Hey TK - Question

[[33rd]Maj.GoodGuy|HQ|]

Hey TK,
I am relatively new to MOHAA and the clan.
I just wanted to send a sincere hello
HELLO.

I have some questions about Japanese culture.
I've heard about "Engrish".
It appears on t-shirts, ads, etc.
You're probably very much aware of this already but here's a site:
www.engrish.com
What's this all about anyway?

[Thrillkill]

All foriegners over here love that site, its unavoidable not run into something that is misspelled suggestivly.............you have to remember japanese use a special alphabet to pronounce western words......

for instance "danielboon" would be "da ni eru bo ono" pronounced in japanese .

So you can imagine the gems that I see.

The best one I have seen is located in my house is the so called "Pain Clinic"

Im sure they laugh back at us when we try to speak japanese......remember us foriegners have to learn 3 alphabets!!

Q. Is Engrish found only in Japan?

A. No, Engrish can be found all over the world, but the vast majority of the really funny and creative Engrish is from Japan. The webmaster has seen many examples of Engrish from around the world, but most are not fit for Engrish.com (ie – they are not funny enough). People are invited to send in Engrish from other countries (including the US) - if some really good examples come in, Engrish.com will be happy to post them.



Q. Why do the Japanese try to use so much English if they can’t do it right?

A. Most of the Engrish found on Engrish.com is not an attempt to communicate - English is used as a design element in Japanese products and advertising to give them a modern look and feel (or just to "look cool"). There is often no attempt to try to get it right, nor do the vast majority of the Japanese population (= consumers) ever attempt to read the English design element in question (the girl wearing the “Spread Beaver” shirt for example, had no idea what it said until a foreigner pointed it out to her). There is therefore less emphasis on spell checking and grammatical accuracy (note: the same can be said for the addition of Japanese or Chinese characters to hats, shirts and tattoos found in the US or Europe).

Quite often it is easier to come up with English names than Japanese for a particular product. New products are brought to the marketplace in Japan more than anywhere else in the world and Japanese words and slogans quickly get used up. Japanese graphic designers will often tell you that English is widespread because the Japanese writing script (or scripts) limits their creativity - there are only so many ways to display their language, and only so many different types of fonts to use.

That said, in most instances Japanese companies do get it right and quite often consult a native English speaker for corrections.

[r!pp3R_1n90 |Ret.|]

Lol,

It works the same in science. When reading a paper from a japanese journal in english...that should always raise a red flag. Even published papars in international journals by japanese authors should be reviewed carefully. Not because japanese people are less smart than any other place in the world, but it is amazing how they can produce a worthless paper when they have awesome data. It's all in the writing and presentation.

It should be said that reputable international journals have strict language evaluation, and most of themore famous japanese researchers do consult with native english speakers before submitting their manuscripts.

[[33rd]Maj.GoodGuy|HQ|]

Thanks for responding to my question TK.
Someone once told me about the marketability of English (engrish) in japan. Your explanation makes a lot of sense. The translations often seem very literal which makes them funny and sometimes even disturbingly funny.