With the iPhone 4S being released today, it's only a matter of time before the first arrive on China's gray market, where Chinese will rush to bask in Apple's latest creation. However, those early adopters with sub-par English skills may not be as enthusiastic after having a few minutes to play around with Apple's newest gem, Siri. more ›

Watch this China-born YouTube warrior tear into all the annoying mistakes commonly made by Chinese learners of English, as he tries to convince them to actually learn how to pronounce an English word, rather than relying on Chinese character approximation (E.g. Hali Pote (哈里坡特) instead of Harry Potter). more ›

Obama supermarkets, Obama sex dolls, Buddhobama, and now this. more ›

TIGERS ENGLISH ALL DAY. more ›

Slogan for a school in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province:
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This is one helluva recommendation letter that someone wrote for her ayi. One wonders if she got the job?
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Elyse Ribbons shares with us this cute little video featuring snippets of Outlook English, an English-language talent competition organised by national broadcaster CCTV for young people, where she appeared as a "celebrity judge". Which "talents" are your favourites? more ›

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Ever since Expo blasted through town stripping us of food streets, pajamas, and chinglish (basically everything fun) we've found few if any chucklz amongst Shanghai public signs. So you can imagine our delight at this wonderfully pure specimen spotted by the escalator in the Shanghai Long-Distance Coach Terminal. more ›

Spotted in a Shanghai hotel by the guys from Engrish.com: "Foot-soaking in spring time will strengthen Yang and reinforce vital energy, in summer it will dispel disease caused by heat and dampness, in autumn lubricate intestines and in winter warm the pubic region." more ›

Shanghaiist reader MF in China sent this funny little screen grab of a recent movie showing on the international language channel here in Shanghai, ICS. The film was a classic from the early 1990s - a dark crime drama directed by David Mamet, starring Joe Mantegna as a cop investigating the murder of an elderly Jewish candy shop owner. Its name was... more ›

As most of you will know, this week a devastating fire broke out in Jing’An district. We’ve had some pretty in-depth and detailed coverage of the story, and our latest post is a video that you will not find in any form of Chinese media. For more Shanghaiist coverage of the fire click here. more ›

With the vast number of foreigners (especially English teachers) in China, we've always wondered why the government couldn't just hire some of them to do a better job of translating signs around the city. However, it's decided to try bit harder now. From Eastday: "The city yesterday launched a 200-member volunteer team comprising linguistic experts, university students and native English speakers who speak Chinese to continue looking for poorly worded signs even though the World Expo has ended. The volunteers will be responsible for correcting confusing Chinglish signs, promoting local standards for English translations in public places and language training in the city." Well, we don't think you have to be an expert to correct signs that read "Be seated defecate" instead of "Toilet." But while that campaign has launched to correct city signage grammar, a segment of the population, 9000 or so facebook members, have created a group called "Save Chinglish--China's Disappearing Culture to encourage the preservation of the linguistic oddities. We're rather fond of Chinglish signs ourselves--the comical sightings always make our day. more ›

We're not exactly who's behind these literal English translations of Chinese songs, but they seem to have gained quite a following! Youku user Ouzi (欧子, which could be literally translated into "Euro kid") has 27 videos of literal translations up on his page. The most recent one, about Chinese children's songs, was published 8 hours ago but has already garnered over 20,000 hits. more ›

We've all smirked at Chinglish signs around town of English that was either completely unintelligible or accidentally hilarious, but now the tables are turning! With more and more Chinese-speaking tourists entering the Western world, more and more signs are coming with Chinese translations - and they're just as babble fished as the stuff here! more ›

Sleek, fast car, check. 3G capabilities, check. Attractive people (one male, one female, both not Chinese), check. A clear jingle? Er.... more ›

Spotted by Sinopop: more ›

For part two in a series that may never end, we're calling attention to two culinary delicacies that are said to be specialties in Sichuan province. Our question is not so much about the usage of lung in cooking - a quick dip in a hot pot makes anything taste good, after all - but rather if the lung "cold tablets" come in a choice of "husband" or "wife," or if you get a little of both. What do you think? more ›

Shanghai city planners and business owners are primping and polishing for the Expo, but they can't control all of this massive country, after all. We've been traveling around China and thought we'd share some of our findings with you. Enjoy today's special - a grade-school girl's shirt found in a Ren Ren Le supermarket - and be sure and check back each day for the next little while, because we all know what China's official second language is. more ›

OK, we exaggerate, but she did start speaking in a Chinese accent -- that's according to a report by the UK's Daily Mail. Doctors believe that Sarah Colwill, who has long suffered from rare sporadic hemiplegic migraines, has Foreign Accent Syndrome, a condition which damages the part of the brain that controls linguistic ability, and is so rare, there are only 60 such cases documented in the world. Said the 35 year old from Plymouth more ›

Back in August, we were informed of an initiative to wipe out Chinglish on all the city's signs before Expo time. If this billboard from Luxun Park in Hongkou is any indication though, it seems that project hasn't really been very successful, especially considering its proximity to the very people who are supposed to police these things - student volunteers (the park is located right next to Shanghai International Studies University). more ›

We like Uighur food- we cannot lie. From the la mian to the nan, it's all pretty awesome: meaty, bready, often skewered- you name it, we love it. We also happen to love stumbling across funny Chinglish signs: put the two together and you've got Assmann, our new favorite Xinjiang restaurant, located at Fuxing Lu near Xiangyang Lu. Who knew that Uighers loved Seinfeld references as much as we do? We're craving something thick right now (maybe some Da Pan Ji?), does anyone want to join us for some Ass(,)mann? more ›

Hey! Not to toot our own horn or anything (okay, we're tooting it a little), but it looks like we've been mentioned on the Agence France-Presse. That makes us feel kind of famous! In an article about Shanghai's recent attempts to eradicate Chinglish, the AFP quoted our picture of the sign at the Oriental Pearl Tower, where visitors are warned that "ragamuffin, drunken people and psychotics are forbidden to enter." Heh heh heh. It's too bad they didn't also include that bit about the "peculiar smell of effluvium." We were thinking of making that our new tag line. more ›

Shanghai Daily's recent article about the city starting a new phase in its campaign to wipe out those hilarious Chinglish signs reminded of something: this sign we snapped earlier this year at the Pearl Tower. more ›

We've all heard the urban legend about the American girl who wanted to get the Chinese character "love" tattooed to her back and ended up with "whore" instead. But now, with more and more Chinese getting tattoos of English phrases without necessarily knowing what they mean, it turns out that the trend has turned the other way. more ›

"If there's a camel up a hill, then it's Gong Li with me, when I doooo, when I doooo... " more ›

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The ATM at our local ICBC bank on the corner of Huaihai Zhong Lu and Xingguo Lu has a very fancy name: "Cash Recycling Machine". We're half tempted to try what this guy did and see if it will take our fake notes. more ›

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