China to ban embarrassing English

BEIJING – Along with spitting, run-down housing and bad manners, add unintelligible English to the list of things organizers of the 2008 Beijing Olympics want to ban.\nMunicipal officials promised on Wednesday to crack down on awkward, Chinese-inflected English, known as “Chinglish,” and asked the public to help police bad grammar and faulty syntax.\nWith 500,000 foreigners expected for the Olympics, taxi drivers who can’t speak English – or signs that mangle the language – could be an embarrassment and distract from the $40 billion being poured into rebuilding the city for the games.\nThroughout the city, examples abound.\nA store selling tobacco products advertises: “An Excellent Winding Smoke.”\nOn the floor at Beijing’s Capital Airport, a sign reads: “Careful Landslip Attention Security.”\nOn a billboard, this mysterious message: “Shangri-La is in you mind, but your Buffalo is not.”\nIn an elevator, parents are warned: “Please lead your child to tare the life.”\nLiu Yang, who heads the “Beijing Speaks Foreign Languages Program” for the city government, said 6,500 “standardized” English-language signs were put up last year on Beijing roads. But he acknowledged private businesses were not following the rules, which were handed to reporters – a stack of glossy documents weighing 2 pounds.\n“We will pass the message on to authorities in the advertising sector,” Liu said. “If English translation is needed it must be subject to the standards set forth in the regulations.”\nLiu said a language hotline may be set up for the games to encourage the public to report nonsense English. China’s diplomatic missions abroad are assisting, Liu said, “and our people working in foreign companies are helping with correct usage.”\n“In the future when we set up new signs in public places in English, we hope all these standards will be followed to avoid more additional mistakes.”\nLiu said Beijing taxi drivers must pass an English test to keep their licenses. But he acknowledged most speak only Chinese, and many are skipping language classes.