Many words or concepts in Chinese are built up from other simpler concepts. For example, the word “computer” in Chinese is basically the words “electric” and “brain.” Well, technically each of those words has a corresponding symbol. Therefore, the word “computer” would be those two symbols next to each other. Congratulations! You now speak Chinese! Okay, not really. But maybe you can still enjoy these 25 Literal Translations Of Chinese Words To Make You Chuckle!
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大熊猫 - big bear cat
Panda
老师 - old expert
Teacher
英国 - brave country
UK
百事可乐 - 100 things cola
Pepsi
仙人掌 - immortal man’s palm
Cactus
乐队 - music team
Band
飞机 - flying machine
Airplane
凉鞋 - cool shoes
Sandals
西装 - western costume
Suit
牛仔裤 - cowboy pants
Jeans
音乐会 - music party
Concert
Looking for more translations to chuckle over? Take a look at 25 Ridiculously Mistranslated Asian Shirts You Don’t Want To Get Caught Wearing.
葡萄酒 - grape alcohol
Wine
美国 - beautiful country
USA
火车 - fire vehicle
Train
老板 - old board
Boss
隐形眼镜 - invisible glasses
Contact lenses
開心 - open heart
Happy
外星人 - out star person
Alien
火鸡 - fire chicken
Turkey
龙虾 - dragon shrimp
Lobster
碎纸机 - smash paper machine
Shredder
手机 - hand machine
Cell phone
袋鼠 - bag rat
Kangaroo
变色龙 - colour-changing dragon
Chameleon
If you’ve enjoyed this post, be sure to check out 25 Unintentionally Hilarious Sign Mistranslations That Will Leave You Grinning.
电脑 - electric brain
Computer
Photos: 23. Nicolas Raymond via Flickr, 22. Hakan Dahlstrom via Flickr, 20. Wonker via Flickr, 19. Kuster & Wildhaber Photography via Flickr, 18. JVO27/wikimedia commons, 16. Sunil TG via en.wikipedia.org, 14. Quinn Dombrowski via Flickr, 12. DBZ2313/wikimedia commons, 10. Bpw/wikimedia commons, 8. Artur via Flickr, 3. Sinead Friel via Flickr, 2. Charles J. Sharp via sharpphotography via wikimedia commons