Not signs of a collapsing economy, or signs of global instability … just bad signs. Literally.
You may have heard of some web sites that portray examples of bad English translations, and if you haven’t, and if you can use a laugh, you should take a look at these:
- Engrish.com: Of course, this may be the best collection of this stuff out there (or is it?).
In case of emergency ... Call Superman.
- Chocolate Covered SQL at TheDailyWTF: You don’t have to be ESL to write something inane in English.
- Hanzi Smatter: Do you know what those cool Chinese character tatoos mean? Unfortunately, neither do the people that wear them.
- And two other signs that really should have been looked over before they went to print:
I wonder what they serve here ... oh, "Translate server error"? Sounds delicious!
This one may appear harmless, but the Welsh translation reads: "I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated."
Update: signs aren’t the only things that require forethought and proper planning: this post on kraxu.com illustrates several instances in which a construction project was designed — and carried out — without really thinking things through thoroughly.
Maybe you've heard of the Bridge to Nowhere ... but at least that was never actually built.
Another update: The Daily Mail Online (U.K. paper supplement) features a fairly impressive collection of mangled English signs in a recent article.
Now that is a very ... well, you can read it for yourself.
