Archive for 'On The Road Again'

The Great Wall of China

And no – I did not like my picture being taken but at least it proves I have been there!

It is said that the Chinese Wall can be seen from the moon.  Unfortunately, the claim is actually a myth – but even so, the Wall is a very significant structure.

Three factors  amazed me about the Wall.  Firstly, the crowds.  We were there at 8am and so were thousands of Chinese – from all parts of the country according to my guide.  Secondly, the pride & respect.  The Cultural Revolution of the sixties clearly dealt to some parts of the country but even Mao appeared to have some respect for the handiwork of the old emperors who went before him.  And today’s Chinese citizens are very proud about the Wall and what it represents.  Thirdly, the scale.  Without cranes, without engines, without any aspect of the modern technology we take for granted, the Chinese created something they deemed was necessary and it became a legacy.

Walls do not have to be physical manifestations to be effective – the use of phytosanitary regulations as a barrier to control imports is one example that comes to mind.

But that’s a whole other blog post for another day.

This is what greeted me at the entrance of the supermarket:

5+ A DAY!

How about that for promoting fresh produce?

FRUIT ON DISPLAY

 This fruit carousel also had grower information on display.

Signage was a mixture of pre-printed and handwritten.

LYCHEE DISPLAY

  Going fishing supermarket style!

CUSTOMER CHOOSES, STAFF MEMBER CATCHES

In these supermarkets, fish on ice is considered 2nd grade product.

Some errors of translation are just that – errors – and the translation effort was done with the best of intentions in the first place.

Some, not so much:

Support the Team

Being of German origin, I do know some soccer teams and Borussia I definitely know about.  So I had to look twice at this long distance supporter to realise that the shirt was a clever rip off.  Admittedly the colour was a big giveaway, but can you see the other, careful error?

That is a “P”, not the “D” that it should be for Dortmund.

A carefully designed, deliberate mistake to get around copyright laws; no good intentions here.  Not the first example of such practices and far from the last – as Zespri well knows.

I have two  team members who is fluent in Mandarin and English, both written and spoken, another fluent in Arabic, two fluent in Afrikaans and yet another whose first language is Italian.  Those who know me, know my languages are German and English.  Between us, we can nut out most things.

However, some concepts will always be hard to translate, and the English language is notorious for getting around this by simply absorbing the foreign word into its lexicon.  Words like verandah and mana, for example.

Some translation efforts can be unintentionally funny – there is even a whole website devoted to examples spotted around the world.  Here are two I came across in my recent travels:

CHICKEN

PRAWNS

My time in China was not spent solely touring around supermarkets.   My trusty camera was in operation on the roads between the stores.  While many sights could be found anywhere, this one brought me up short somewhat.  What do you think this could advertise?  It is actually an abortion clinic.  China’s one child laws make this unremarkable.

Aerodynamic umbrella for shade on the move

It was hot and sunny in Changcha, and this adaptation was practical and necessary: