A panel of 26 English language experts, including overseas Chinese, interpreters, linguists and lawyers, has been set up in Shanghai and given the task of correcting wrong, awkward and confusing English expressions on public signs and billboards.

City officials have asked the panel to begin by drawing up guidelines for translating English names, such as road names and store names. They will also suggest rules for translating newly emerged Chinese names into English, reported Wednesday's Shanghai Daily.

"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 yesterday.

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

Officials say 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 public names into correct English.

"First and foremost, our translation work should allow foreign visitors to understand the meaning of signs 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 coming up with 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 won't 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 Mandarin.

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

(Shanghai Daily July 22, 2004)