China aiming to eradicate translation fails

We have all seen or heard of the dodgy translations (not carried out by professional translation agencies) that have been written up on signs, information boards and even advertisements from big businesses across China. You see China can often be a tricky place for English speakers whether you are a business trying to enter the market or just a tourist looking to get around. In fact we even dedicated a whole blog article about how big companies from the west such as Nike, Dior and Burberry; to name a few have gotten things so wrong in China with these retail translation fails.

As well as on the flipside how ‘DIY’ Chinese translation services carried out by Chinese locals can sometimes lead to confusion, frustration or humour amongst English speaking travellers. One time leading to a very heated argument between a shopkeeper and a customer over a “free tea” sign.

Well these tales of confusion and comedy might soon be a thing of the past according to authorities in China. The authorities in China announced that a new national standard of English translation will come into place from December that will affect 13 public domains such as financial, transport, medical and the entertainment areas according to the People’s Daily newspaper, China’s state newspaper. The aim is to implement proper localisation services which would spell the end of poor English translations that are too literal and riddled with grammatical errors on signs such as ‘Please do not feed the fish with your private’ or ‘Racist Park’.

This type of Mandarin to English translation is known as ‘Chinglish’ and is somewhat of an embarrassment within China as children are given English lessons early on. The newspaper goes on to say that the new English translations do “not contain content that damages the images of China or other countries”. So if you are out in China towards the end of the year, be sure to be on the lookout for such changes and let us know the worst ever translated sign you have ever seen.