Fixing Beijing's signs an Olympic-sized task
Despite a year-long effort to weed 'Chinglish' from Beijing's public signs, phrases such as 'Welcome to take Beijing Subway on your next trip' will still be seen in the capital, thanks to their inclusion in a set of standardised English translations for public use.
To try to improve the city's once woeful English before next year's Olympic Games, Beijing yesterday released standardised translations for road signs, tourist attractions, commercial services, sport facilities and the health and medical sectors.
Liu Yang, the Beijing government's Foreign Affairs Office deputy director, said all English road signs in the city's eight downtown districts that did not meet the standards had been replaced, and those in other areas would be changed before the end of this year.
Mr Liu said the translations were the work of a 35-member panel of experts from the mainland, the United States, Britain, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Asked why there were still odd translations in the standardised versions, Mr Liu said: 'Of course it will still happen occasionally, but I think we can ensure that once mistakes are found, they will be rectified.'
He said local restaurant menus remained a headache.
Dishes such as Tongzi chicken, translated by some restaurants as chicken without sexual life, remain in the difficult basket.
Beijing expects 4.93 million of its residents to be capable of communicating in a foreign language by the end of this year.
Wang Chensheng, a Beijing taxi driver, said he had passed the government's English test after taking two classes his employer organised.
'It was a written test. I did well,' Mr Wang said. 'But I can only say several greetings like 'hello' and 'goodbye'. I don't know the places if they use English. It doesn't matter. Foreign people usually have the Chinese names of places written down by their hotel staff. If I don't know the place, I can just refuse to carry them to avoid trouble.'
