But When You Get Down To It, Does Michael Irvin Make Any More Sense?

Only a little more than a year to go before the 2008 Summer Olympics, which should just give the Chinese government enough time to run Beijing through spell check.

Chinglish has become a running joke among many foreigners in China, and several websites have been set up listing humorous examples of mistranslation. A road sign on Beijing's Avenue of Eternal Peace warns of a dangerous pavement with the words: "To Take Notice of Safe; The Slippery are Very Crafty". Menus frequently list items such as "Corrugated iron beef", "Government abuse chicken" and "Chop the strange fish". The mistranslations arise because many Chinese words express concepts obliquely and can be interpreted in multiple ways, making translation a minefield for non-English speakers.

China is cracking down on this, so when you visit the Olympics next year expect the translations to reflect exactly what the signs mean.

Bejing Stamps Out Poor English [BBC] Oh Carp! China's Got A Lot Of Editing To Do [The Wichita Eagle]