為迎接2008奧運會，北京市公共場所、道路標識等在年底前都將換上地道的“英文名”。所有公廁將改稱“toilet” ，使用多年的“WC”光榮下崗；道路標識除專有名稱外都將用英語表示。此外，各種中國特色的菜名也將有個統一的說法。

A resident walks past a toilet in Beijing. By the end of the year, all public conveniences in the city will be called "toilets" instead of the venerable, Victorian-era sounding abbreviation for "water closet." [File Photo]

Beijing's battle to standardize and correct English-language signs ahead of the 2008 Olympics has claimed another head -- "WC."

By the end of the year, allpublic conveniencesin the city will be called "toilets" instead of the venerable, Victorian-era sounding abbreviation for "water closet," the Beijing Morning Post reported on Wednesday.

"In many Western countries they don't use the term WC at all," the report said.

"Because in English, it's equivalent to what we would call in China an outhouse, and is a rather crude slang term," it added, without explaining how it had got this impression.

Also on the list are road signs. Use of the romanized form of Chinese, known as "pinyin," will be replaced by the actual English word, except forproper names, the newspaper added. Out will go Dong Changan Jie and in will come East Changan Avenue.

But a rather morevexing questionhas been what to do about menus to help the hundreds of thousands of tourists, athletes and reporters expected to flood the city, many of whom will not speak a word of Chinese, let alone understand Chinese characters.

An initial list had been formulated and sent to experts for approval, the Beijing News said.

All restaurants and hotels rated three star and above will have to use the standard names once they come out, it added.

Linguists are struggling about the best way to translate popular dishes like "ants climbing the tree" -- spicy fried vermicelli with finely chopped pork -- into English accurately yet preserving the original meaning, officials have said.

They are hoping to avoid confusing visitors with the mish-mash of translations now on offer. One well-known Beijing restaurant chain has dishes called "It is small to fry the chicken miscellaneous" and "mixed elbow with garlic mud."

（China Daily） 

Vocabulary:    

public conveniences：公廁

proper names：專有名稱

vexing question：棘手的問題

（實習生江巍 英語點津陳蓓編輯）