I recently encountered a couple of translations that are so comical that I just cannot keep them to myself.

The first one was a sign in a five star hotel room. The Chinese sign viewthreads "小心滑倒!" The English sign viewthreads "Slip carefully!" The English version made me feel very uneasy for the rest of my stay in that hotel. It gave me the impression that this room was specially designed for ice skaters. I know I will never be a Michelle Kwon no matter how hard I try.

We Chinese are not the only ones with such a great sense of humor. I was waiting for my flight in the Incheon International Airport in Seoul, Korea, when I heard an announcement in three languages (Korean, English and Chinese). While I had no idea what the Korean version said, the English version sounded rather routine: "the flight was delayed due to aircraft connection." However, the Chinese version sounded rather odd: "由于飞机关系的原因,该航班误点." This seems to be rather frightening to me: does this mean that I needed to have a friend or at least send a gift to the pilot to establish a "connection (关系)" in order to avoid any delay of my flight?

Last year, I found an interesting translation of 小心滑倒--'Be careful of landslide" at a bathroom in a hotel when I was in lijiang,Yunnan. Later I will upload the picture of that.

原帖由 hillbilly 于 2008-7-21 20:18 发表
Last year, I found an interesting translation of 小心滑倒--'Be careful of landslide" at a bathroom in a hotel when I was in lijiang,Yunnan. Later I will upload the picture of that.

Ah, that's even more dramatic! :-)

Actually, the Chinese version I saw is 小心地滑!not 小心滑倒. What a pity! I can't locate the picture.

does the 小心滑倒 should be translated to be "watch your step"?

原帖由 老街数码 于 2008-7-22 18:57 发表
does the 小心滑倒 should be translated to be "watch your step"?

Very reasonable translation, although it could also refer to a not so obvious step. "Slipery floor" is the most common in this situation. If you want a more complete version, British would say "mind slippery floor", and Americans would say "beware of slippery floor".