Language Log

Multilingual sign near the entrance to a toilet at the Cologne Main train station, posted by Simon on douban, via Joel Martinsen:

David Rowe took this photo of a sign on a market stall in Sydney Chinatown:

Nathan Hopson found this in a public bathroom at the Nagoya prefectural children's center last Monday:

Joseph Williams sent in the following photograph of a Japanglish sign that he took on a ferry traveling to the famous Itsukushima Shrine (also called Miyajima) in Hiroshima:

Sign on the front door at the Taitung County District Prosecutors Office in Taiwan (via Kerim Friedman):

This is from an article in Want China Times (4/21/15):

Photo taken on a lane leading from Beijing's Nanluoguxiang:

Sign in Guilin, China:

Another photo from Dean Barrett:

We have just emerged from a discussion of how to refer to dog excrement on public notices: "Scoop the poop" (4/15/15). The same sort of uncertainty surrounds notices concerning public urination by humans.  From a men's room in the West Beijing Railway Station:

From Mia in Shenzhen, China:

Nathan Hopson sent in this photograph of a package of cookies:

From a page at Chambers Wines about the VinItaly exhibition in Verona:

Caption: "Some translations are more successful than others".

But what, asks Francois Lang, is "Breath Clay" a (bad?) translation of?

From Gordon Old: