Beijing has retranslated over 13,900 signs in more than sixty of city's scenic spots to fix poor translations for the upcoming Olympics, Beijing Tourism Administration head Zhang Huiguang said.
The inaccurate translations on signs at the city's airport, streets, and other public facilities have long puzzled and amused foreign visitors, China News Service reports.
On a road sign at the entrance of the Badaling freeway, the Chinese Ethnic Culture Park was once mistakenly translated into "Racist Park," causing laughs among foreigners.
The translations on the road signs and other public facilities have attracted the attention of domestic and overseas media.
According to Zhang, the Beijing government has invested 75.71 million yuan (US$10.8 million) in the retranslation project. So far this year, translations on 141 road signs at nineteen scenic spots have been corrected.
To ensure a correct retranslation, the authority has released two regulations for English translation and standardization of public signs, and has organized an advisory team consisting of 35 domestic and foreign experts to check the translations for accuracy.
Citizens have also been encouraged to rectify the translations themselves.
Zhang said the Beijing Tourism Administration has organized experts from China Translation & Publishing Corporation to recheck the public signs in multiple languages. The result shows that errors have been largely reduced.
(CRI March 29, 2008)