com.
Ginger,
Oh, thanks! I'll have a look:)
Definitely lost in translation.
I think I might have passed out from a combination of smoke inhalation,confusion and laughter by the time I finished reading that sign (if there were really a fire)
Rudee,
Yes, you could say that...!
Violetsky,
especially the "creeping" got me:):)
Well all I can say is that I can uderstand the English but not English better than the Chinese! At least they meant well and tried to translate and there was no fire.
I think most of our idioms are equally ridiculous to those who encounter translations the other way. We just never know what is gong to be translated literally.
Jane (M),
Definitely meant well:)
You would be surprised though what you can communicate without words (hands, feet, drawings), like we did in Eastern Europe.
Stephanie,
Probably! Translating well is a tremendous gift and an art:)
oh! they have plenty of them. ^0^
i wish they'd do something about it, i think they just literally translate these phrases without understanding what it really means.
and yes, do check out engrish.com. ^-^
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