Wo Ai Zhong Guo

Finger Lickin' Good?

Is it me or does this fast food outlet remind you of an American chicken franchise?

What kind of brown?

It seems so many of my recent posts have focused on bad translations but I just couldn't ignore this story about a (black) woman in Canada buying a new sofa manufactured in China with a label, stating that the sofa's colour was "nigger brown"!

Spitting In The Wind

The New York Times ran an article a few days ago about Beijing's efforts to clean up the vast amount of poorly translated English signs as well as one man's crusade to stop people spitting in the streets.

Times They Are A Changing

Sadly it seems the days of hysterically funny Chinglish signs are coming to the end as the Shanghai Daily reports that the authorities are cleaning up poorly translated English around the city.  And thus, the Hospital for Anus and Intestine Disease will be renamed as Proctology Hospital, newly built modern apartment buildings will no longer advertise with catchy slogans such as Myriad stretch golf, ethereally luxury home, and we may no longer be able to find such delicacies as mixed elbow with garlic mud in our local eateries.  And I guess one of my favourite dishes may also disappear from local menus:

Un, deux, trois or yi, er, san?

Just last night at dinner with a couple of friends from London who just arrived in Shanghai to work, we discussed how China is talked about frequently in the media as its significance in the global economy grows.  But I was still surprised to read this article about how Chinese is widely taught in schools in the UK now.