Feudal to Translate
Lavin, Abigail
Feudal to Translate A guide to the English dialect spoken only in China. BY ABIGAIL LAVIN Virginia Woolf once wrote that “humor is the fi rst gift to perish in a foreign language.” Of course,...
...Of course, Mrs...
...Some highlights: • . . . public meeting or fund-raising Of any nature is inexpedient, activities of a feudalistic and superstitious nature . . . are not allowed •Visitors are not supposed to tease, scare, or capture bird, cricket, fi sh and shrimp or cicada (exceptthose for community purposes...
...One analogy is that some Westerners have gotten themselves engraved with trendy Chinese character tattoos...
...Would it be possible to concurrently break all three of the rules listed above...
...This illuminating intrudaction is followed by a list of “Rulers for visitors...
...Doris Moore, a Toronto woman whose seven-year-old daughter discovered the offending label on the family’s new sofa, wondered, “Don’t they read it fi rst...
...In wearing this T-shirt, the young lady probably did not intend to announce her homosexuality to her mother—or to the world, for that matter...
...Another culprit is online translation software...
...I defy anyone to visit this establishment and come up with a more appropriate name...
...Like Radtke, I, too, fi nd myself tickled by the abundant examples of not-quite-English to be found in China...
...Surely there is something feudalistic to be done with crickets, but urinating or defecating might be diffi cult to work into the mix...
...Unfettered from the constraint of knowing English, many Chinese take the language to new heights...
...The foreign language, in this case, is English—or more accurately, “Chinglish...
...Doesn’t the manufacturer...
...The goal is not to convey information in English...
...Janis Joplin is playing softly in the background, and in the din of other patrons’ conversation I can make out French, Chinese, and, of course, English...
...The tattoos may be gibberish, or worse, but they all mean the same thing: “I have a Chinese character tattooed on my body...
...As for instrumental Chinglish, look no further than bustling People’s Square, the heart of Shanghai...
...Instrumental Chinglish is actually intended to convey information to English speakers...
...Ethic and moral codes should be duly honored, visitors are expected not to urinate or shit . . . Like all great specimens of literature, these “Rulers for visitors” excite the reader’s imagination, opening the mind to new possibilities and questions...
...The English on her shirt served a decorative function...
...Characteristic...
...Health park and Founcain...
...and so on...
...But if you’re looking for a punchline on every page, Chinglish fi ts the bill...
...Chinglish is born of the fact that English is the lingua franca of coolness...
...Beijing is undergoing a great revamping in preparation for this summer’s Olympic Games, and instructive examples of Chinglish are being whitewashed from the capital faster than you can say “mom, i’m a lesbian...
...Radtke offers a few possible explanations...
...As I write, I am sitting in an upscale wine bar in downtown Shanghai...
...And opening on July 1. Thearea of the part is 10million/ mIt is keep old Haiting Park...
...Woolf couldn’t know about 21st-century Shanghai, where people communicate in a foreign language to side-splitting effect, day after day...
...In Hong Kong I once saw a teenage girl wearing a red baby-doll T-shirt emblazoned with rhinestone lettering that read: “mom, i’m a lesbian...
...Recognizing that a good chunk of those who pass through People’s Park may not speak Chinese, the Shanghai Municipality on Administration of Public Parks has thoughtfully provided the following English signage: Intrudaction Park People’s Park built in 1952 Beginning re built on 2000FEB...
...for an in-depth analysis of Chinglish, you should delve into Radtke’s helpful list of “Recommended Reading...
...So far as I can tell, Chinglish falls into two categories: instrumental and ornamental...
...Similarly, I have in my purse a packet of moist towelettes called “HARASS” wipes...
...The neighborhood swarms with foreign tourists, any one of whom might be curious about the history of beautiful People’s Park...
...The manufacturer blamed Kingsoft, a Chinese software company that makes a popular Chinese-English translation program...
...It has new Yulan park...
...These matrixes often translate too literally from the Chinese, resulting in rest room signs for the handicapped that read: “Deformed Man Toilet...
...Or as in the case of the Kingsoft scandal, one errant defi nition proliferates due to the software’s popularity...
...Scandal broke out last year when it was discovered that a line of couches made in China came affi xed with an English label that used a racial slur to describe the upholstery’s dark brown color...
...For quick perusal, Chinglish will occupy you for a risible, fully satisfying fi ve minutes...
...the letters were intended to convey no more meaning than paisley or houndstooth...
...Ornamental Abigail Lavin is a writer in Shanghai...
...A local seafood joint, Fishiness Infi nitude, is a prime example...
...it is to convey that you are conveying information in English...
...The supplier...
...This term means different things to different people, but for the purposes of Oliver Lutz Radtke’s new book, it refers to the delightfully awkward, syntaxdefying, and at times purple prose found on English-language signs, clothing, and packaging in China...
...This phenomenon— perhaps we can call it “Engese”— deserves a guidebook of its own...
...Indeed, in Shanghai, a polyglot city with no shortage of agile translators and editors, why are so many mistakes published, engraved, and illumined in neon lights for the world to see...
...It is possible that the manufacturers wish to associate their brand with harassment as a marketing strategy, but it is more likely that a mid-level executive in Wuhan saw the word “harass” in the blurb of a pirated DVD copy of the 2002 Jennifer Lopez thriller Enough and thought that it looked to be as good a word as any to slap on a pack of towelettes...
...Sadly, as Radtke points out, Chinglish may soon be a thing of the past...
...Of course, Chinglish is not always so charming...
...Meaning aside, any combination of roman letters elevates a commodity— khaki pants, toilet paper, potato chips— to a higher plane of chic by suggesting that the product is geared toward an international audience...
...Radtke, a German sinologist, fi rst came up with the idea for a book on Chinglish while studying at Shanghai Foreign Languages University...
...But the explanation I fi nd most compelling is the ornamental Chinglish theory: Content just isn’t that important...
...A sign hangs in the doorway: “Take care of your belongings before you leave the restaurants...
...If, as Radtke believes, Chinglish is an endangered species, then this little volume is a gem of a time capsule...
...One has to do with pride: Outsourcing English translation to a native English-speaker would mean losing face...
Vol. 13 • March 2008 • No. 28
