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Please Bump Your Head Carefully | The Expeditioner Travel Site

Please Bump Your Head Carefully

Sunday, August 30, 2009

chinglish

The reign of Chinglish, the inaccurate public displays of translations, and the source of enjoyment for visitors to China, may soon come to an end in Shanghai. Although you can decipher the message in almost all cases, the numerous files of digital photos telling you to, “leave your values at the front desk,” may be a thing of the past.

The BBC reports the city has assembled a volunteer task force to seek out these baffling signs all over the city for correcting. Why? A similar successful campaign was conducted before the Olympics in Beijing. Since Shanghai is hosting the World Expo fair soon, I’m sure city officials have noticed Beijing’s lead, and want to tighten up their image a little bit, as well.

I can’t help but pull up the few quirky pictures of Asian signs I have stored in the bowels of my laptop, Chinglish, Konglish, and a few other hybrid dialects, it doesn’t matter. In between smirks, the memories of all my great experiences in that country reemerge. It makes me wonder if the existence of Chinglish isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

*photo by Augapfel

By Jon Wick

TheExpeditioner

About the Author

Jon lives in Butte, Montana, spending most of his time on skis or bikes; sometimes both. He began travel writing while teaching in Korea and is currently pursuing his Master’s Degree in Technical Communication at Montana Tech. Jon has begun writing his first book, The Story of Will, whose movie rights are still (very) available. Catch more of Jon at TheJonWickproject.wordpress.com. (@ExpedJon)

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