A simple abbreviation was enough to create a situation that was, to say the least, comical at Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle airport. As reported by the specialist site “Aerotelegraph”, a sign intended to direct travelers to automated passport controls contained a surprising error in its Chinese translation.
On the original version, the sign notably mentioned Swiss nationals among the travelers authorized to use the automatic gates. But once the text was translated into Chinese, Switzerland mysteriously disappeared from the list. In its place was… China.
Two letters causing confusion
The explanation would be found in the abbreviation “CH”, used to designate Switzerland. This means “Confoederatio Helvetica”, the Latin name of the Swiss Confederation. During translation, however, the two letters would have been interpreted as a reference to China. However, the international code assigned to the latter is “CN”.
The difference is not only anecdotal. Swiss travelers of legal age with a biometric passport can use PARAFE gates to pass through French border controls more quickly. Chinese nationals are not among the nationalities benefiting from this access.
The error did not go unnoticed. Pascal Lottaz photographed the sign and published the photo on X, attracting the attention of Paris Aéroport.
The operator chose to respond with humor. “Oops,” he reacted on the social network, joking about panels who had obviously decided to travel around the world before their time. More seriously, Paris Aéroport assured that the error had been reported to the competent teams so that it could be corrected.
