Beijing outlaws Chinglish and provides multilingual emergency expat hotline

Following its promise to deal with ‘Chinglish’ road signs and suchlike, China is planning a multilingual emergency services hotline in English.

If expats needed proof that English is the world’ second language, they need look no further than Beijing’s attempt to make life easier for its 140,000 expatriates. The city’s latest offering is aimed at foreigners needing fire services, police or emergency medical assistance will be able to call a dedicated number and be put through to a third-party operator using the English language. At the same time, signage in hospitals is to be multilingual, with consultations and registrations all offered in English.

High level foreign language talent will be employed and trained to deal with emergencies of all types, with local institutions including Beijing’s Language and Culture University taking a major part in setting up the new service. The Japanese and French languages are expected to be included at a later date. Beijing’s initial efforts to crack down on poor English translations on road signs were the openers for for the emergency services scheme, although many expats are sad to see some of the more hilarious streetside efforts disappear. Also included in China’s push to make correct English the norm will be the education system and financial services, with standardised translations for around 3,500 public information messages as well as famous examples of Chinese cuisine simplifying everyday life for both foreign residents and tourists.

However, the plethora of hysterically funny road signs is likely to be sorely missed, as they now has a cult following both on and offline and the funniest examples are shared across the world. However, Beijing considers they ‘damage the country’s international image’ and apparently cause social issues, leaving expats to conclude the local authority lacks a sense of humour. A recent article in the People’s Daily newspaper said it all, celebrating ‘Chinglish’ as a source of national pride as it’s been adopted by expats and the Chinese alike. Expressions such as ‘no money, no talk’, ‘geilivable’ – meaning awesome – and Beijing-style slang such as ‘we two who and who’ are used by locals as well as expats and are especially popular with the city’s younger Chinese trend-setters.