Lost in Translation

[Daryl]

Sometimes the Japanese and Chinese do not catch on to the nuances of the English language. However it does not stop them from trying.
Try http://www.engrish.com/ for a few more chuckles.

[leehljp]

You know you have been in Japan tooooo long when:
1. it makes sense
2. it seems normal
3. you have to have someone point out just what the mistake IS.

[Daryl]

You know you have been in Japan tooooo long when:
1. it makes sense
2. it seems normal
3. you have to have someone point out just what the mistake IS.

You were on my mind when I came across that site. I was wondering if you had experienced this.

[Mrs. Wallnut]

You know you have been in Japan tooooo long when:
1. it makes sense
2. it seems normal
3. you have to have someone point out just what the mistake IS.

What I would like to know is, How many of those types of things do you run across or is there just too many to mention.

[Mrs. Wallnut]

Looking at the pictures on that link that was posted reminded me of a sign I saw back in March down in Portland, OR. I was down there for a meeting of the 7-11 corporation with my boss and one of my co-workers, we had just got done eating dinner and were on our way back to our hotel, and mind you a little alcohol was involved and with me it doesn't take much for me to have some fun. Thats another story .

Anyways we were at a stop light and across the street is a restaurant Japanese I believe and the sign was, Yuki Japanese, or
Yuki Foods. We had the biggest laugh over that one.

[Uncle Cracker]

Remember way back when Coke's slogan du jour was "Coke... It brings good things to life..."?? The brand was launched about then in China, and Coke was both elated and perplexed by the much better than anticipated sales, until they found out that their slogan, when translated into Chinese, read literally "Coke... It brings your ancestors back from the dead...". Too funny.

[Ed62]

Remember way back when Coke's slogan du jour was "Coke... It brings good things to life..."?? The brand was launched about then in China, and Coke was both elated and perplexed by the much better than anticipated sales, until they found out that their slogan, when translated into Chinese, read literally "Coke... It brings your ancestors back from the dead...". Too funny.

There might be some coke that would seem to work that way.

Ed

[jonmulzer]

There might be some coke that would seem to work that way.

Ed

Different phase. We are talking about the liquid and what you are implying is just a bit more dry. :P

For some reason this reminds me of the quote from "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas".

"As a drug user, you get used to things like seeing your dead grandmother crawling up your leg with a knife in her teeth, but nobody should be asked to handle this trip."

[jackellis]

I've seen signs and labels like those in lots of places.

OTOH,

Years ago I worked for a fellow from Hong Kong. English and whatever dialect of Chinese they speak in Hong Kong were his first languages. He wrote and spoke English better than most of the people I worked with at the time who were native English speakers.

On a business trip to Germany back in 2000, a colleague and I had to take a one hour taxi ride from a small airport to our appointment. The driver apologized for his poor English, but it was as good as ours.

Thankfully, no one has chased my wife or me away when we've attempted to use the smattering of various foreign languages we know to order in a restaurant while traveling abroad.

[just started]

There might be some coke that would seem to work that way.

Ed

That's true, but they changed the formula about 85-90 years ago and took the good stuff out.

[eddy merckx]

We were in China in February this year. There are so many bizarre transations that you almost stop noticing them. My favorite was a huge professionally made sign in an airport which read "Please be careful of pubic transportation". Another one in our hotel room was next to a basket of toiletries. It read "these items are uncomplementary".

I won't even mention how badly I butchered the Chinese that I attempted to use. I tried to say hello alot, but people only frowned. I was probably insulting them.

Eddy

[leehljp]

Shortly after we came to Japan, there was a Coke promotion going on with the slogan "I feel Coke".

AS to slogans, misprints, swapping "L" for "R", yes we see them quite often. If we were to really look for them, we could find several a day out in shopping areas and restaurants. Otherwise, we don't notice until we are looking for something in specific, and then there it is.

It is kind of like the kind of shopper that goes into a store knowing what he wants and goes straight to the product and looks at nothing else (me). LOML on the other hand looks at everything as she goes down a row and spots all of the funny English. I think that I notice the most on menus in restaurants though.

Having said that, you might not notice any for several days at a time. I just don't look for it anymore. But some do catch my eye such as exchanging "Lust" for "Rust". Occasionally someone will try using English and change the word "election" to "e#ection. "Play" and "Pray" are often mixed up. "Work" and "Walk" are occasionally mixed up too.

I have been holding off on writing this but it is recorded in a few books from a long time ago - a funny one - MacArthur was popular here after WWII and it was perceived that he would run for President of the US. There was a banner in Tokyo that said: "We play for your erection!"

Although they don't have a "ci" sound as in city, they do use the Roman alphabetic system of "Si" at times. But "Si" is actually pronounced "she". . . One sign in Osaka, at one time, had the advertising of "City Auto" and spelled it Shi tty Auto. It was there one week and changed the next into Japanese writing. Although written in the Japanese alphabetical symbols, the second sign still had the phonetic sound of "Shi-tty Auto".

One friend was walking in his neighborhood when he heard a fellow say "Sh-it". A few seconds later he heard it again, then a third time. He looked over the fence and saw a man trying to train his dog to "sit".

Many Japanese point with their longest finger. I am so used to it that it doesn't even register unless I have a visitor from the US with me.


Melissa - Yuki is pronounced "You key" in two short syllables and is a popular name here. Yuki also means snow.
Sometimes 'Yuuki" is written in English as Yuki and can mean "organic" as in organic foods as it relates to a restaurant. I don't have a clue as to the restaurant's meaning. Organic food, a Person's name or possibly a link to the northern island's food in "snow land"

There is a hair salon about 5 kilometers from us called "Poo Poo Salon." Anyone care to visit it for a hair styling?

About 10 years ago, I bought a bottle of drink in a 100 yen shop (Dollar Store) because it said "Can Pee" on it. I looked and looked and finally figured out -
"Ca" is, on a few occasions, substituted for "Cha";
"N" is often substituted for "M";
The first letter of a long Anglo/Euro word is often shortened to a single letter.
So we have Cha m P - aign spelled "Can Pee" on sale for a the equivalent of a Dollar. I still have it, unopened.

[Crash2510]

we also make these marketing mistakes

remember the car the nova

when they tried to sell it in mexico nobody bought it because it litterally translated to no go and nobody wanted a car that didn't work

[jonmulzer]

It is far from just being an Asian/English occurence. Remember JFK's speech in Germany that he ended with "Ich bin ein Berliner"? He thought he was saying that he identified with the Berlin people and he was really saying, "I am a jelly donut!"

[footprintsinconc]

You know you have been in Japan tooooo long when:
1. it makes sense
2. it seems normal
3. you have to have someone point out just what the mistake IS.

when i visited pakistan awhile back, i saw the same things. misspelled word not only on lables, but on signs, huge billboards and even on trucks and cars. it was so weird for like a week, but then i stopped picking it up.