July 28, 2008
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Engrish
This picture was taken in Golden Week 2003. We had several holidays, so we went here and there and did this and that. Here is a helpful list of English train fares posted on the wall at the Keio Line's Takao Station. Yep, what a difference an R and L makes... A space would have been nice, too, but ya can't have everything.
Behold a magnetic reusable ticket to be placed in the wicket slot face up in the direction of the arrow, I think. I told the Shinjuku Gyoen park office that this Engrisch made no sense whatsoever and wrote them out a version that they might like to use instead, but since the cards are "restorable" they are still being used is as.
And all of the announcements on Haneda Airport's escalators advise me to "stand before the yellow line." WHAT?? There is a yellow line of demarkation around the outer edge of all of the escalator steps that one is to stand INSIDE of to avoid accidents, as there have been many instances of rubber and resin sandals and the feet contained therein getting caught in the machinery. One poor woman lost a toe to a broken escalator step at Kawasaki train station last year. The Japanese version advises one to stand inside the yellow line, but the Englisch version advises foreigners to "stand before the yellow line." This is meaningless and just plain mistaken. This is a safety announcement, right?
Well, this works the opposite way, too. Some foreigner had a problem with smelly mold in an "oshire" closet and wanted some spray-on concoction to remedy the situation. The dude went to the drugstore and mispronounced. "Oshiri ga kusai desu. Supuree wo kudasai." (My butt stinks. Please give me some spray.)
Another lady wanted to buy some carrots "ninjin" at the local greengrocer's and asked the proprietor for some "ninshin," which is pregnancy. Ooopsie...
Yet another lady was out at someone's house for dinner and instead of saying that she was full, (ippai) she declared herself to be "oppai," or a breast.
Mistakes have been made in church, too. One fellow invited the congregation to close their eyes for prayer (Me wo tubutte kudasai) but he actually said "me wo tsubushite kudasai." That means to please poke your eyes out. Another was handing out tracts and asking people if they believed in "Kame-sama." Um, God is Kami-sama. Kame is turtle.
Comments (7)
Oh my, that is really funny... I have heard that Japanese is one of the most difficult languages to learn.
Bee
@BeeyondSight - The Japanese grammar is totally different and the writing system is tricky. There are several readings for each character and you have to pick the right one according to the context of the sentence. But at least there are no issues like noun genders or subject-verb agreement to be dealt with! Japanese verbs are not conjugated, thank goodness! I did German, too, and remember trying to deal with gender and case to select the right version of "the." Never really did get a good handle on it. Dotter tried German, too, and wailed, "People actually speak this language?!" There are about 50 sounds in the entire Japanese language (written with two 50 letter alphabets and at least 2000 characters), so you have to be careful because a slight slip can cause a major problem. I read in a book about a man who was announcing that he was a representative of his boss, which is a komon, but he lingered a bit too long on the first syllable and said koumon, which is a, um... nether excremental orafice. HIs audience had a tough time figuring out the nature of the relationship. Chinese must be tricky to learn, too, with all of the vocal pitches involved. English has become a real mixture, too, with all of the words and phrases borrowed from other languages. It also has ideosyncracies all its own. If a high rise edifice is finished, why is it not called a "built" instead of a "building?"
These are funny!
My sis-in-law is Japanese and has been living in Singapore for 10 years but she can hardly speak any English (English is widely used in Singapore, and also the official language here) or Chinese (a mother tongue here). I think Japanese very entrenched in their own culture. Perhaps that is why it's hard for them to learn another language?
@icepearlz - That must be rather hard for her. I would find not being able to communicate too frustrating. I could tell when I first got here that I was going to have to take care of myself because it I was overdependent I think my husband would have gotten tired of it pretty quickly, and I would not blame him for it. Also, Japanese grammar is very different from English grammar so you have to twist your brain pretty hard sometimes. Japanese are also afraid of making mistakes when speaking another language. I did not have the discipline to just "pick up" Japanese or study it on my own, so I went to language schools for five years or so before I finally felt in control of things.
It is really hot in Fukuoka today. I have the air conditioner on to cool things down to 31 degrees. If I don't this stupid tin house that we are "camping" in gets up to 38 degrees. I have to go out on my bike today, but maybe later in the afternoon. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe in October. Haha!
JInglish is so much fun. I love the T shirts! memories...! and so many know so MUCH english.....but so few will dare to make a mistake and SPEAK it!
@ANT_L - Haha! But there are few who fear making a mistake and wearing it!!
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