Jiri Stejskal cannot forget a “Please Do Not Disturb” sign that once hung at the door of the hotel room he stayed in Beijing seven years ago.

The back side of the sign read: “Please Disturb”. The words are correct, but it is just not proper English, not in the English language culture, Stejskal, vice-president of the International Federation of Translators (FIT) and chief organizer of the XIX FIT World Congress in San Francisco, told China Daily.

It was his first visit to China, and he remembered taking quite a few photos of “funny English” he found in the streets of Beijing and other cities.

Since then, he has traveled to China several times. He has noticed “funny English” is decreasing. “The changes are really enormous,” he said, adding that translation in China has a much better standing in the world.

That may explain why the Chinese translators have arguably the third-largest presence – next only to the Americans and Norwegians – at the FIT world congress. The four-day forum, which opened on Monday, attracts more than 700 translators and interpreters from around the world; the registered attendees from China are 54.  Read more on China Daily

See: China Daily