One of the small entertainments that I enjoy about living in Taiwan, and which is becoming something of a hobby of mine, is discovering, and as evidenced by the following pictures, photographing English spelling, grammar and expression mistakes that I frequently come across here. Printers who misread the original script sent to them by clients, who seemingly don't know enough English themselves to pick up the printers' mistakes, cause some of them. Others are caused by clients who seem to have relied on the ubiquitous electronic Chinese-English dictionaries for their translations and then select the wrong word from the list provided them by the dictionary. And then there are those mistakes apparently composed by some inebriated employees who couldn't care less what the meaning of their words are, just as long as it looks like English, like those on a T-shirt a friend of mine was wearing in the picture above.
At a local temple and major tourist venue in our area due to the large sitting Buddah on the hill. The Chinese on this sign says, "Toilet. Down the stairs turn right." The English meaning: Good luck!
At the local traffic department. Well, I guess there is more than one step and you should watch Your step rather than somebody else's.
At a local department store. When was the last time you or anyone you know frolicked? The Chinese says, "Please do not play about on the escalator," which is pretty fanciful Chinese as well, I suppose.
At the local traffic department. The Chinese in this instruction to turn left is a more formal way of speaking and where the translation has gone wrong is in the first character (kao) which means to rely on, depend on, or lean on. The translator has therefore translated each character individually instead of looking at the whole meaning.
At a local department store. This sign directs shoppers to where they can pick up large items they have purchased, like furniture. The literal Chinese meaning is, "Pick-up goods area."
In a local restaurant that serves only Chinese food. Some might consider what they serve a delicacy, like the putrid-looking green eggs that look like they were mixed in melamine after a horse peed on them and which, for some inexplicable reason, Pei Han likes to eat.
At a local department store take away. The Chinese says, "German Pig Knuckle Meal."
At a fast food chicken take away. This is almost too cute to comment on. An obvious printer's error in "iet" which should be "let", but maybe the goodiness won the client over.
At the local Pizza Hut. For those of you who can't eat pizza with a semblance of elegance.
On a T-shirt I just had to buy in the seaside town of Kenting. Following is what I think is a fairly accurate translation:
Fish should live in fresh water such as ocean, river, lake or [sea].
People should conserve, protect and
enhance the fish and wildlife and their habitats.
Our mission is to manage, protect, maintain
and improve the fish, game and
aquatic plant resources. The goal of Refuge Systems
will be achieved by your cooperation.
I am certain that there are countless other linguistic delights out there just waiting for me to discover them and so an update to this page is inevitable.
Dion Marc Delport
21 October 2008