There are times when things don’t always translate so easily from Chinese to English. I saw a sign that said ‘Beijing Hospital for Femoral Head.’ I’m really not sure what that intends to say, and I can’t even conjure up a guess. I’ve seen other peculiar phrases, like waxberry juice and the gruel store. The gruel store was a restaurant, and judging by the number of customers at 9pm on a Saturday night, I guess none were phased by the name. A sign promised ‘Forty Topping Tourist Attractions in China’ (this one is easy to decipher), and a museum gift shop was referred to as a commodity area.
There are some things that have been interpreted and phrased in interesting ways. Like French Fries with American characteristics. Those potatoes sound as though they are having an identity crisis. Kids, you can have your birthday party at Pizza Hut, where your guests will learn about Western dining knowledge. Where do I sign up?
Sometimes words get misspelled or they’re missing a letter or two. Like the Fuod Shuopp. And the BBQ got dog. My favorite is when it happens on t-shirts. There is Make Live Not War, and knock off shirts like A & Fitch. I saw a guy wearing a Harvey Milk t-shirt, or rather, Haryey Milk. I wondered if the guy knew that he was wearing a campaign shirt for the 1st openly gay politician elected in the United States. Not only do words get misspelled, but sometimes phrases simply make no sense at all. Like Love All Nice. And sometimes, people wear simply peculiar t-shirts. You know the I (heart) NY t-shirts and the progeny they have inspired? Well, I’ve seen I (heart) crap and I (heart) BJ. It turns out that the I (heart) BJ t-shirts mean I (heart) Beijing, but you can probably identify with my initial confusion. Oh, and I just don’t know about the crap t-shirt. I actually did a double take to make sure I read it correctly.
This post is all in good fun, and I’m not mocking Chinese efforts to accommodate English speakers. I really do appreciate it, and English is a tricky language so I can see the confusion. It’s just that as our trip winds down, I decided to jot down all the interesting phrases and translations I’ve seen in the past few weeks. Somewhere, there might be a Chinese blogger blogging about all the funny ways English speakers mess up their language, and it is quite possible that I’ve made her list.
Chris with a 'K' 