Mistranslation of the day.
Mar. 15th, 2009 03:46 pmEngrish.com has this photo:

I think what's going on is that 无公害 (wú gōng hài) as "non-public nuisance". I would literally translate 无公害 as something more like "without public threat", but clearly someone's machine translation is going haywire. A bit of net research seems to show that "无公害" is a Chinese legal term of art with accompanying certification for products and origination.
Possibly the right idiomatic translation in English is "green", or maybe "organic", but I'm not sure exactly because I don't know what the certification regulations say.
I think what's going on is that 无公害 (wú gōng hài) as "non-public nuisance". I would literally translate 无公害 as something more like "without public threat", but clearly someone's machine translation is going haywire. A bit of net research seems to show that "无公害" is a Chinese legal term of art with accompanying certification for products and origination.
Possibly the right idiomatic translation in English is "green", or maybe "organic", but I'm not sure exactly because I don't know what the certification regulations say.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-16 11:50 am (UTC)