12 April 2007

Bad English in Beijing

This just in from the overly obvious files: Bad English added to list of things Beijing Olympic officials want to ban

My first question after reading this cbc.ca article is how do you 'ban' bad English? China has already proposed deporting foreign workers from the city to make it look cleaner and more cosmopolitan during the Olympics. Whoever thought communism and Olympics would be a good match is an idiot. China is proving very quickly why so many people had good reason to be angered by its selection as host city for the 2008 games. Deport the foreigners (from a multi-nation event), ban bad English (so no-one learns what China really is). Gimme a break. It wouldn't surprise me if they tore down the Great Wall and built a plastic replica to look better. Oh wait! They already have...no joke... Only in certain sections but true. I bet that isn't on the tour.

The story asks how to solve problems like bad Engish signage etc. Hire me! I can spot bad English from a mile away, it's like a game for me here. All they need to do is hire about 10 English people to walk around the city for a week and I'm sure they would correct a lot of the improper spelling. Or they could just tell local Chinese people what a dictionary is.

I for one am in favor of leaving everything as it is. Beijing is already going to appear fake and modified during the games (the amount of money they have put into covering up the reality of China is insane).

I'm eager to see what Brian Williams has to say during his witty 10 minute spurts during CBC's coverage of the games. That's if China doesn't ban foreign media from being sarcastic, which they probably will. My fortune teller skills tell me this games will be remembered as the government controlled no fun games. Winners are not allowed to smile. And they will tax any athlete whose equipment isn't made in China.

No comments: