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WELCOME To Zhuhai !
This
is the large sign that visitors see when leaving the city
on the road to Guangzhou. It is warm and friendly but, unfortunately,
not correct English.
"Welcome" is a greeting
used on arrival, not on departure. Everywhere official signs
on roads, public buildings and commercial districts proudly
display large and expensive signs in English or rather "Chinglish".
(Chinese English).
Chinglish is often quaint and attractive, expressing the
hospitality and unique perspective of the Chinese world-view.
Sometimes it is quietly amusing, raising a smile for foreign
visitors; on other occasions it can be confusing. Sadly,
Chinglish is sometimes just plain bad English and shows
a careless and unprofessional approach to translation,
even by large companies and organisations. Most Chinese
people I speak to do not realise the seriousness of this
problem and the negative effect it has on other people's
view of China. If Zhuhai and other cities are to improve
their image and attract more foreign visitors and investment,
I believe more attention needs to be paid to this important
issue. We need to get it right, so what can be done?
In
the short term, I think it is essential that native speakers
be used to check and proof read English translations made
by Chinese translators. I have done a lot of this work
since coming to China, but the problem is that many business
leaders and managers just don't want to pay for it and
do not see accurate translation as a priority. Good translation
takes time and money and is a worthwhile investment. A
lot of money can be wasted when translations are not checked.
To give one example, recently, a company director showed
me his new export catalogue. With expensive photography
and beautiful illustrations his company spent over 100,000
Yuan and many months of effort producing it. The catalogue
was meant to promote the company's products and services
to overseas buyers. As soon as I opened it up, I found
it hard not to laugh because of the terrible English.
There were over 100 errors on the first page alone and
it made his company look ridiculous. Every page was the
same. Despite all the money he had spent on expensive
design, silk ribbons and presentation boxes, plus the
expense of posting the catalogue overseas, no thought
or effort had been given to checking the quality of the
translation. What was the result? Well my guess is, that
anyone overseas, receiving such an item, would shake his
head in disbelief and throw the catalogue immediately
into the trash. If a company cannot be bothered to pay
attention to such basic details as their own promotional
materials, then they are unlikely to be regarded as a
reliable supplier of other products.
In
the longer term, we need to raise the standard of English
teaching, improve educational materials and provide more
opportunities and support for language training. The need
for quality English education in China will increase dramatically
in the next few years and a wide variety of approaches will
be needed to meet this challenge. The traditional text-based
approach to language learning has served a useful purpose
in uniting the country with a common core of understanding
and Chinese English teachers are to be congratulated on
their efforts to teach a complex and difficult language
,often with inadequate resources.
Getting
it right (II)
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