On April 16th, the 2007 Pulitzer Prize winners were announced. Winners this year included the amazing Ornette Coleman for his terrific new album, Sound Grammar. Not to sidetrack this already slow-starting blog entry, but Coleman is only the second non-classical composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music. Wynton Marsalis won one in 1997 (too bad he sucks big time), and Duke Ellington was controversially shafted in 1965. The staff at the Wall Street Journal were awarded one for International Reporting for “[the WSJ's] sharply edged reports on the adverse impact of China’s booming capitalism on conditions ranging from inequality to pollution.”

What the WSJ apparently failed to report was that the booming capitalism that is making its way into the command economy of China has failed to bring along with it spellcheck (ironically, spell checker doesn’t like the word “spellcheck”). On a recent trip to China with my family, I saw a country that was excited for the spotlight of the 2008 Summer Olympics to shine down on them. To the 1.3 billion Chinese people there, this was a further sign of being accepted into the global community. New and flashier buildings were being erected and historical landmarks were being renovated to put on a pretty face for the expected incoming tide of foreign visitors. Still, there are plenty of other things China has to work on when it becomes the center of attention: traffic congestion, horrible drivers, air pollution, and poorly written English-translations. Engrish signs, or in this case “Chingrish,” was a common sight as I made my way through Beijing, Xi’an, and Shanghai. It was baffling to me; I figured with the homogenization of culture that Engrish signs full of bad grammar and spelling would be a thing of the past. What was even more baffling was how some places would have signs printed in perfect English, and the next thing you ran into would be completely unintelligible. Only recently has the government started addressing the problem. Also, you figure in a country of over a billion people, someone there would be knowledgeable in just enough English to fix these things. If you’re a college graduate fluent in Chinese, make your way to China for a career in the emerging field of Engrish correction.

Here are a few examples I found myself:


When chopsticks aren’t available, the alternate method of food consumption in China is sucking.

This was at a famous mountain in China right by a cliffs edge, so I’m assuming they’re referring to the Acme Corp. safes that tend to fall on Wile E. Coyote.

What’s even funnier about this photo is that it is at the site of a tomb named “Dingling.”

This was on a trash receptacle on the Great Wall. I can’t even think of anything clever to say about this, I’ll let it speak for itself.

There are actually two misspellings in this photo. The second one was a little tricky to notice.

Not only is the English translation poorly done, but apparently the machinery used to make signs in English are very crude.

That sign is a literal translation of the Chinese word for lighter (a clearer translation would be “fire striking apparatus”), although I guess someone forgot to translate the last character.

If you can read this… YOU’RE TOO DAMN CLOSE.

I’ll conclude with this little gem, also from the Great Wall.

- Carman