“Wang Had to Burn” and Other Hilarious Mistranslations
A friend posted this hilarious compilation of Chinese mistranslations to Facebook this morning. I don’t usually laugh out loud while reading things, but some of these brought tears to my eyes.
See them all. Warning: Some translations contain profanity
It also reminded me of my day in Santiago, Chile a few years ago. I was so proud of being able to use my nearly forgotten high school Spanish and answer our cab driver when he asked (in Spanish) what the weather in Washington, DC was like.
He burst out laughing and I discovered later I had said “DC is so sexy right now.” DC es muy caliente ahora instead of hace mucho calor. Ah well. At least I didn’t imply any ducks were being harmed…
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well it’s pathetic the psychology behind these signs/translations, by simply including English texts on their menu/poster/signs, some Chinese think it elevated their status. it came from years of subordinate mentality suffered during 19-early 20th century. i am a native Chinese and learned these phenomenon from growing up seeing them.