A panel of 26 English language experts, including overseas Chinese, interpreters, linguists and lawyers, has been established in Shanghai to correct wrong, awkward and confusing English on public signs and billboards.

City officials have asked the panel to begin by drawing up guidelines for translating English names, such as those of roads and stores, into Chinese. They will also suggest rules for translating new Chinese names into English.

"Through the panel's work, we expect to develop Shanghai into a more international city," Sun Xiaoguang, an official with the city's Language Commission, told Shanghai Daily on Tuesday.

She said the panel is expected to complete a preliminary version of the translation guidelines by September. Afterward, the city's Construction and Management Commission will use the guidelines to correct the improper use of English in public places.

Most of the panel members are working for the commission part-time, gathering on a regular basis to discuss the proper way to translate Chinese names into English.

"First, our translations should allow foreign visitors to understand the meaning of a sign at first glance," said Lei Wubai, a Chinese-American panel member.

Lei noted that many Chinese people, even some language experts, translate Chinese names literally instead of using a translation that makes sense.

She pointed to the Hu-Ning Expressway as an example. Foreigners who don't know that Hu is a nickname for Shanghai and the character Ning refers to Nanjing cannot understand the highway's name. It would make much more sense to translate the name into English as the Shanghai-Nanjing Expressway.

Some of her other ideas are a bit more of a stretch. For instance, she is proposing the name of Fuxing Road be written on street signs as Fu-xing Road to avoid confusion with a vulgar English word that starts with the letter F.

Previously, the city's language commission was only concerned with the proper use of standard Chinese.

But with a growing number of English signs popping up around the city, the commission was given the task of regulating the uses of the language several years ago.

(Shanghai Daily July 21, 2004)