A reader sent me this picture and asked, "What does the Chinese say?"
Sitting at home, I burst out laughing. For this case not only shows a lack of understanding of the languages from both the content writer and the translator, but also demonstrates the breakdown of communication between these two key players.
First, let us dissect the Chinese on the placard:
德式 = German style
咸 = salted; salty; cured
猪手 = ham hock(s)
However, in many parts of the Chinese-speaking world, 咸猪手 is slang for "grabby hands." Therefore, whoever decided to name this dish 咸猪手 was either careless or completely unaware of its "grabby hands" annotation. Seeing that the translator didn't raise the red flag that the use of 咸猪手 was questionable, it is very likely that most people in 长沙 (where Quan Sheng Hotel is located) are not familiar with this particular "grabby hands" slang.
It is plausible that the person tasked with translating 德式咸猪手 into English used machine translation such as Google Translate for the job, but didn't bother to check what "German type sexual harassment" actually means in Chinese. For if they had taken the time to do a back translation of "German type sexual harassment" they would've found that this would by no means refer to a dish.
So, how does one say "Cured Ham Hocks" in Chinese? 咸猪脚 and 咸猪蹄 are both fine choices, but definitely not 咸猪手.
And the placard should've read:
德式咸猪脚
German Style Cured Ham Hocks
Or, if 猪手 absolutely has to be used because that's the way the locals say "ham hocks" in Chinese, then the placard could read:
德式猪手
German Style Ham Hocks
Please translate responsibly.
Image credit: Imgur
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