The Taiwanese and Chinese people are eager to
translate many things into English. I believe this is indicative of their helpfulness,
especially the Taiwanese, but also a form of status display. If you are able to advertise in both Chinese
and English, then you are a globally sophisticated person or company. Please understand that I am not complaining;
having an English translation, regardless of how bad it can be, is more helpful
to me than a group of Chinese characters.
Regardless of my poking fun at translations, I still sincerely
appreciate them.
Menus can be humorous. In mainland China, the spelling and grammar
are often poor. I counted one page with
36 errors. Taiwan English translations
are usually technically correct, however they are worded much different than
native English speakers are accustom. A
restaurant offered a “comprehensive mushroom pizza”. I love mushrooms on pizza, and to know there
are many types is better than few, but comprehensive is the best. Another menu offered the “meats of mammals”. Technically correct yes, but helpful no, even
to this carnivore. “Hamburgers made of
real meat” is probably not as strange as you would think, especially if you
have been served one of those fake vegetarian versions of hamburger.
I take public transportation all of the time in
Taipei. When exiting, the message in
English is usually “please carefully alight through the door”. I believe alight is a holdover from an old
English maritime term for getting off the ship, but that is just my guess. I carefully alight almost every day.
For those that enjoy Doug Lansky’s travel writing,
you know that he posts funny signs provided to him by his readers. Here are some signs I found:
Taipei Pot Plant Auction-when I was a teenager, I
always thought you had to grow them yourself.
Flying Cow Ranch-see Taipei Pot Plant Auction.
Center for Human Appearance-this sign was found in a
hospital and I thought it was the birthing section. Actually it is an often used medical description
for reconstructive surgeries.
When the Crowd is Very Thick-We Will Take Crowd Control
Temporarily-nothing wrong with this. I
love discipline and control.
Wholesale Treasure-I always thought of treasure as
something controlled by pirates and kings. If you need to obtain treasure by
exchanging some of your wealth, rather than murder and plunder, then I would
prefer to pay wholesale than retail.
Heading to the Future-aren’t we all?
Mansion of the Fortune-Chinese are obsessed with
prosperity and the display of wealth. What
better place than the mansion of the fortune.
Whole Dog Journal-my first thought was cookbook, but
it probably is a dog lover’s attempt to teach us Fido wellness.
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