Funny Mistranslations

  • 1. On an Athi River Highway: TAKE NOTICE: WHEN THIS SIGN IS UNDER WATER, THIS ROAD IS IMPASSABLE.
  • 2. At a Budapest zoo: PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS. IF YOU HAVE ANY SUITABLE FOOD, GIVE IT TO THE GUARD ON DUTY.
  • 3. Cocktail lounge, Norway: LADIES ARE REQUESTED NOT TO HAVE CHILDREN IN THE BAR.
  • 4. A sign seen on an automatic restroom hand dryer: DO NOT ACTIVATE WITH WET HANDS.
  • 5. Dry cleaner's Bangkok: DROP YOUR TROUSERS HERE FOR THE BEST RESULT.
  • 6. A laundry room in Rome: LADIES, LEAVE YOUR CLOTHES HERE AND SPEND THE AFTERNOON HAVING A GOOD TIME.
  • 7. Hotel Japan: YOU ARE INVITED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE CHAMBERMAID.
  • 8. Tokyo hotel's rules and regulations: GUESTS ARE REQUESTED NOT TO SMOKE OR DO OTHER DISGUSTING BEHAVIOURS IN BED.
  • 9. Translated from Japanese to English and included in the instructions for a soap bubble gun: WHILE SOLUTION IS NOT TOXIC IT WILL NOT MAKE CHILD EDIBLE.
  • 10. Sign over the information booth in a Beijing railroad station: QUESTION AUTHORITY
  • 11. Hotel brochure, Italy: THIS HOTEL IS RENOWNED FOR ITS PEACE AND SOLITUDE. IN FACT, CROWDS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD FLOCK HERE TO ENJOY ITS SOLITUDE.
  • 12. In a South African maternity ward: NO CHILDREN ALLOWED.
  • 13. On the menu of a Swiss restaurant: OUR WINES LEAVE YOU NOTHING TO HOPE FOR.
  • 14. Car rental brochure, Tokyo: WHEN PASSENGER OF FOOT HEAVE IN SIGHT, TOOTLE THE HORN. TRUMPET HIM MELODIOUSLY AT FIRST, BUT IF HE STILL OBSTACLES YOUR PASSAGE THEN TOOTLE HIM WITH VIGOUR.
  • 15. Booklet about using a hotel air conditioner, Japan: COOLES AND HEATES; IF YOU WANT CONDITION OF WARM AIR IN YOUR ROOM, PLEASE CONTROL YOURSELF.
  • 16. Hotel Yugoslavia: THE FLATTENING OF UNDERWEAR WITH PLEASURE IS THE JOB OF THE CHAMERMAID.
  • 17. Hotel lobby, Bucharest: THE LIFT IS BEING FIXED FOR THE NEXT DAY. DURING THAT TIME WE REGRET THAT YOU WILL BE UNBEARABLE.
  • 18. A paragliding site near Beijing has a sign that reads: SITE OF JUMPING UMBRELLA.
  • 19. Hotel, Acapulco, Mexico: THE MANAGER HAS PERSONALLY PASSED ALL THE WATER SERVED HERE.
  • 20. The box of a clockwork toy made in Hong Kong: GUARANTEED TO WORK THROUGHOUT ITS USEFUL LIFE.
  • 21. The translation of the Ethnic Minorities Park in Beijing for a long time was RACIST PARK.
  • 22. A sign posted in Germany's Black Forest: IT IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN ON OUR BLACK FOREST CAMPING SITE THAT PEOPLE OF DIFFERENT SEX, FOR INSTANCE, MEN AND WOMEN, LIVE TOGETHER IN ONE TENT UNLESS THEY ARE MARRIED WITH EACH OTHER FOR THIS PURPOSE.
  • 23. On a South African building: MENTAL HEALTH PREVENTION CENTRE.
  • 24. In an East African newspaper: A NEW SWIMMING POOL IS RAPIDLY TAKING SHAPE SINCE THE CONTRACTORS HAVE THROWN IN THE BULK OF THEIR WORKERS.
  • 25. Included with the package of complimentary wares in a Chinese hotel was a pair of workout shorts marked: UNCOMPLIMENTARY PANTS.
  • 26. From the "Soviet Weekly": THERE WILL BE A MOSCOW EXHIBITION OF ARTS BY 15,000 SOVIET REPUBLIC PAINTERS AND SCUPTORS. THESE WERE EXECUTED OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS.
  • 27. An advertisement by a Hong Kong dentist: TEETH EXTRACTED BY THE LATEST METHODISTS.
  • 28. Hotel elevator, Paris: PLEASE LEAVE YOUR VALUES AT THE FRONT DESK.
  • 29. Hotel room notice, Chiang-Mai, Thailand: PLEASE DO NOT BRING SOLICITORS INTO YOUR ROOM.
  • 30. Airport Toilets, Denmark It is free to wash yours hands, but use of the wash for other purposes 5 Dkr.
  • 31. In 2002, a sign in front of a rock garden in the Forbidden City in Beijing warned tourists: PLEASE DO NOT CLIMB THE ROCKETRY.
  • 32. Hotel in Japan: COOLS AND HEATES: IF YOU WANT JUST CONDITION OF WARM AIR IN YOUR ROOM, PLEASE CONTROL YOURSELF.
  • 33. An advertisement by a Hong kong dentist: TEETH EXTRACTED BY THE LATEST METHODISTS
  • 34. Tokyo hotel's rules and regulations: GUESTS ARE REQUESTED NOT TO SMOKE OR DO OTHER DISGUSTING BEHAVIORS IN BED.
  • 35. Movie Fargo mistranslated in Hong Kong: "Mysterious Murder in Snowy Cream." (They didn't know Fargo was a city in North Dakota.)
  • 36. Movie The English Patient mistranslated in Hong Kong: "Don't Ask Me Who I Am."
  • 37. Movie Boogie Nights mistranslated in Hong Kong: "His Powerful Device Makes Him Famous."
  • 38. Movie 'Nixon' mistranslated in Hong Kong: "The Big Liar."