OK, now I understand why translations are so difficult.

Bonobo · Post by **Bonobo** » Tue Aug 20, 2013 9:24 am

Careful, you might explode with laughter.

22 Chinese Signs That Got Seriously Lost In Translation

Unusedname · Post by **Unusedname** » Wed Aug 21, 2013 12:24 pm

I like 11.
I'm assuming it's translated like that because the word for life and dream are the same which is a nice thought.

EdLee · Post by **EdLee** » Wed Aug 21, 2013 4:51 pm

Unusedname wrote:I'm assuming it's translated like that because the word for life and dream are the same...

They are not.

jts · Post by **jts** » Wed Aug 21, 2013 5:03 pm

EdLee wrote:
Unusedname wrote:I'm assuming it's translated like that because the word for life and dream are the same...
They are not.

To be more specific, neither "life" nor "dream" is on the sign! :/

There are lots of theories about this sign on the internet: a super-archaic word for "taking a break," a confusion between the phrases for "resting" and "under construction", or maybe a colloquialism from a Wu region. At any rate, since it's not standard Mandarin, probably the machine translator choked on it.

When you see the whole set, you start to wonder if this is just a photoshop joke about the gullibility of internauts:

http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m87aj ... o1_400.jpg
http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m87aj ... o2_500.jpg
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m87aj ... o3_400.jpg

TheBigH · Post by **TheBigH** » Sun Aug 25, 2013 8:43 pm

#4 makes up in accuracy what it lacks in civility.

macelee · Post by **macelee** » Sun Aug 25, 2013 10:42 pm

A few weeks ago I was visiting ChaoYang Park in Beijing, the location of the 2008 Olympic beach volleyball tournament. Nice sand and water park. But near the site there's a small restaurant having a sign saying 'Collect silver place', when it actually means 'cashier'.

EdLee · Post by **EdLee** » Sun Aug 25, 2013 11:45 pm

macelee wrote:'Collect silver place', when it actually means 'cashier'.

Yes, they translated 收銀處 character by character, instead of as a whole term.

Incidentally,

¹cashier. noun. one that has charge of money: as
a. a high officer in a bank or trust company responsible for moneys received and expended
b. one who collects and records payments
c. an employee (as in a store) who handles monetary transactions

²cashier. transitive verb.
1. to dismiss from service; especially: to dismiss dishonorably
2. reject, discard

In Chinese, 收銀處 actually refers to the location where payment is collected, not the person.
And if we try to reverse-translate cashier to Chinese (or another language),
then we run into the multiple definitions of cashier in English.
Translation is very difficult.

Bill Spight · Post by **Bill Spight** » Sun Aug 25, 2013 11:58 pm

Unusedname wrote:I like 11.
I'm assuming it's translated like that because the word for life and dream are the same which is a nice thought.

Toda la vida es suenno, y los suennos suennos son.

ez4u · Post by **ez4u** » Mon Aug 26, 2013 2:41 am

Bill Spight wrote:...
Toda la vida es suenno, y los suennos suennos son.

Thank god for google.

EdLee · Post by **EdLee** » Mon Aug 26, 2013 11:48 am

Toda la vida es sueño, y los sueños sueños son.

All life is a dream, and dreams are dreams.

Bonobo · Post by **Bonobo** » Mon Aug 26, 2013 12:01 pm

EdLee wrote:
Toda la vida es sueño, y los sueños sueños son.
All life is a dream, and dreams are dreams.

So … you think we’re not even able to Goggle [sic!], mh?

Unusedname · Post by **Unusedname** » Mon Aug 26, 2013 2:42 pm

Bill Spight wrote:
Unusedname wrote:I like 11.
I'm assuming it's translated like that because the word for life and dream are the same which is a nice thought.

Toda la vida es suenno, y los suennos suennos son.

Oh I read it as.

Every life is lucky and the lucky lucky [son?].

Thank god for google.

xed_over · Post by **xed_over** » Mon Aug 26, 2013 7:53 pm

Unusedname wrote: Oh I read it as.

suerte - luck
sueño - sleep/dream

Bonobo · Post by **Bonobo** » Wed Nov 13, 2013 12:47 pm

A few more but some we already know from that other page.

Life In 19x19

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