DeEngrishization
=v= In preparation for the 2008 Olympics, Beijing is hoping to clean up embarassing English translations around the city, in a program named "Use Accurate English to Welcome the Olympics Public Bilingual Sign Standardization Drive." China Daily reports on some recent discoveries:
Feel squeamish about entering "Racist Park"? ... Or look around for shady customers when you see "The slippery are very crafty"? [...]
There's nothing racist about the park, it's actually the Park of Chinese Ethnic Minorities along the Fourth Ring Road in Beijing. ... "Slippery" refers to the road and not any dodgy characters.
They've got their work cut out for them, particularly in the realm of T-shirts. Beijing has set up a website, www.bjenglish.com.cn, where English-speakers can suggest corrections (provided they can navigate a website written in Chinese). But who's going to tell them that the website's name is a euphemism for fellatio with a bit of a spin?
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