Many signs in urban areas are bilingual in Chinese and English. It cannot escape the notice of even the most casual bilingual observer that many such signs are woefully (and sometimes hilariously) mistranslated. Mistakes can result from wrong segmentation, wrong word choice, wrong grammar, or inappropriate style, which is particularly important in Chinese. Mistakes can also result from missing crucial information or lack of understanding of English. There are also the ‘innovative analogies’, which give rise to non-existent English words. Also frequently observed are inconsistencies, wavering between the two strategies of pinyin transliteration and meaning translation. The inclusion of mistranslated signs can be pedagogically useful in more than one way. Studying mistranslated signs is an exercise in contrastive analysis. Through detailed analysis of the causes of the mistakes, such signs can be used as negative examples in the teaching of both Chinese and English. They can also be useful to the study and practice of translation.

This essay introduces key issues relating to the translation of Sebald’s work into English and to his international reception in general. It shows how the reception of Sebald’s work in translation led to his canonization as “Holocaust author”, due in part to the sequence but also due to the tone of the translations. The essay discusses Sebald’s personal interest in translation practices and his heavy involvement in the English translations of his own work. It shows how Sebald might change the meaning in translated versions because of issues he identified with the German originals, and how his interventions and revisions impacted on his collaboration with the translators. In addition to the grammatical complexity of the German language, Sebald’s writing poses specific problems for the translator, such as the inclusion of very long sentences, regionalisms, unacknowledged citations, and a syntax and style partially modelled on nineteenth-century writers. The essay concludes with a discussion of untranslatability concerning Sebald’s use of troublesome vocabulary, such as the Nazi Jargon in Austerlitz or the offensive term ‘Neger’ (‘negro’) in The Emigrants.