Category: Chinese language
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I have previously written about Wrong MTR station names and the Hong Kong Free Press has an interesting article on a similar theme Foreign influence Part 1: Lost in translation [..] Mong Kok is another prime example. The former coastal region was named after the overgrown silvergrass found in the area 芒角 mong4 gok3, (‘corner of…
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The instructions are in English. But the touchscreen isn’t. So, that icon on the ‘pick up procedure’ with an arrow pointing up… This one: Don’t see anything like on the touchscreen. Gotta be the green one with an arrow pointing up? No. It’s the orange one with an arrow pointing down. Now, yes, since…
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Many MTR stations have really confusing “English” names on the official maps. 尖沙咀 appears as “Tsim Sha Tsui" on signs. Good luck trying to pronounce that – and if your valiant effort is “Sim Sha Chewy” you won’t be understood by locals because it's actually more like "Jim Sa Joy". 紅磡 is shown as “Hung…
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黐線 chi1 sin3 – crazy, idiot; nuts ParknShop were selling this cheese for HK$40 (which is reasonable by Hong Kong supermarket standards). Then a few weeks later it went up to HK$88, which is definitely 黐線 chisin. Then it went back down to HK$44. Then it was HK$22, which is slightly cheaper than the regular…
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I was amused by this story in the Economist: Long live Cantopop – about the University of British Columbia (UBC) offering a course in Cantonese. I have been listening again to Naked Cantonese (RTHK Podcast), in which Cecilie Gamst Berg tries to teach us to speak like Hong Kong people. One of the many tricks…
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If you live in Greater China you will know that stuff (phones, tablets, etc.) often comes with Chinese as the default setting. And the (pitifully) few Chinese characters I might recognize are nowhere near enough to navigate through the menus to find the option to change to English. Yes it’s my own fault for buying…
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Why does Amazon keep encouraging me to switch to their China store? There’s one tiny, tiny problem: It’s all in Chinese. That button that says “in English”? Sounds promising, but does nothing.
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Another piece of stupid website design. This is the UPS Hong Kong website. It’s in Chinese, which is fair enough, but surely there must be an English version. Common sense would dictate that there would be a button marked ‘Language’or ‘Eng’or something similar. In English. Nope, can’t see that anywhere. Yes there is an English…
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Look, I've tried, really I have. I've attended public courses, I've paid for private tuition, I've bought books…and yet my Cantonese is still rubbish – and I've always felt that somehow this wasn't actually my fault. Now I'm delighted to discover that this might not be self-delusion, and that Hong Kong people don't really want foreigners…
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Paypal have set up a Hong Kong site. Hurrah – there’s an English version. However, you have to wonder about the common sense of the people who set it up, because this is the screen header: Well-designed multi-lingual sites have a button saying ‘English’. This one doesn’t. However, if you can recognize any Chinese characters…
Ordinary Gweilo 