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Calling spade a spade!

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tijihba

Barker

Joined: Oct 03, 2005
Posts: 161
Location: Searching... :-)
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Posted: Oct 08, 2006 - 09:16 PM
Post subject: Calling spade a spade!

Over the last week we completed the Shanghai sight seeing - but it was not without its problems. The biggest issue was to tell the taxi guy where to go. Case in point - Ice Sclupture Exhibition - Now what is this place called in Chinese ? Or how do you know ? Looking at map - it was clear that it is on LongHua Road - near the Shanghai Stadium on metro line-1. So going there was OK - but coming back ? What to tell the taxi guy about Shanghai Stadium Di Tie ? We ended up taking taxi to Xujiahui - easier to tell the taxi driver Smile

If this country is so particular about promoting the language (and by all means they should do it - its their country after all - I am an outsider) - at least they can make the life simple by calling things SAME in ALL languages. Call ren-min-guang-chang rather than People's square wherever it is mentioned in english. Two months ago I had tough time at a metro ticket counter asking for a ticket to Century park !! I finally asked for 4Y ticket - it worked - but I did want to buy the ticket to Shi Chi Guang Yuan - not a 4 Y ticket !

CoffeeHawk_0
Board Buddha

Joined: July 14, 2005
Posts: 14380

Posted: Oct 08, 2006 - 09:45 PM

I find it's just easier to tell the driver which intersection you want to go to. If your pronounciation is poor, then you can also show them a map.

sioux

Ranter

Joined: Sep 11, 2005
Posts: 531
Location: Putuo, Shanghai
Status: Offline

Posted: Oct 09, 2006 - 07:27 AM

Good thing the taxi's are so cheap Wink

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Magnolia
Board Biatch

Joined: June 01, 2004
Posts: 31071

Posted: Oct 09, 2006 - 08:52 AM

I don't find the dual usage difficult in most situations... ie... Ren Min Guang Chang does translate to People's Square and for many tourists who may not know pinyin, it is easier to tell the hotel staff that they wish to go to People's Square.

What is more cumbersome is Huai Hai Zhong Lu and Central Huai Hai Road... in those circumstances, the English should be changed to Huai Hai Middle Road to make things less confusing. Or that whole t¡bet Road malarky...

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tijihba

Barker

Joined: Oct 03, 2005
Posts: 161
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Posted: Oct 09, 2006 - 09:46 AM

Magnolia wrote:

.. Ren Min Guang Chang does translate to People's Square and for many tourists who may not know pinyin, it is easier to tell the hotel staff that they wish to go to People's Square.

IMO, for those who have to stay around longer, it would be easy if the chinese names are translated in pinyin - at least for the locations. But, I do take you point !!

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Magnolia
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Joined: June 01, 2004
Posts: 31071

Posted: Oct 09, 2006 - 09:50 AM

Ren Min = People's
Guang Chang = Square

Perhaps I have missed your point.

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tomnoddy_uk
Fire-eater

Joined: Mar 14, 2006
Posts: 2903

Posted: Oct 09, 2006 - 10:21 AM

Part of visiting china, imo, is visiting a country where english is not spoken at all. virtually all other countries have visited, i have found an english speaker, not so in China. why should taxi drivers have to learn english when proabbly 1% of their customers are tourits. Why should chinese have to change their translations to suit english speakers? how many other countries have so many translations everywhere as shanghai does? and after all shanghai is not a tourist city.

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tijihba

Barker

Joined: Oct 03, 2005
Posts: 161
Location: Searching... :-)
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Posted: Oct 09, 2006 - 12:28 PM

tomnoddy_uk wrote:

Right .. I need to learn to write more effectivelyt to make my point Smile

I agree with you completely. All I am saying is that if only the location names (when they appear in english [should I say roman?] script) - instead of translating, they should be transliterated !! Write as you hear or speak. Then fleeting tourists as well as deeply rooted expats can have a bit of easy life.

Magnolia
Board Biatch

Joined: June 01, 2004
Posts: 31071

Posted: Oct 09, 2006 - 12:40 PM

i understand what you are saying, however, it may be difficult for a tourist or occassional business person to be able to pronounce si ping lu, xiang yang lu, chang le lu, xu jia hui, zhao jia bang lu, etc. not that those places have other names... but for the highlights, i think it is easier to have an "english version". additionally, if the name is translated from chinese to english (people's square), then there is also an oppportunity to understand the name.

romanization as a whole includes both transliteration and transciption. it would depend on the natural pronounciation of the person translating the sounds. for example, when i used to tell visitors how to say xu jia hui, i would phonetically write shoe ja whey, which would more or less approximate the sounds used to tell the taxi driver. a person with a different linguistical background may phonetically spell it a different way. guess that is part of the reason the chinese government introduced the pinyin method and the wades-giles method isn't used any longer.

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