Chinglish t-shirts survive the Olympics

For those of you who haven’t heard about it, chinglish, also known as engrish, is a Chinese phenomenon that has had tourists laughing for decades. You don’t have to go there to experience it, you’ve probably seen it at home, on your tv , or even in your closet…

Chinglish is the perfect example of being lost in translation, where simple messages get translated into hilarious typos. Take for example “caution, wet floor”, an easy translation one would guess, but a sign in Beijing reads “careful Landslip Attention security”. One can imagine the embarrassment to the Chinese goverment when the world lands in Beijing and reads “To take notice of safe: The slippery are very crafty” as they are driving on the road!

So severe measures have recently been taken to get rid of all chinglish in Beijing, spelling the end of fun in China as we know it. That’s right, no more “ear spas”. “cash recycling machines” or “genitel emen washing centers”. These memorable translation catasphrophies will be lost forever…

But wait, hope arises from the least expected of places…. t-shirts! Vendors across Beijing have decided to fight back by selling chinglish t-shirts! It goes to show you can never erase history, and thanks to t-shirts, chinglish will live on after the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

You can find your very own chinglish t-shirts on www.wordans.ca, or make your own by writting your own chinglish message!

You can find more examples on http://chinglish.de. Get inspired to make your next custom t-shirt!

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