:: zone3 ::

It's not uncommon to see some 'interesting' translations of Chinese into English on signs and the like when in China.

Sometimes the direct Chinese to English translation does not come out quite as intended.. The funny result is known as Chinglish.

With the upcoming Olympics, the Chinese government is keen to get all the signs fixed and into 'proper' English.

In the four months since was last here, one of my favorites has been sadly corrected.
The before and after of the rubbish bins at the Terracotta Warriors:
Before: The "Recycling" and "Unrecycling" Bins

After: The "Recyclables" and "Unrecyclables" Bins

(It's a bit clearer on the full sized version...)

I'm going to the miss the Chinglish.... It makes for much entertainment.

Back in China. Nice to be back visiting again.

Was expecting some nice sunny weather but arrived yesterday morning to rain in Beijing. Was only light, much finer today.

All a very un-eventful series of flights over. I'm beginning to think it is better to have a few delays or missed flights, at least it makes it a bit more exciting.

So far having the fun just adjusting to the time zone and catching up on sleep.


Have decided when travelling it's not the major cultural differences you really notice. As John Travolta put it in Pulp Fiction "It's the little differences." The big ones you're sort of ready for and they don't creep up on you. However the little ones are the ones that sneak in and blind side you.

It looks some companies haven't thrught the wording of their online shopping forms...
The Reading Cinemas online book form asks you for Cardholder and to "print" your name...

Don't recall many other option beside typing on most computers... :)

A couple of weeks ago, I complained about the lack of information around Kiwi Saver options going out to the average public. Well, the whole scheme has now started and although there is more information beginning to come out, but the complaint still stands…

Was reading the Sunday Star Times today. They had an article comparing the various Kiwi Saver funds and I can across the follow literary gem:

Past performance is a better indicator of future performance, and stats are available from the likes of FundSource and Morningstar, and are available in the newspaper, but beware: past performance is no indicator of future performance.

Without looking too closely at this multi clause eyesore, that I’m sure would give both Struck and White a hernia, lets look at the first and last clauses.
“Past performance is a better indicator of future performance” and “past performance is no indicator of future performance”.
Now I can assume what the author is trying to get at, but with ironic statements like that going out to the public around Kiwi Saver how can the average person make a sensible choice.

After getting back from visiting China, decided would learn some basic Chinese Mandarin.

Once get past the whole tonal thing, it’s not too bad… Although do need to practice getting the tones right, otherwise when I get back to China the locals will have no idea what I’m trying to say.