Shanghai targeted in non-standard usage of language on the street

Shanghai’s government stepped forward in the battle against signs with poor translations. After enacting the first government regulation in the country for appropriate use of foreign languages in public on Jan 1, authorities opened a hotline and an online service to encourage residents to report non-standard translations.


In Shanghai, the international metropolis, foreign visitors are sometimes confused by hilarious translations on signs in public. Such translations include “Small by” which refers to a grocery store and, “to male business”, seen in several banks, which actually means, “service for corporate businesses”.


Since the build-up to the Shanghai World Expo, Shanghai’s government paid much attention to the informal use of foreign languages on signs and advertisements in public. According to experts at the Shanghai Commission for the Management of Language Use, the main mistakes on public signs include incorrect grammar, misspellings, “Chinglish” which means a poor translation of Chinese into English,inappropriate wording and foreign language without a Chinese translation.