English problems seen on the train

There are so many low-level mistakes in English in public places in China, but it's really unbearable to pass the exams at all levels in public and remain motionless in public places for many years. Originally, English was written for foreigners who don't understand Chinese, but these nonsense English either smashed foreigners into a fog or made them puzzled.

When translating from Chinese to English, literal translation is the most taboo, which makes people feel embarrassed and confused, but it is full of meaning with the original text. In the business hall of Shanghai Mobile Company, the business scope of each service counter is explained in both Chinese and English, but the translation is quite outrageous. The mobile phone is "handset" and English is the telephone receiver. The closed window should have been "closed", but it was actually translated as "closed". Literally, it is considered to be forced to close. What is even more exasperating is that the "cashier's office" actually separated pay from ment. The entrance and exit were originally the most common road signs, especially the entrance and exit. It can be used on the cruise terminal of West Lake in Hangzhou, with the entrance suspended at the entrance and the exit as the source. I understand this meaning, but how it can be translated into this really puzzles me.

On the Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street in Shanghai, a piece of green land is being transformed into a leisure area. Many old photos of Nanjing Road are displayed on the wall of the construction site, titled "Former Nanjing Road" and "Former Nanjing Road" in English. In America, we have never seen these two words translated into "old times" to describe the past, and "past" is more nostalgic. Pupils do it? This translated English composition is excusable and posted on Nanjing Road to show foreigners the cultural level of Shanghai government officials.

There is a sentence in the paragraph that describes the square under construction; "oval square surrounded by dense green shade" is translated into oval square, surrounded by spatial green shade. First of all, there is a lack of "the" in front, in which "hug" should be a hug, and both active and passive usage are the lowest English mistakes. Ellipse and square are two different shapes. Whether circumscribed or inscribed, ellipses and squares cannot contain each other, so how to describe them? If you translate "square" into "oval clearing", it will be smooth. On the busy and crowded Nanjing Road, there is an empty green space surrounded by green trees, which was originally a very attractive landscape for tourists. Translated into square, it will be mistaken for building another commercial building. Translating green shade into green shade is a typical literal translation. How can the shadow be green? The common word "parking ramp" is actually translated as "car barn". There is also a new word "idea", which is translated as "theory", theory. Actually, these are two words with different meanings. Ideas are ways of thinking and opinions of decision-making. In any case, they have not risen to the height of theory, and their meanings are completely different. In addition, the meaning of "combination theory" was translated into "combination theory", which completely changed the meaning. On the Nanjing Road, known as "China's No.1 Commercial Street", three translation mistakes appeared in one sentence, which made Shanghai, known as "Shili Foreign Market", a little "famous, but actually difficult to express".

The window of Bank of China in Shenzhen is divided into "corporate business" and "personal business", and the corresponding English is "corporate bank" and "private bank". The former can't be wrong, but corporation is a joint-stock company, excluding private companies owned by individuals, which is not as accurate as commercial banks used in the United States. The latter is a bit outrageous. Personal business should be translated into "personal banking". In the United States, "private bank" refers to a special service for laundering the gray income of the rich, such as the income of corrupt officials, smuggling and drug trafficking. If they dare not deposit it in the bank, they will be legalized through this service. This service is privately operated and will never be listed for business. Bank of China has branches all over the world. Why can't such a basic industry term be standardized?

I pass by Cuibei Primary School in Shenzhen every day when I go to work. There is a big slogan on the wall, "Think about the motherland and see the world". Breathe the scenery of the motherland and survey the world. If translated back into Chinese, it should be: "the vast scenery of the motherland, investigating the world." Strangely, such translation did not confuse foreigners.

The most amazing literal translation is the sign of a naked swimming area in Qiandao Lake, Zhejiang Province: "Naked swimming place for male guests". English is the place where male guests swim naked, which is an absolute literal translation. However, nudity can only be said to be barefoot, which was used by "barefoot doctors" in those days. If your ass is exposed, it's naked.

As for product introduction and business card translation, I can only describe it as "terrible". I have a business card of a travel agency that booked air tickets: Shanghai Wan You Ticket Center and Shanghai Wan You Travel Agency Reservation Center. English translation is Shanghai Wan You Air Ticket Center and Shanghai Wan You Order Center. This translation is really meticulous. Every Chinese character is literally translated, and the order remains unchanged. The last one is translated back to Chinese: Shanghai Wan You Property Purchase Center!

Pinyin errors in English labels are also common. This kind of mistake, which even primary school students should not make, actually appears in public places. The "smoking place" of the sleeper car in Changchun Bus Factory has actually been translated as "smothing spot", and the mistakes made by the factory ten years ago have not been corrected so far. The most intolerable spelling mistake is the announcement of Beijing subway company. At various subway stations in Beijing, a notice about changing manual ticket checking into automatic ticket checking for subway 13 line is posted, with the abbreviation of AFC (automatic ticket checking is AFC). However, such three words actually misspelled "collect" into "hold". You know, this is Beijing, and there are so many foreigners who only know English in and out of the subway every day. How can the face of the old man in Beijing, who calls himself "the first good area", be put down? According to my analysis, this translator must have been to America. He knows how to pronounce this word, but he didn't study spelling hard, didn't write how to read it, and didn't bother to look it up in the dictionary, which led to this international joke.

I was really convinced by some translators. I only know 26 letters. I dare to do translation work with a Chinese-English dictionary. As long as it is in the dictionary, he dares to use it, whether it is classical English in Shakespeare's time or the dialect of any country. The approving official may not be as good as him, even he can't recognize 26 letters, or he doesn't have time to take care of these little things at all, so the translators have passed the exam, spent a lot of money on signboards and frequently appeared in downtown areas. In Shanghai, which is known as the "ten-mile foreign market", this kind of broken English also appears from time to time. The official plaque of "Municipal People's Government" is actually translated as "municipality directly under the Central Government". Shanghai "Tianshan Tea City" is translated as "emporium", and the entrance and exit are "passages". There is a photo of a parade in the old photo exhibition of Nanjing Road, which is "pageant" in English. Look it up in the dictionary, these words do have these meanings, but who has ever seen such expressions in America and Britain? Toilet translates as toilet (that is, toilet), with a washroom (laundry room), but no lounge. As for WC, I still don't know where it came from. Once I used Unicom's IP phone card to make a long-distance call and pressed the English prompt by mistake. Originally, the pound key (#) on the telephone keyboard was the English "pound sign", but after listening to the pronunciation, I turned over the number of words in my mind several times and didn't understand what it was.

The most fashionable saying now is "in line with international standards". Shanghai Pudong Airport has dozens of flights to all parts of the world every day, which can be said to be the "joint" of international integration. But here, I once boarded the plane and found four translation mistakes. Cigarette butts should be butters, translated as ends, overweight luggage is overweight, translated as overload, which is overload, and excess is not as accurate as over. Mobile phone is called mobile phone in America, which translates to mobile (Mobil Oil Company should not mistake it for gasoline). Although these words are not English equivalents, they can still guess the meaning. Translating a page into a BP call makes people want to know what it is.

Not long ago, Sun Yue, a singer, sang on stage in a skirt with the words "I like sex and bitches in new york" printed on it. This kind of foul language on American streets actually appears on ancient costumes, which shows how shallow and ignorant these singers are. Sun Yue explained that she studied Russian and didn't understand English. Don't her minions and managers understand? Are parents and friends all illiterate in English? It doesn't make any sense. But from this incident, we can see how high the cultural quality of people who are closely related to singers is.