BEIJING - As Tiananmen Square's Olympic
clock records the ever-decreasing number of
seconds until August 8, 2008, Beijing is
undergoing a frenetic makeover of citywide
proportions. Urban planners seem to have taken the
Olympic motto "Faster, Higher, Stronger" to heart,
as construction workers toil to complete Olympic
infrastructure on schedule, and the city prepares
itself for next year's anticipated influx of
foreign visitors.
It's not only Beijing's
physical environment that's changing. The Chinese
government aims to use the Olympics as a tool for
developing Beijingers
themselves, re-educating them as smiling,
service-oriented folk ready to welcome "foreign
friends" to their city in English. Another Olympic
motto, "Use Accurate English to Welcome the
Olympics", highlights the importance that Beijing
places on improving the city's literary and
linguistic landscape.
"Olympic English"
classes have sprung up in every neighborhood.
Armies of senior citizens armed with an official
textbook delightfully titled Don't Be Shy, Just
Try attend English lessons every weekend.
Police officers and taxi drivers have been ordered
to master at least 200 English phrases. The goal
is to have one-quarter of the city's 14 million
inhabitants familiar with their ABCs in a little
less than 16 months.
To the
disappointment of some Beijing expatriates,
efforts are also on to rid the city of the scourge
of "Chinglish". Hotlines have been set up for
beady-eyed citizens who spot an
English-language-related mistake on a public sign
to call and notify the authorities. As China's
very own version of pidgin English is still
rampant throughout the capital, the phones
are going to be busy.
"It's an
embarrassment for the local residents, and our
city," said Beijing English student Xiao Jie.
"Every citizen who can read English has the duty
to notify the relevant authorities about these
errors, to make sure they are changed before the
eyes of the world turn to Beijing."
There
are plenty of local websites, such as "Here We
Go", that are dedicated to fighting the Chinglish
battle. Hosted by China Daily, the country's
official English-language newspaper, the aim of
this site is to correct English signs across the
nation. It encourages volunteers who track down a
mistake to submit a photo, along with the correct
version and details of the location.
Site experts
show the way with articles on correction written
from an erudite viewpoint.
The
government-sponsored Beijing Speaks Foreign
Languages Program was started in 2002. According
to Lu Jinlan, head of the organizing committee, by
the start of this year the program had "worked out
4,624 pieces of standard English translations to
substitute the Chinglish ones on signs around the
city".
Organization experts are also
attempting to standardize the often baffling
English names of Chinese dishes on Beijing menus,
offering help to restaurant owners via a website.
While this is undoubtedly a huge and impossible
task, anyone who has pondered over the ingredients
of "crispy skin infections" or "man
and wife lung
slices" will surely be supportive.
Of
course, Chinglish eradication is only a small part
of Beijing's Olympic facelift - the city is
gearing up to portray itself as a truly modern
metropolis, and relevant official bodies are also
doing their bit to stamp out uncivilized behavior.
Neighborhood committees are being encouraged to
teach members how to mind their Ps and Qs, and
create "courteous communities".
The
Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of XXIX
Olympiad has pinpointed five areas where it feels
the city's social etiquette is still lacking.
These are: swearing, spitting, littering,
disorderly queuing, and not smiling. However, the
challenge presented by littering and spitting may
soon be
surmounted by the effects of highbrow
debating and home improvement.
In their
drive to cultivate courteous citizens, Beijing has
recently implemented a "morality-evaluation index"
that ranks neighborhoods by their level of
refinement. The competition among neighborhoods is
fierce, as committees across the city compete to
discuss such edifying topics as "Host the Olympics
with civility" and "Smile in Beijing".
Sadly,
and quite predictably, many of Beijing's
well-intentioned efforts have had little
noticeable effect to date. Taxi drivers
complain
that they are unable to retain the dozens of
English phrases they are forced to learn to pass
mandatory tests. While the occasional cabbie is
only too happy to practice his newfound linguistic
skills, it is still usually the foreign passenger
who labors to decipher the driver's coarse Beijing
patois. Considering the pittance that most of
these drivers are paid, it's hard not to feel
sorry for these middle-aged men struggling to pick
up what they missed in the classroom first time
around.
English signs and menus across
the city remain a source of considerable
bewilderment to those unused to decoding Chinglish
and persist in entertaining those accustomed to
the vagaries of
translation in this country. Subways, elevators
and ticket queues continue to amuse, amaze and
frustrate the foreigner in equal amounts.
Nevertheless, it would be churlish to deny
that next year's big event is transforming Beijing
both architecturally and temperamentally. Whatever
the outcome of this Herculean social and urban
development project may be, it's hard not to
admire the Chinese for their drive and
determination to succeed. If a few foreign
visitors have to resort to their Mandarin phrase
books, does it really matter?
Daniel
Allen is a freelance writer and photographer
from London who has lived in China for the past
three years.
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places on improving the city's literary and
linguistic landscape. 
rampant throughout the capital, the phones
are going to be busy. 
Site experts
show the way with articles on correction written
from an erudite viewpoint. 
and wife lung
slices" will surely be supportive. 
surmounted by the effects of highbrow
debating and home improvement. 
complain
that they are unable to retain the dozens of
English phrases they are forced to learn to pass
mandatory tests. While the occasional cabbie is
only too happy to practice his newfound linguistic
skills, it is still usually the foreign passenger
who labors to decipher the driver's coarse Beijing
patois. Considering the pittance that most of
these drivers are paid, it's hard not to feel
sorry for these middle-aged men struggling to pick
up what they missed in the classroom first time
around. 
translation in this country. Subways, elevators
and ticket queues continue to amuse, amaze and
frustrate the foreigner in equal amounts.
