Tag Archives: Chinglish

Chinglish, Languages

I HATE CHINGLISH AT CHINA’S RAILWAY STATIONS

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There. I let my emotions loose. Never mind I’ve my mixed opinions on if we should call 北京南站 either Beijing South (correct) or Beijingnan (pinyin works). But I’ve seen a few of the sickest Chinglish at China’s train stations.

China’s trains are the best on the planet. The CRH380AL, which shuttles riders all the way between Beijing and Guangdong, is the fastest train on the world when it comes to train sets in actual commercial operation this very present day. So why should a First Class HSR system make do with Second Class Chinglish?

I’ve collected a few of the crassest mistakes. I’m now on a mission to knock out all Chinglish at China’s train stations faster than the CRH380AL speed machine. Think of this as my social duty as a teacher of English and media in universities around China (Communication University, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (Graduate School) and soon, Hebei University, if the plans work out well).

I don’t charge the rails a single half penny for this. We’ve got to give back to society once in a while. I’ve enough in the piggy bank to keep the batteries up for a fair bit of time. In the meantime, it’s time to be a lingo Mensch, as Guy Kawasaki’d say so…


The new Shijiazhuang HSR hub: there’s no need for an extra “the”!


OMG. Xuzhou’s Chinglish has me totally freaking out. Stop mouth?


You can’t make this bit of artificial Chinglish up!…


Must smell awful: The “Wind” of the World?


Finally, on the trains, the taps themselves come with Chinglish pre-installed…

China

2012: “Set Up the Situation For Environment Really Grasp Solid F***”

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Wow, that kind of did it for me. The F*** bit is cute Chinglish: its real Chinese variant, 真抓實幹 (zhen zhua shi gan), means to “forge ahead” or in the words of my 6th grade teacher, Mr Greaves, “chop chop! Get crackin’!”

I’m starting the year with a little bit of Chinglish here — “Set Up the Environment For Continue Really Grasp Solid F***” is 創造環境，真抓實幹 — or basically, “Enter Work Mode”. The new year will start on a high speed note for me as I board Train G41 to Langfang, where I’ll get my first Starbucks tea fix in Langfang. That’s how I do work: with a bit of tea, trains (no planes, at least not for Chinese domestic travel), and a lot of work — to get crackin’ with. Here’s what I have in terms of my plans for the new year:

  • A great majority of my work this year will be to get stuff regarding trains up to speed. I am looking ahead to my 50,000th kilometre by rail around Spring Festival (Chinese New Year), which is my excuse for my first e-book debut, where I will take travellers around 50 major Chinese train stations and their cities they’re in. I will remain in the Metro and Subway worlds as well because this has been what I started keeping track of five years ago. I will also launch the Dear Passengers international travel community, which will at first be an online community in English for international travellers on Chinese railways.
  • My Chinglish involvement remains unchanged as well. I’ve around 2,200 pics to start the year already. I’m guessing there’s a healthy majority I still yet have to chronicle.

Finally, I’m also giving the family more time this year, and I will remain active online. Some of my more “dormant” commitments, such as Quora, LinkedIn and RenRen (China) will see a fair bit more activity this year. Personally, I also aim to be more responsive when it comes to email, and more importantly, I’ll take days off this year on a regular basis to exercise. I’ll dump the laptops at home and rely on my iPhones and maybe an iPad as well.

I don’t know if this is the kind of thing I’m allowed to say in a year where “the world is supposed to end”. Me, personally, I don’t buy that. Not if at least the Hong Kong part of the Beijing-Hong Kong HSR opens late 2015…

Have a great new year!