Signese

What's in the bags on the back of this bike?

Where was this photo taken?

This was snapped at the Immigration Museum in Melbourne. It's a poster opposing immigration by Chinese, dating from the 1860s.

Question for you is - what or who are fan tan and pak ah-pu. Both answers are easily found online, so try and have a guess (or use pre-existing knowledge should you have any) before looking them up and spoiling it for everyone else ;-)

I took this picture (a table cloth in a resturant) at Lecce a few days ago. What do you think it means?

PS - I also attach another picture taken in the modern art museum in Bologna. Judging by the shape of the first character I think it is supposed to be Japanese (in Chinese it should have been 常設展 or 展品). Anyone cares to comment if it is correct in Japanese? (At another display of this musuem the word コレクシュン was used, which I think is correct.)

Well, here's a pretty straight-forward one. What does the sign say?

When you've finished taking drugs, what should you do?

What is likely to happen to you if you get too close to this?

如题

This sign is a play on words.

1) What is the original wording?

2) What does this sign mean?

What's this sign for?

OK, here we go:

1) Where is this place? (Which city?)

2) What is this place?

3) What is wrong with the sign?

Alright, these questions can be quite hard I think, but everyone is welcome to attempt.

1. Where (PLACE NAME, better make it clear first this time) do you think this picture was taken at?

2. What is written on the sign? (I do NOT have answer to this question, because I have no idea what it means, either. Maybe it is just not Chinese altogether. It will be much appreciated if anyone can identify the message and share it with me and other forum member.)

I walked past the City Hall in Central (Hong Kong) today and saw this inscription again. The picture was taken years ago. See if you can figure out what it means.

I wrote about this (twice!) in my own blog (in Chinese). If you are interested, take a look at this and this.

PS - Pictures of the English version and the bronze gates added on 9 April 2011.

I saw this poster yesterday when I was on an escalator. I was quite surprised, mainly by Charles' generosity (well he probably did not know what he was doing and it might be his wife's idea). The combined forces of illness and aging are intimidating.

I meant to take a picture of this today but had missed it (as I was on an escalator). So I had to go downstairs again to take this picture.

Now (Q1) see if you know what this poster is about. Do note the new Chinese name of the illness, which is now in use in Hong Kong, and (Q2) guess what the old Chinese name was. The name has been changed to project a more positive light to the patients. We did the same to another illness a few years back. That illness is now called 思覺失調 over here. (Q3) Guess what it means and what it was called before (you might have to google a bit).

Here's one with actual questions!

What event has promoted this trip?

What means of transport is to be used?

What two destinations are named?

Who is eligible to attend?

Are you too late?

Laughing at inaccurate use of English isn't big or clever. So you're only allowed to smile.

(I wanted to make a post, but this was the only photo I had handy)

Maybe someone has posted similar photos before but I'd add a few questions with this one:

1.How many different services can you identify?

2.Where do you think it is most likely to be taken?

Sorry for the large size of the picture (1200X1600) but some interesting (at least I thought they are ) details would have been missing if it had been resized any smaller.

Now enjoying my 1 month break back to where I grew up, there are some pictures that I would like to share. Many things have changed, but sadly, some of those which need changes desperately may have not. I was surprised to see signs like what I took in the first picture (file 001.jpg) through out my trip. Hopefully I will see much less of this kind in the future. Well, question time:

1: What kind of message the first sign is trying to convey?

2: Can you think of one 成语 or 四字俗语 which is related to this sign?

To relax a bit after the somewhat heavy topic, please take a look at the second sign (file 002.jpg), and try to answer these simple questions:

1: I can think of at least two ways to interpret the sign, how about you?

2: There is a joke related to this sign, can you find it?

It seems that I keep posting pictures about trees.

Here is another one that I took today. What has happened to this tree?

On the other side of the tree there was the same notice but in English. And I learnt from the English notice that what had affected the tree was not what I had thought as I had misunderstood the relevant Chinese word. Guess what it is?

My turn to take the signese car for a spin. [Thanks Roddy!]

Two (easy?) questions:

1. Where was this taken?
2. What is it for?

I am back from a short trip to Shanghai and these are two of the pictures I took during a visit to the China Pavilion of the Expo 2010 site.

Observation 1 - I wonder if everyone (e.g. Chinese learners and users of simplified script) sees what Chinese character the logo next to the words "中國館" represents ...

Observation 2 - the name of the kid who did that painting is quite unusual in my opinion. I had never seen such a surname before, and the given name is just too good. Your view?

I am staying in a cheap hotel in Hongkou, Shanghai as a friend is staying here. The hotel works hard to be a good hotel and it is quite nice really. I took this picture at the breakfast yesterday morning. I think this is a bit sad, but of course it is funny too.

This is easy. Just point out what is wrong in this picture.

If you can't figure it out, take a look at this older thread.

The two pictures were taken in different places. The one here was in Granada, Spain. The one in the older thread was in Rome, Italy. Perhaps they hire the same publicity agency in Southern Europe?

Where should you not go, and why?

What is the escalator doing? For extra credit, what antonym was its neighbour showing?