Wrong Japanese - the opposite of "Engrish"

[Kuroyume]

With wrong japanese you can quite put your foot in.

What gave me the idea to make this threat is a book i have. It is about mobile phone accessory. And in the preface the author writes something about "new trend from japan.." etc. Well, and guess what's the title of the book: "chin chin"
Obviously the author believes that those accessory thingies are called "chin chin".
And on the cover are statements like
"I love chin chin" and
"chin chin, that's my thing"
quite perv eh?
and there are loads of other things like that. So let's collect them in this threat.

 

[frostyg02uk]

If it helps i can tell you one of my Japlish moments.
When i was in Japan last i met my Gfs old school club mates roughly 15 of them and they asked me what i thought about Japanese women, are they cute? my reply was Kawaii so, using so in the english way of So cute!
lol needless to say the room went silent and one with a shocked face asked me "...what do you mean you feel sorry for us?"
Once i realised my mistake and resolved it the rest of the time went fine, i even got asked to go Karaoke lol but believe me its a lesson learned well on my part.

 

[diceke]

"Japanese" in this film is hilarious!

 

[Kuroyume]

yeah, it's really funny!!
Sashimiiiiiiiiiii(bye,bye ^.-)

 

[yukio_michael]

I think there is a difference between people earnestly trying to learn a language making mistakes, and the wholesale use of the a language as a "cool" marketing trend.*

"As much as it does what it rocks?"

What does that mean, I don't know... but I wanted at least one tshirt with some broken English on it... the problem is, that English isn't broken, it isn't right... it isn't even wrong, it just doesn't have any meaning whatsoever.

The culprit are lazy corporations who could hire a bilingual copy-editor, but that doesn't seem to be happening... I'm certainly not saying that all people learning English do so as a fad, but it's certainly sold that way (via Nova), and marketed that way through t-shirts and the like.

*You get this sort of thing in the United States and everywhere else with people inking poorly written Chinese & Japanese characters on themselves, decaling them on their cars, and wearing them on their bodies with simple single kanji that represent for them some sort of profound ideal.

 

[Kuroyume]

Yes, of course. Maybe I haven't chosen the perfect title for this thread. What I wanted to "collect" here is not the mistakes which people make who learn japanese (i mean i make loads of mistakes when i speak English)but wired labeling on products etc. Like the book with the title "Chin Chin" things like that.

gomen and bye bye

 

[pinkichan]

i'll share one funny experience.. i was with my sister we out went when i was in japan.. we were with my sister's friends (mixed. japanese and some from different race also).. we went into a izakaya we're a foreigner works as a waitress and i believe one of my sister's friends knows her.. she went close to give us the menu and get our orders and saw my sister's friend.. the girl said to my sister's friend : "oshiburi!" instead of "ohisashiburi!" so all of us end up laughing! but that was acceptable coz she just came to japan 1 month ago i believe during that time.. so... there...

sorry i meant "we went out" LOLZ! not "we out went"

 

[marsans]

One of my friends bought a band t-shirt once, that basically said various Japanese curse words that he had no idea about, until his Japanese girlfriend pointed it out.

If he still has it I will take a picture of said shirt!

 

[undrentide]

What I wanted to "collect" here is not the mistakes which people make who learn japanese (i mean i make loads of mistakes when i speak English)but wired labeling on products etc. Like the book with the title "Chin Chin" things like that.

Somthing like this?
ƒGƒLƒXƒp[ƒgƒ'[ƒh ƒAƒƒŠƒJ"¥"ú–{Œê'̃oƒJTƒVƒƒƒc
@s i t e @s a w a d a n @ `ƒAƒz'sƒVƒƒƒc
@s i t e @s a w a d a n @ `ƒAƒz'sƒVƒƒƒc'Q
T shirts with Japanese on it...

 

[maushan3]

Well, I always wondered whether the companies who make the "Engrish" products really do it on purpose, I just recently found a bag in my house that said "... we hope you enjoy the your stay in Hokkaido ", well, I understand that they can't hire an English speaker who could correct it for them, but wouldn't it be easy to just head to a place where there are a lot of foreigners and tell them to correct it for them or something. oh, and then you have things like this:

a snack bag that says: cheese in kids.

Pretty funny, I sometimes think they do it on purpose.

Mauricio

 

[yukio_michael]

well, I understand that they can't hire an English speaker who could correct it for them...

Actually there are many people in certain sectors of work who can speak English perfectly... I don't think it would be a hassle to hire an English speaker, and if not a Japanese native who spoke English... this seems like the perfect job for an English speaker who speaks Japanese...

The things I've seen written on t-shirts is laughable, if it weren't so sad, how little care that is put into the language... this coming from a (once), and now again language major. It's just as RockLee said (hmm... it seems in ANOTHER thread...), it's a fad, more of a fad, and as much of the population really doesn't speak much English, they can get away with murder, so why pay for their mistakes?

In my experience, and understanding, this sort of thing doesn't happen in Korea... Either Koreans are not so enraptured by the novelty of a romanized language, or are just more careful to not make these mistakes. I've read this other places as well. But take what I say with a big bag of salt.

 

[reisender]

I wonder if some of these things are translated (or proofread) by (choose your own language) native speakers and knowing that they likely can get away with anything, let it pass for laughs or purposely screw it up.

I can imagine some chinese or japanese person thinking - god these people are clowns for tattooing kanji on their bodies; here's a way to make them look even dumber.

 

[Goldiegirl]

The staff at the hotel I am staying at left a note under the door saying that had "Uncleaned my room today as the Do Not Disturb sign was placed outside." I don't mind the little mistakes because they are trying, but I can see that from a professional stand point they should have correct English. I believe I watched a program on CNN that was talking about the poor English in China and that they were trying to "clean-up" the mistakes in preparation for the Olympics.

 

[diceke]

Someone's trying to change the topic.☝

 

[Goldiegirl]

Excuse me? I am confused? Can you explain what you mean?

 

[yukio_michael]

Excuse me? I am confused? Can you explain what you mean?

Uh, yeah... Seconded. What do you mean, Change the topic?

 

[KirinMan]

Excuse me? I am confused? Can you explain what you mean?

It's not about poorly translated Japanese to English.

Actually I am wrong...my mistake....I reread the thread and the OP in a later post made a different comment sorry about this.

 

[KirinMan]

Well, I always wondered whether the companies who make the "Engrish" products really do it on purpose, I just recently found a bag in my house that said "... we hope you enjoy the your stay in Hokkaido", well, I understand that they can't hire an English speaker who could correct it for them, but wouldn't it be easy to just head to a place where there are a lot of foreigners and tell them to correct it for them or something. oh, and then you have things like this:
a snack bag that says: cheese in kids.
Pretty funny, I sometimes think they do it on purpose.
Mauricio

Actually to have it done, or proofread could cost quite a bit of money and the point isnt always how it is written but just the fact that it has English in it, no matter if it makes sense or not.

 

[KirinMan]

Here are some examples of mistaken Japanese.

I've also heard tell of someone saying to a taxi driver, indicating that his stop was approaching, "koroshite kudasai."

When I got married in Japan (second wedding - same bride!) at the rehearsal the pastor was kind enought to point out to me that in the vows I had asked my bride to be my fingernail. (tsume/tsuma i think) Glad I got that cleared up before the real thing...

Just the other day I was standing at the window with a young Japanese teacher. We were both admiring the beautiful day, and I meant to say, "Ii tenki, desu ne?" (nice weather, isn't it?), but what came out was, "Ii benki, desu ne?" (nice toilet, isn't it?) I realized my mistake as soon as I uttered it...got red in the face and we both had a good chuckle.

My younger brother,cousin and friend visited me last Xmas, we were on our way to Gunma from Tokyo and in order to get our Shinakansen tickets, I would buy the first, and they would line up behind me and say `the same as him`.
To the ticket guys delight, my brother confused `onaji desu` with `unagi desu`....
ticket guy* Where would you like to go?
brother* Im an eel.

i made the classic mistake...
i was TRYING to ask the question, can you eat anko (the sweet yet evil red beans that is in all omiyage).
instead it came out as can you eat UNKO. unfortuately, it was not until i made that terrible mistake that i realised "unko" means s*** in japanese.....

An absolute howler from my university days, I wanted to tell a girl that I wanted to give her a kiss on the lips (kuchibiru) but ended up for some reason asking to kiss her on the nipples (chikubi).

Principal - "Do you like this school?"
JET 1 - "Totemo kirai desu." (I really hate it.) What he meant was - "Totemo kirei desu." (It's really beautiful.)
This one's better though:
JET 2 has just learned some new Japanese, he wants to ask his coworker what he did over the weekend -
JET 2 - "Shuumatsu ha onani shimashita ka?"
Coworker - too shocked to speak, just stares like a deer in the headlights
JET 2 - (louder thinking he wasn't understood) "SHUUMATSU HA ONANI SHMASHITA KA?"
Coworker - very red face, the rest of the office is shocked into silence.
JET 2 - "Ah screw it..."
I guess he was thinking that attaching the honorable o- to nani (what) would make "What did you do over the weekend?" more polite. Unfortunately, "onani" means masterbation (taken from "onanism"). Heh, dumbass.

{Last night at the gas station}
Me [handing attendant 18 litre red plastic container]: 'Shouyu onegaishimasu' (soy sauce please)
Gasorin stando man: ???? [supressed giggles]
Me: erm....... toyu? (kerosene)

I'd been talking with a colleague towards the end of lunch about his wife's new baby. He explained that the baby was still being breastfed (oppai-nomi). Fair enough, learned a new word.
Now, on to class.
Koukou 1-nen-sei class; one of the things I noticed upon entering the room was that one, generally quiet, very cute girl had a VERY red face.. I commented on this, or at least I tried to.
What I wanted to say:
Miki-chan, nan de hoppe ga akai no? (Miki, (not her real name), your cheeks are red?
Simple enough.
What I actually said:
Miki-chan, nan de oppai ga akai no? (Miki, why are your breasts red?
Stunned silence.

-- the office staff rearranged their furniture, so the place was much roomier. I went in and commented -- "Atarashii jimushou hidoi desu nee!" (hidoi/hiroi). They all looked at me, a little shocked

The really cute young OL was taking me somewhere, the postoffice or something. At the door we were putting our shoes on and while she was bending over I said "ii ketsu". She looked at me with a horrified looked. I was confused and I pointed to her shoes and repeated "ii ketus ne?". She smiled and corrected me "ii kutsu". Stood up and pointed to her butt and said "ii ketsu".
I was so embarassed. And what's worse she told everyone.

Is this what you were looking for?

 

[basuotoko]

my reply was Kawaii so, using so in the english way of So cute!
lol needless to say the room went silent and one with a shocked face asked me "...what do you mean you feel sorry for us?"

I don't get it. I could see someone saying "so kawaii" as in, "Those girls are sooo kawaii!" but why would you put the English "so" after kawaii in any context? But I do remember years ago when I first heard the adjective "kawaisou" and I thought the speaker meant "Oh, that (seems) cute." But yeah, actually it's quite different. A confusing one at first for students of Japanese...

 

[yukio_michael]

I don't get it. I could see someone saying "so kawaii" as in, "Those girls are sooo kawaii!" but why would you put the English "so" after kawaii in any context?

If you mix random Japanese with English, you are a complete weebee who seeks to pepper their English with Japanese in order to seem cho kakkoii~~! ne~!

(Irony intended).

Please see: Gwen Stefani.

 

[diceke]

The Japan Times, Dec. 31, 2006 Foreigners looking like fools with gobbledygook tattoos

 

[reisender]

Here are some examples of mistaken Japanese.
Is this what you were looking for?

Who are you quoting?

Almost all of it sounds made up.

 

[KirinMan]

Who are you quoting?
Almost all of it sounds made up.

I got those from another board.

 

[bakaKanadajin]

I think the best example is, as was pointed out, the Western Japanese tattoo phenomenon. Recently I was out with a friend and two Japanese ladies, as they were both leaving town soon so we were having a small sayonara party of sorts. He knows nothing about Japanese so I was doing some translating for him, and eventually tattoos came up. So he showed the ladies his tattoo, which is the kanji for power, chikara 力、which by itself looks very similar to the Katakana ka, カ. Actually my font program makes them look the exact same so visually they really are, unless done in calligraphy or something.

So he was like, 'Hey, check this tattoo out,' and he pulls back his shirt and thinks maybe they'll go 'ooo power!' or something like that. And they exchanged looks and go '... mosquito?'. That really took the wind out of his sails.

But yea, we do the same thing here in the West, we butcher Japanese but i'd say we do it far worse because we get TATTOOS, can you imagine if someone came to a Western country and walked around with gigantic lettering tattooed across their back that said 'Let's have enjoy, the life was precious again' or something. At least the Japanese know their infatuation is mostly anecdotal and fun, some people here take their tattoos quite seriously.