LOST IN TRANSLATION:English speakers might well be perplexed by some signs in Hualien County, which imply the indiscriminate use of software translation programs
Taipei Times
Date: May 29, 2015
By: Wang Chin-yi and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer
In a setback to Hualien County’s much touted effort to refocus its tourist industry
A billboard outside Hualien Train Station is seen on Wednesday. Photo: Wang Chin-yi, Taipei Times
toward the international market, pictures of comical and confusing attempts to render signs from Chinese into English have gone viral on the Internet.
A Facebook user posted images of three road signs for Dasyue Road (大學路) within 5km of each other in Hualien County’s Shoufong Township (壽豐). The English romanization of the Chinese characters on the three signs do not match: They read “Daxue,” “Dah Shyue” and in an experimental attempt at partial translation “Big Xue,” none of which employ Tongyong Pinyin or Hanyu Pinyin, which are normally used on signs in Taiwan.
Not only would road users be confused by the multiple renditions, it seems to imply that the signs refer to three different roads, the poster wrote. [FULL STORY]
