Do You Speak “Chinglish”?

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Daniel Cavanaugh is up front when it comes to what he didn’t know about China before going there. Like the language. Or the culture.

Cavenaugh is an Ohio-based businessman who wants to expand his family’s sign-making company by locking up a deal with China. He’s a character in David Henry Hwang’s play Chinglish. In the play, Cavanaugh says all he knew about China was “the difference between Moo Shu Pork and General Tso’s Chicken.”

For English-speaking visitors, foreign countries try to help ease travel and business by translating signage. The word choices on these signs range from wrong to bizarre to LOL-funny. In China, these mistranslations are known as “Chinglish,” and they’re at the heart of Hwang’s Chinglish, which runs at South Coast Repertory Jan. 25-Feb. 24.

Online—and in the play—you’ll find many Chinglish examples. Here are some of our favorites:

• “Please forgive to be incontinent for interior decoration.”
• Please forgive the inconvenience during our remodeling.
• “Baby on Road”
• Baby on Board
• “Do Not Disturb: Tiny Grass is Sleeping”
• Do Not Walk on Grass
• “Do Drunken Driving”
• Don’t Drink and Drive
• “Smart noshery makes you slobber”
• [We don’t know what this is; from a business marquee!]

Look for more Chinglish signs online.
Share some of your favorites on our Facebook page.