Simple Signs to read in China, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan

I thought I would take a few words I wanted to recognize, such as big and central which I often saw on signs. Big is like the curved A shape without the central bar which is like a simplified walking or running person. the wide oblong with  the vertical (upright) sign means centre. 

The Sign For Person

First I tried China and Chinese and  Singapore and Singaporean to see what was the difference. If you add the sign for person on the end you get Chinese or Singaporean. 

So now I can understand the signs at an airport and the road signs. The road sign (signpost) without the person sign means the country. 

At the airport a sign with the person sign on the end is telling nationals of that country that here is where to queue. (For the British word queue, Americans say line up).

1

one

Singapore

Singaporean

1

一

新加坡

新加坡人

..............................................................

2

two

lion

city

狮子

城市

The sign which looks like a seven with a large line across the middle is son or offspring or thing or animal or creature. It appears after the name of an animal.

...........................................................

3

three

central

city

中央

城市

...............................................................

4

four

in

heart

在

心

I had learned heart from my Chineasy flashcards.

.......................................................................

5

five

buy

thing

....................................................

6

six

shopping

shopping center

...................................

7

seven

pedestrian

pedestrians

When you translate pedestrian and pedestrians you get the same word. No wonder I used to see signs in Singapore saying Pedestrian this way. When they looked up pedestrian or pedestrians in Chinese they always got singular pedestrians in English. 

Now I know what the Chinese find hard to get right in English and why. It is not that they are half-witted or forgetful. Their language works differently. Think of the word man in English. We would add a man to mean one man. In Chinese you would add one to specify only one.  That is how English and French probably started years, centuries ago.

8

eight

China

Chinese people

...........................................

9

nine

new

year

..........................................

10

ten

Quickly

pleasure

of

grand

exhibition

A kind

          in

买

事物

购物

购物中心

购物中心

行人

行人

中国

中国人

新的

年

迅速地

乐趣

的

盛大

展览

一种

           zhēn

           在

Useful Websites

duolingo.com

Chineasy.com

thamesandhudson.com (Produced my Chineasy cards)

translate goggle

About the Author

Angela Lansbury teacher of English (advanced and English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language), French and other languages, aspiring polyglot.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Member of many Toastmasters  International speaker training clubs and speaking contest judge. Vice President Public Relations of Braddell Heights Advanced speakers' club. BHA in 2021 has members whose first languages are British English, American English, Chinese Mandarin from China, and Cantonese from Hong Kong. Contact us through

toastmasters international find a club

Angela Lansbury, the author of 20 books including Wedding Speeches & Toasts, and Quick Quotations, has lived in the USA, Spain and Singapore. 

She has several blogs and writes daily on at least two of the following:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

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