One of the simple pleasures I enjoyed during my time in China was coming across delightfully confusing or inappropriate English translations, or Chinglish. Written Chinese can be very poetic and the intricate characters often convey more meaning than a direct English translation will allow. The garbled results and cultural miscues are guaranteed to make you smile.
Here are some gems I came across while going about my daily activities. Believe it or not, much of this Chinglish was seen in cosmopolitan Shanghai, where many locals speak perfect English!
Some of the most humorous Chinglish was on signs I came across in the country’s many national parks. From the pandas in Chengdu to the grass in Shanghai, China seems keen to protect its natural resources.
Chinese menus are often ripe with mistranslations, though these are sadly disappearing as the nation becomes more accustomed to English. About half of these were found in Shanghai restaurants, while the rest come from Xi’an and Chengdu.
Which bit of Chinglish do you like best? What’s the funniest English translation you’ve ever seen?
LOL! My favorite is the diarrhea clinic. If they have an entire clinic dedicated to it, I may question ever eating in China again!
I know, right? Even worse – there was a “Hepatitis Clinic” right next door! :-p
It’s probably for all those eating gutter oil fried stuff. What goes in, comes out.
This is so hilarious. I can’t stop laughing at Chinglish signs here in Dongguan. Some of them are so amusing like the one with diarrhea clinic or trendy taste photo LOL!
You should put together a collection! I bet you’ve seen some fantastic examples 🙂
Hahaha these are hilarious. In Korea, even though things are incorrectly used, most of the words are spelled correctly and just say weird things. But haven’t seen anything with the word “panties” in it yet… I’ll keep an eye out.
Keep looking! I bet there are plenty of hidden gems out there just waiting to be discovered 🙂
Lol !! Amazing 😀
This gave me a great laugh after a long week. Thanks!
Looks like they put the Chinese characters straight into the electronic dictionary and took the first phrases the came out.
Diarrhea clinic! Loved that one, straight and to the point!
I’m always happy to provide a laugh! 🙂
Haha – these are always so much fun!
Aren’t they great?! Reading menus in the States isn’t nearly as exciting 🙂
I can’t decide which one is my favorite! I like the “Art in a nutshell” phrase because it seems so profound (and is almost a haiku). The shellfish/chicken is awesome. I like the Yu’re welcome to Yuer Park. I think they actually made a funny “Yu” pun without realizing it!
We loved the “Yu” one because the person who created it probably didn’t even realize how funny it was! I’m going to miss finding these little gems 🙂
These are great. While living in Japan one of my favorite things to “read” and try to figure out were the wheel covers on the backs of SUVs…hilarious!
I forgot about the wheel covers! Many of the motorbikes in Shanghai had them as well, though usually they just featured a big yellow phone number. Of more interest to me in Japan were the vending machines 🙂
Oh I love these! Exotic Romance Zone, that sounds perfect for me. I was amazed at the amount of Engrish…Chinglish…whatever you call it is in China. Even standard phrases like “Don’t walk on the grass” change from park to park. Why not just use the same one?
In a restaurant in Xian one of the dishes was called “Three Treasure Pickles”, but we opted for the “Eight Treasure Pickles”. More is always better.
Agreed! We tried a few “Eight Treasure” dishes across China with good results. I always loved the menus that used the complicated scientific names for things when “mushrooms” would have been so much easier for them to write! Good old Google Translate 🙂
LOL oh lord, diarrhea clinic just had me in stitches. Reminds me of the website, Engrish.com, where people post funny English signs.You’ve inspired me to capture some of the Korean English over here, although to be fair, I don’t see as much on signs, just t-shirts.
I was disappointed not to find more funny t-shirts in China. They were more into brand knock-offs than anything. Japan had some hilarious ones, though! I’m looking forward to your future collection from Korea 🙂
Ahh these never get old! The Yuer one is so close to being a pun as well…!
I think the best one I saw in China was a dish including ‘smell of urine’ Needless to say I didn’t try that one so can’t confirm how it really did smell 😉
Haha, I don’t think I would have ordered that dish either. The menu translations really are the best!
These are the most hilarious Chinglish signs I’ve come across!
http://abravenewway.blogspot.de/2014/04/chinglish-signs-in-chinglish-chin.html
These are just great. I remember when we found the Diarrhea
Clinic and the Hepatitis one right beside it. Gave us a good laugh.
Can’t pick a favorite – they are all so funny.
Very funny. Being interested in languages I always enjoy reading similar mistakes. I bought a fridge magnet showing the TOWER TIFFEL in Paris. Obviously designed in China.
Haha, that magnet would make me giggle every time I saw it.