Signs, Signs, Everwhere There's Signs

Technically, nothing wrong here.
However, no native English
speaker I know would speak quite like this.

OK, here is a little bit of a rant from me. Now, I have lived in Asia for coming up on six years now and have done a fair bit of traveling through both the highly developed Asia as well as the developing area of the continent. This observation is of something that can be cute and endearing in the developing world, but which I find inexcusably lazy and careless when I encounter it in downtown Taipei, Seoul, Hong Kong, etc.

Heaven forbid one should be scarred.
Being killed might be more of a concern.

What I am speaking of is the butchering of the language on English signs. I realize fully that not everyone speaks English as a first language and I do applaud those that have learned to speak it even at a basic conversational level. What I do not applaud though is those who speak/write English at a good, yet imperfect, level but who will not ask others for verification on the work they have done in English. I saw a set of very good examples yesterday at a railway station in Pingtung. Four safety banners were hanging at the station and all four were written in English which ranged from awkward to poor. Now, most certainly it was written in English many, many levels above my Chinese, but every sign needed some tweaking.

The worst of the bunch...
Words that don't exist,
fragments masquerading as sentences,
missing modifiers,
this one needs a lot of help.

Personally, if I am in a small restaurant and I see a menu or a sign with awkward English, I do nothing but appreciate the effort someone has put in. I appreciate this whether I am at a tiny noodle stall in Bagan, Myanmar or at a mom and pop lunch box in downtown Taipei. However, I am not near as forgiving when I see the same errors at a McDonald's, KFC, MosBurger or any other big business franchise. I am constantly surprised at the number of signs that I come across from big organizations where the English is just totally butchered. For me, the government and government subsidized or controlled businesses are the biggest culprit. Why on Earth would an organization with a cash flow of billions of dollars be so careless when an answer is so easily found? There are literally thousands of native English speakers living and working in Taiwan, most either as teachers or translators. Almost any of these would be happy to give something the once over before it goes to press to ensure the language works as intended. The costs would be a pittance in comparison to just the costs of printing the signs, menus, posters or whatever other format is to be used.

While only a few grammatical
slip ups, this is still pretty
awkward.

These four banners would not have been super cheap to produce and I am sure that the same banners are visible at a number of stations. I am sure that those in charge could have found someone to proofread and adjust for the price of a single meal at a mid level restaurant. Why they wouldn't bother is totally beyond me.

Observations on the Press

OK, I am not intending to be a political blogger at all, I will leave that to those, such as Michael Turton, who do it much better. This is merely an observation of the slant two different dailies in how they cover a fairly major set of political events here in Taiwan.

I am sure I am not alone in interpreting "Ma quits, announces his bid for presidency" from being the glass half full take on the current KMT Chair Ma Ying-jeou scandal, while "Ma indicted, quits as KMT chair" is the glass half empty version.

Political games certainly exist in the press every bit as much as they do within the participating parties.

I have been in Taiwan for a little over four years now. In that time many things which were a mystery to me at the beginning now make sense; maybe not perfect sense, but some sense anyways. I no longer salivate with dreams of ice cream when the garbage truck comes by. I can appreciate, if not fully understand, the chaos involved in in a transportation system where scooters rule the road. Hell, I can even enjoy stinky tofu.

At least one mystery remains though. I really don't understand the morning commute habits of many who ride the Green Line MRT. I live very close to the Xindian MRT station, which is the terminal station of that line. What this means, is that once the train reaches this station, it heads back in exactly the same direction from which it came. The station the train just came from (Xindian City Hall Station) is also the next stop after Xindian. Logic would suggest to me that this being the case, the train should empty out at Xindian. Logic fails me here though, as this is not the case at all. A good 70% of the people on the train, maybe 25 per car, remain on board, wait for the six minute stop time and head back to exactly where they came from. I just don’t get it.

Now, I am sure you are thinking, “What is his problem? What difference could it possibly make to him how someone uses the train?” Of course, you would be right. Then again, you would be wrong. It affects me in that because so many are remaining seated, I have difficulty getting a seat I like. This means a seat facing forward, next to the window. Many others seem to like these too and those who stay on board are either already in those seats, or they shift to them before I am able.   Now, since I ride for 13 stops and approximately half an hour, good seating has a real value to me.  Why these people are taking it away from me is bothersome to someone as petty as I.

Maybe I should be able to easily move on past this, but I can't.  As mentioned above; I am petty at times.  This is one of those times.

All I want is a good seat for my journey....Is that too much to ask?  Get the hell out of my seat people!!