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Beijing Visitors May Get Some ‘Mixed Elbow With Garlic Mud’ After All

As we recently posted, Chinese officials have taken steps to rid Beijing of “Chinglish”—“wrong, embarrassing and sometimes plain rude signs in Chinese English,” as defined by Reuters—by the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. However, according to a new Reuters report, the city most likely will not be able to eradicate all Chinglish before the deadline. Advertisements and menus are the greatest challenges, according to Liu Yang, deputy head of efforts to clean up Beijing’s pre-Olympic language problems.

From Reuters:

He said language experts suffer headaches trying to make sure that menus do not use tortured English. such as those at one well-known Beijing restaurant chain with dishes called “It is small to fry the chicken miscellaneous” or “mixed elbow with garlic mud”.

And regarding advertisements:

For adverts, Liu wants firms to first seek approval from the government before they come out with such mysterious enticements as “Myriad stretch golf, ethereally luxury home”, currently on the side of a large Beijing billboard advertising real estate.

To fight Chinglish, the Chinese government has distributed a list of standardized signs.

Of course, in the fight to preserve Chinglish there’s always The Chinglish Files.

Photo by Jim Benning.

Related on World Hum:
* Signs of Confusion
* Sign Police Hit Beijing Streets; Chinglish Editor Renews Call to Arms

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Photos Courtesy:  REUTERS  |  iStockPhoto  |  flickr  

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