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The Bi-lingual Signs That Do Not Translate 

The artistic script of this Chinese name made it difficult for me to read, - then I saw a row of English characters under the Chinese name. It said "Zhenpu Tongxun." Again, it gave me no hints whatsoever about what that flashy shop was selling. Then, as I took a closer look at the merchandise inside the glass displaying cases, I learned it was selling mobile telephones, pagers, faxes and telephone sets. "Tong-xun" means telecommunication. Why they just didn't say so, I do not know!

In a small food shop in Nanchang City in the Jiangxi province, I was surprised and glad to see a bilingual white sign with red characters. "Not bad" I thought, even this small shop in this faraway city has bilingual signs. At a closer distance, the English characters read: "QINGWUSHUIDIDUTAN" That got me because I was not quite good yet at the roman character spelling system used in China. Taking a peep at the Chinese characters, I finally realized it said: "qing wu shui di du tan" which means "Do not spit at all the places (at will)."

Entering a brand new superstore in Shanghai, I was looking for the boxes to deposit my baggage before entering. As the computerized deposit boxes were full, I had to look around for an alternative. Then I saw a counter with wooden pigeonholes behind which a bi-lingual sign hung overhead. The English character said "Fu Wu Tai," and the Chinese characters read "Service Counter" - (that is pronounced "fu wu tai")

We arrived late in a rural town trying to find our customer when we came across a large factory with it's front gate closed. The bilingual name plaque carried these English characters: "SCSRCXDYNYJGC." My sales manager was from Thailand, could speak Mandarin, but could not read Chinese. That sign, thus, told him nothing. Coming to his rescue, I read out the Chinese characters on that sign. It said "Si Chuan Shen (Province) Rong Chang Xian (District) Di Yi (the first) Nong ye (Agricultural) Jia gong cang (processing factory)." Why did they bother putting up those incommunicable "English" signs, I don't know.