Broken English produced by people whose mother tongue is Chinese, that results from one or more of the following:
- translating Chinese sentences on a word-by-word basis, instead of conveying the intended meaning (e.g. translating "wǒ hěn xǐhuan" as "I very like" instead of "I like it a lot")
- using faulty
translation software and not bothering to check whether the
translation is correct (e.g. translating "sàn gānguǒ" as "Spread to fuck the fruit" instead of "loose dried fruits"
- using obscure or slang words instead of the more common synonym (e.g. translating "Guānmén" as "steek" instead of "close", or translating "Shǒuzhǐ" as "bumf" instead of "
toilet paper")
- falling victim of absurd translations provided as jokes (e.g. translating "tāotiè" as "exterminate capitalism" instead of "tantalizing")
Get rid of those signs! You can't expect people to read "To take notice of safe: The
slippery are very crafty" and not to laugh at us!
(that was
probably what Chen Lin said, when he decided that Chinglish signs in Beijing needed to be
replaced)
