Thursday, March 06, 2008

The wait is over ...

In September 2007 I received a mail informing me about a particularly wonderful Chinglish File in Guangzhous's Martyr's Park 广州起义烈士陵园 (see Wikipedia entry) and immediately called for photographic support.

My call was answered yesterday.

Et voilà!



喧哗 xuan1hua2 - actually can mean whoopla or hullabaloo, no doubt about that. Here it rather indicates to keep your voices down. I hesitate to suggest "Silence, please" as an alternative translation,however, since this is usually used in museums or cemeteries, not in parks. What do you think?

Many thanks to Phillip!

8Comments:

At 6:39 PM, Blogger philliptaylor6 wrote ...

I'd suggest "Keep your voices down," although this would appear equally weird in a park setting as "Silence Please." Requesting silence seems more appropriate for a church setting, or something similarly sacred.

I think the intention is to rein in exceptionally loud mainland tourists, but I really don't know how useful such a sign would be. I mean I really don't know. Perhaps some people quiet down when they see the sign.

But while I was there, anyway, the park was exceptionally quiet and peaceful. There was even a spot where (it is hard to describe) there was an "echo circle," that is, if you stand in the center and speak, your voice echoes off the walls in such a way that you hear your voice spoken DIRECTLY back into your ear. Very creepy and actually, very noticeable in the remarkably quiet area of Guangzhou.

 
At 6:43 PM, OpenID clarkstill wrote ...

I think "No yelling", "No screaming", or something similar would be appropriate.

 
At 5:14 AM, Anonymous Anonymous wrote ...

Keep quiet,please!
C'est accord?

 
At 5:19 AM, Blogger olr — 纪韶融 wrote ...

C'est pas mal ca!

Thanks.

olr.

 
At 4:59 PM, Anonymous Anonymous wrote ...

i think you blog is very interesting! i like you blog very much. i am Chinese,glad to see you !
my name is Jin Tao,en is Shynloc,germany name is Adalgiso.
aha^

 
At 12:51 AM, Anonymous Rick wrote ...

"Please consider your neighbours, keep the noise down"

 
At 5:28 AM, Anonymous frieda wrote ...

no hooliganism?

 
At 6:52 AM, Anonymous Anonymous wrote ...

Be Respectful

 

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