What On Earth Is Wrong With Google Maps’s Chinglish?
June 29, 2010 | Filed Under Chinese language localization | 2 CommentsGet your tummies ready for a massive laugh attack — especially if you’re fluent in both languages. This kind of Google Maps Chinglish is a nationwide phenomenon…
- Shoudu International Airport No.3 Hang Zhang Bldg? This is supposed to be Terminal 3, Beijing Capital International Airport. What they’ve done is they’ve pinyin-transliterated the Chinese word for Capital, Shoudu (首都) and dropped the “Beijing” moniker altogether (although to be fair, it never was there in the first place). In the meantime, “No.3 Hang Zhan Bldg” is perfect mixed Chinglish for “Terminal 3″, written literally as “3 Number Terminal (Hang Zhan) Building”.
- Two Guantou Bridges: Apparently there is a difference between the “plan-vanilla” Guantou Bridge and, just slightly north of that, “Guantou Bridge” (again), in essence, “Guantou Big Bridge” in Pinyinese.
- Finally: Airporthuayi Bridge. This is a direct, no-spaces-required translation of “Airport Huayi Bridge” from Chinese to English. The fact that they forgot the space and the extra caps is more than just “hilarious”.
We won’t bother you with more — amongst the tastier ones are “Pavilion Jiatun” (亭家屯; where 亭 seems to be the name of someone’s family), “The Place” (what place?), and “Daludian No.2 Cun” (odd mix of numbers and names).
Google’s got to get its act together — even if it has left China…
