Ken and I get a kick out of signs in China that have been translated into English, sort of."For your safety, please don't close toit" is a sign on the escalator as you travel to the second floor of Carrefour, the large grocery/department store in Chengdu. The original sign, four years ago, said, "Watch up you head." The up and down escalators meet at one point, and it would be easy for a careless person to hang his head over the railing as he's riding up, only to get his head jammed when the up and down tracks meet. Not a pretty thought. I assume this sign and its predecessor are warning about this safety hazard.
(Safety hazards abound in China. It's not unusual to be walking on a sidewalk only to come to a large, gaping hole with no temporary cover and no warning that it's there.)
This sign in particular amused us because we couldn't begin to figure out what it might mean. It's a sign at the panda park in Chengdu, near the new swinging rope bridge. I suppose it might be telling park visitors not to run on the bridge, but that's just a guess. Strinding????
The Chinese are notorious for spitting on sidewalks. It's not unusual to be walking along only to find yourself suddenly dodging someone's pile of phlegm. (Sorry) I think this sign, at Mt. Qingcheng, is actually telling visitors not to SPIT, rather than SPLIT. The mountain is considered a sacred place, so spitting while there would surely be a sacrilege.
Another sign from Qingcheng, this one self explanatory.
This sign is also on the escalator at Carrefour.
On the down escalator, a sign reads "No serambling."( I have a photo if it, too, but I've reached my maximum of five photos per blog entry, to which my browser holds me.)
Some of you might remember my all-time favorite sign in Chengdu. It was at a hotel swimming pool: "No shi--ing or pi-sing in the pool."
Before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, I read an article about the city's plans to rewrite its signs in order to avoid errors in English translations that might be offensive. I can see why!
how funny...translation does strange things.
ReplyDeleteThat flower is so detailed...it never ceases to amaze me how nature has so many different colors, patterns, designs, etc. I love it!! China must have been an interesting time. Thank goodness for the visual helps on the signs. That is...if you can figure them out!!
ReplyDeleteTook me a while to get "close to it" out of that first one.
ReplyDeleteReally funny signs, or at least translations.
Love the passion flower!
Jean those sign are just hilarious!!! : } Translation can be a funny thing!!!
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ReplyDeleteThe header photo is awesome, what is it? It looks like a ferris wheel! I must say my favorite of the signs would be the pool sign, right to the point indeed.
ReplyDeleteCheryl, The flower is a passionflower. Looks kind of like a hussy, doesn't it? It's for real, though.
ReplyDeleteI'm always amazed that they don't have somebody who actually speaks English to do these translations before they make signs.
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