Results tagged “translation”

China takes a lot of crap for failing to get a second opinion on the English they throw into circulation, often leading to amusing f*ck ups like this and this. It turns out, however, that this knife cuts both ways.

Earlier reports that Shanghai may axe its loss-making Formula One Grand Prix once its contract runs out in 2010 have now been negated by a spokesperson for one of the organisers. Qiu Weichang, deputy director of the Shanghai Administration of Sports, was previously reported to have said:

We're doing the assessment. By next year we should be able to give you an answer," he said in an interview late on Thursday. China's biggest city spent 240 million dollars on the state-of-the-art Shanghai International Circuit and hosted its first Formula One race in 2004. But the event has been plagued by poor ticket sales and Qiu said its fate was in the balance.

Continue reading "Shanghai's F1 Grand Prix to be extended past 2010 after all"

Just in case you were looking for it.

... then please, at least make sure it works!

EastSouthWestNorth has translated an excellent story on the translation crisis in China that first appeared in Phoenix Weekly. It talks about the more than 1,000 foreign literary works that are translated and published in China each year (and we assume that number is still growing). The story laments over the "awfulness of the translations, the crudeness of the translators and the absence of critical reflection on what is happening". It then looks into why translation...