Grammar 'police' search for signs of improvement

In a bid to avoid bewilderment and confusion among residents and tourists, the tourism authority and language experts began checking spelling and grammar on English and Chinese signs at major tourist attractions, hotels and transport hubs.

It is part of preparations for the China International Import Expo in November, when many overseas visitors are expected.

An inspection team of officials, citizens and language experts went out into the streets and found a number of translation mistakes yesterday.

A bilingual sign on an escalator at the Shiliupu Pier on the Huangpu River, for instance, says Please Attention the Frequency Acceleration, which is hard to understand in any language, said Chai Mingjiong, a translation and interpreting professor with Shanghai International Studies University.

He suggested replacing the sign with Watch Your Step.

The ticket checks at many parks have a check in sign, which should be ticket check.

“The signs and slogans at tourist attractions should be accurate, simple, easy to understand and look friendly,” said Zhu Ye, another professor with the university.

The team examined signs at airports, transport hubs, hotels and major commercial streets.

Another round of inspections will be carried out in September to make sure that all mistakes found in the inspection have been corrected.

Shanghai received about 4.3 million visitors from overseas on the first half of 2018 along with nearly 100 million domestic travelers, according to the Shanghai Tourism Administration.