What are some of your favorite examples of the way English is misused in products, advertising and pop culture in Japan?
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- Business Teaching Positions - Part-time - Kanto Region
- Interac, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥3,000 ~ ¥5,000 / Hour
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- National Relief/Substitute Teacher - summer start
- Interac, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥275,000 ~ ¥300,000 / Month
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- 営業パーソン
- 加治金属工業株式会社, Tochigi
- Salary: ¥240,000 ~ ¥350,000 / Month Negotiable
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98 Comments
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0
britling
To "misuse" implies that Japanese users of English are incompetent and unable to follow grammatical rules generally pertaining to the standard varieties of the language as used in Western English-speaking nations. Not so; consider that the way English is used in popular culture in Japan is really more of an art form rather than real linguistic communication, designed to please the eye and attract attention. I'd rather not attack people for not doing something completely different from what they are actually doing, especially when what they are doing is rather more interesting than a list of cheap laughs involving the alleged inability to distinguish 'l' from 'r' and so on.
0
gaijinfo
The English used by Japanese characters in South Park.
0
Sarge
I like some of the T-shirts I've seen:
"I usually stay at home on holidays"
"Selfish"
"Fragile - Handle with care"
"I want to go away with you"
0
mikehuntez
I particularly find these ones funny: "Taste ramen with the salty taste of the cock" "Spank the your monky" "Atomic Cock Tattoo" to name a few.
0
smartacus
There have been books written about this subject. I fondly recall Coca-Cola's "I feel Coke." Of course, everyone knows about Pocari Sweat. Not too long ago, I saw an ad for a "babyshitter."
0
Foxie
I saw a cardealer selling used cars called 'Steal Cars'
0
minello7
signs advertising "flying pan" or "the pirot watch"even when I point out these spellig mistakes, and what they mean, I get a blank look???????????
0
Tokyoapple
Let's see:
-every English word that ends with a "t" is pluralized
-the word "get(s)" is overused
-"my (personal item)" is misused constantly
-"gourmet" is misused
-the words "up" and "down" attached to nouns is overused and misused
-"volume" is overused
-way too many "campaigns"
-the arbitrary shortening of English words; like "spa" for spaghetti
And the list would go on and on.
0
susano
the abuse of english in Japan contains 2 elements.... on the one hand it is used as decoration... same as some westerners have kanji tattoos.... but secondly it is used to trivialize english.... to reinforce that learning a foreign language is not important...
0
one2one
"do not eat stinking food in this bus", this wowed me!
0
Disillusioned
I can forgive grammatical errors and even misuse of words, but spelling errors are unforgivable! There is a wonderful invention called a dictionary!
60cm high lettering on both sides of a pantec truck: Transport Ation
From the old immigration building in Tokyo:
Re-ently permits
From the directional signs in Shinjuku station: South entranse
A large 6m long neon and fabricated metal letter sign in Funabashi: Phamacy
Just to mention a few. For gawd's sake! Haven't these people heard of 'spell check'?
0
Disillusioned
Here is a website full of hilarious Janglish
http://engrish.com/
0
one2one
"do not smile to everyone,you`ll look stupid" nowernder they never smile.
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one2one
*wonder
0
Tokyoapple
@susano
Exactly. You see this all the time on variety shows here. One of the "tarento" ("talent" in these instances probably being the best example of a misused English word in Japan) strings together three or four English words to utter a poorly pronounced phase, and everyone erupts in laughter as if it were the funniest joke on the planet.
0
ikkochan
My favorite:
Nescafe for your happy drinking life.
0
KaptainKichigai
I recently attended a pop culture event were one of my sleazeball colleagues joined a hip hop class because he thought it would help meet girls. Anyways, he found himself in classes where 95 percent of the dancers were aged 6 to 16, but wanting to look like he really was interested in dancing, he didnt quit. So I went to his performance in a local concert hall. And I had to sit through some good, some bad and some disturbing dances to American hip hop music. The most disturbing was a class of 8 year olds dancing to some of the most violent music and explecatives that made me avert my eyes because it was just so wrong by Western culture to see 8 year olds dancing to X rated Gangsta rap. Nobody in the audience but the foreigners even batted an eye.
0
limboinjapan
Sorry the best is still "Creap" for your coffee!
0
Gurukun
I saw a sign in a train station once that said For Bathroom 'Go Back to Your Behind' in english.
0
desmosedici
The (adult) guy wearing a sweater with "Diaper Day Memories" printed on the back.
0
Disillusioned
From today's JT:
Detection of gangster-related baseball gambling declines
0
hrd1231
I saw a guy wearing an Avirex leather jacket with all kinds of embroided patches, the largest had the following words, "Backs to the Wall, Flyboys in the Air!" LOL
0
limboinjapan
Ok not sure if this qualifies: In the west and in Japan the word Ambulance is written on the front hood of the vehicle in mirror form so that it can be read in the rearview mirror, BUT I have recently been seeing this on the SIDE doors of certain Taxis: "ixaT" any idea why?
0
JustAGoodOlBoy
"Lehman Shock" gross misuse leading to further gross misunderstanding and misrepresentation of economic events and the present state of the economy. Has a good ring though doesn't it??
0
bubzabub
Yeah, "Lehman Shock" is well misused, as well as "local" - people use "local" when they want to say "rural."
The word "dish" is misused pretty often. "I want to eat delicious dishes." There is no such thing.
Inappropriate use of the word "half"
0
TanakaTaro
Surely better than "delicious menus"?
0
mokgohan
A while back a grocery store near my house was selling hot dog buns by the title 'SLIT DOG ROLL'.
0
azpasha
Sank you
0
IronBeard
テンションが高い = High Tension = Japanese meaning is 'lots of energy', in a positive way.
I once saw a guy riding a Harley, wearing a brown hoodie. The solitary word on his top, written in big black letters, was 'Rectum'.
0
Branded
"Yeah, "Lehman Shock" is well misused, as well as "local" - people use "local" when they want to say "rural. The word "dish" is misused pretty often. "I want to eat delicious dishes." There is no such thing. Inappropriate use of the word "half"
Mine is "Free"- as in "free kippu" ! They ain't nothin' free about that ticket. What it means is that you are "free" to travel anywhere you want- we call that an "open" ticket !
0
NuckinFutz
The 'HOMO SAUSAGE' at the local Lawson is definitely something I wouldn't want in my mouth! Then there was the entertaining young lady wearing a bright red hoodie with 'F..K TOY' in big yellow letters on the back. I just laugh because I'm sure other countries screw up foreign languages in advertising too!
0
sabiwabi
non-sugar (I wonder if they use non-scents for unscented), weider in, saabis (service, meaning free)...
"Brewed for good times: Green Label brings you a comfortable time. The refreshing taste cheers your mind.”
“A beer with creamy foam like a white snow. Let’s enjoy the soft and smooth touch!”
0
techall
T-shirt with a Hells Angles type logo and the words "Motorcycle Club Bambies"........strikes fear into the heart.
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terebiko
techall, that made me laugh to, so I Googled it, and was surprised. According to a homepage in Australia, a Bambi is a "Born-Again Middle-aged Biker", so I guess it could be referring to that. Regarding Creap, it is derived from CREAmy Powder. I 100% agree with Disillusioned regarding spelling, especially big companies or government offices. It bugs me so much, I would be willing to check the spelling for free.
0
bacster
the way they do shotcuts, like "MisDo" for Mister Donut
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craxican
LoL, these are all shirts that my J-niece has: Buy More Socks We are kids Pop Tarts ... I forgot some other ones, but they are all pretty stupid and she wears them to school.
0
bubzabub
I like how any Japanese person talking on a mobile phone, immediately upon seeing a foreigner within earshot, must start saying "OK! OK!" repeatedly.
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lostrune2
Reminds me of this decade+old commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDCb44O6Euo
0
Disillusioned
Have you seen the 'BLT' sandwiches at the combini? Bacon, Lettuce and Tomago (egg). Taste alright and come with a chuckle.
0
LHommeQuiMent
Today I have bought "Serial Bread" at Isetan. Well they have just anglicized katakana transliteration シリアル and did not bother to check the dictionary. Those are quite common and engrish.com is full of those kind of mistakes.
0
S7ro9kGm3aQ
Favourite examples? EVERYTHING.
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kurumazaka
saw a rather nice looking young lady a couple years back wearing jeans that had “F#%K Me“ written all over them. My teenage son and me got a bit of a chuckle out of that one.
0
zentraedi
"No! Drugs."
Wait, so you want drugs?
0
knews
There was a poster at a station on the Odakyu Line that was an ad for Tahitian Noni Juice and the catchphase was, I kid you not, "Everyone, Everywhore" !!One of my all-time favorites.
0
champon
"I am the running horse, light in the thinking in which it scampers"
How I wish I'd bought THAT T-shirt when I saw it.
And WHAT WAS the original before translation??!!
0
XXXXX
MG, this thread is hilarious! I can't think of anything better at the moment, so I'll go with 'thank you for your corporation' ;)
0
OssanAmerica
I can live with that. But the bottle of NAIVE that my wife leaves in the shower continues to bug me.
0
jipster
saw a young boy wearing a T-shirt that read masturbating is not a crime. there is a new appartment building near my house called hard on my favourite is the budget toilet paper my wife bought called daily load
0
champon
And the apartment building near me called "Gland"
0
champon
And lets not forget those great Japanese pop bands:
Glay
Bump Chicken
Mr.Children
to mention but a few
0
TanakaTaro
A small boy at a Hanshin Tigers game with "I LOVE SEXY" on his t-shirt.
A mother with a t-shirt saying "Everyone must get stoned".
My personal favourite so far: A man having trouble deciding what to order from Nakau. His girlfriend comes over to help but he still can't decide. Then I noticed the back of his t-shirt said "What should I get? Nobody knows". Perfect!
0
pamelot
@ champon : And, this relatively new arrival "Ogre You @sshole."
0
Tahoochi
I used to poke fun at things like this, until I realized most of the "misused" english in advertising and t-shirts are basically an art form as opposed to a form of communication. I've seen some westerners TATTOO some questionable kanji characters on their bodies... "愛" for example. Kind of funny from a Japanese perspective.
0
TanakaTaro
@tahoochi
For more of the westerners misusing Japanese you should check out: http://www.superdry.com/
Random kanji all over the place.
0
whitepocky
Pet hate about the language is when the traditional word is substituted for a loan word. i.e. ジャンプする - what ever is wrong with 跳ぶ? Any phrase with the word 'get' in it...
On the contrary, saw a guy in Australia a few years back with '台所' tattooed on his neck. What a pleb!
0
XXXXX
just today I saw a guy wearing a T w/ this: f@@k Ken. ?!?!
0
Morinosuke
Back in the 90's I used to feel embarrassed with the song titles that Tetsuya Komuro come up with eg. "Can You Celebrate?", "Hate Tell A Lie", "I'm Proud" Then I realised that the same words actually make up the choruses of the songs.
0
Pukey2
The sign for toilets. Mens is ok. But more often than not, you'll see Lady's or Ladys
0
SashimiSurfer19
My favorite stupid band name, "Buck Tick"!! All that comes to mind for me is Lime disease. Bakkaaaa!!
0
Hoofin
I think the misspellings are minor and do a lot to lighten up the place. Language is art.
0
aoirokintama
It would take alot of time for me to come up with such Janglish. So I do appreciate it as an art form. It never ceases to lighten up my days because it is too unexpected to find offensive...
0
Sunjovi
I could not understand the title of english movies until now when they announce in tv. One of my coworker fond of speaking breakenglish once asked me " u paid biru" actually he was asking if i paid my softbank bill.
0
Nessie
Good one's, Bub. Everywhere is "local" to someone, right?
Transitivity blunders are my bete noir. Kinda understandable, though. Also:
DELICIOUS Was the restaurant delicious?
CHALLENGE I will challenge. He is a challenging person. The city is challenging waste disposal.
0
seesaw
Zero Coke...:)
0
Monkeyz
How about "Chicken fileo." Sounds a little dirty. I really hate that ... uh ... misunderstanding of "fillet-o."
I also can't stand when they misspell words that are usually seen in katakana, and the misspelling makes a whole new word. Like misspelling "lacy" as "racy." The other day I saw "crashed" jelly. Or "soundtruck" instead of "soundtrack."
0
Dewaashita
"I think the misspellings are minor and do a lot to lighten up the place. Language is art."
Hoofin, I agree.
0
herefornow
"I think the misspellings are minor and do a lot to lighten up the place. Language is art." Sorry, but I disagree completely. That is just rationalizing Japanese laziness, ignorence and arrogance with respect to how they butcher English. Creating katakana non-words is one thing, but having major companies like the Daily Yomiuri, JR East, even Starbucks, misuse English is not humorous. It just institutionalizes the ignorence. My pet peeve is the constant use of the word "timely" to describe nearly every hit in baseball, even though my guess is no one here really knows what it means.
0
Ranger_Miffy
If all broken English disappeared in Japan, it would be a sad, dreary day. Sadly, though, so many Jpns can't tell when it is right or rong.
0
tMMt
Nothing wrong with that! Dish is a valid noun for an element in a meal (in GB English at any rate.)As indeed "Illuminations" is a valid noun for decorative lights. Blackpool would be horrified to hear they have had it wrong all these years :-)
Add me to the list of cringers at any sentence starting with "Let's" or ending with "Get"
0
blunderbuss
My Japanese is poor and we foreigners get a lot of dumbass Chinese tattoos in order to look mystical and such, but if I hear any of these one more time...
safety driver... Can you price down?... Almost of people...Get!
...there's going to be trouble.
0
supemorgan8
The candy Fruity Flesh. Or snack bars that have snack written properly on one side of a sign and have it written SNUCK on the other side.
0
kazan
Not advertising or pop culture, but my favorite example had to be when all of my students misspelled "deer" as "beer" on their tests. The sentences became hilarious, and the students learned a valuable lesson about letters.
0
rizaric
I can understand how some of these mistakes are made and don't condone them, but I don't condemn them either. English speakers misuse all other languages in the same way. In anycase, to the topic at hand, my favorite one is 'Nice Shoot!'
0
limboinjapan
Look there are a lot of Japlish and I accept that trust me I have live in India, Italy, France, Thailand, etc.. and they have just as many. What I do find annoying in Japan is that if we as "gaijin" Anglicize a Japanese word the Japanese nearly have a stroke!
0
facevalue
Today, a guy on the train was wearing a shirt that said "Do you know where you are? Your in Japan now baby. You're going to die!" Nothing really grammatically incorrect or misspelled but honestly, WTF is the significance of that?
0
Nessie
Ahem...
0
fishy
GOON (baby diapers) http://www.kenko.com/images/product/E103306H_L.jpg
0
bicultural
I just remembered my favorite one : there was a mirror with ラメ on it, which was written in romaji. The product name was "lame mirror."
0
herefornow
Saw a great one just today on a poster-ad in the Roppongi subway station. Some beauty salon is advertising their hair stylist as a "Hair Produce." I guess he can somehow transform your hair into vegtables or fruit.
0
Eddisofbextar
A T-Shirt I once saw with a picture of a foot kicking a soccer ball. The quotation said "Lets have fun kicking your balls". Classic.
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Sarge
"Let's have fun kicking your balls"
Har!
0
dibello
Hard off アパマンショﾂプ dramatic communication
0
jtuzr
I think the convenience store "Flesh Sand" is a Japanese standard, but the one example that sticks in my mind is that of a diaper/bottle tote bag for infants called "Body Bag"....
0
jtuzr
Oh, and another: The low-end hair salons that have a big sign in the front advertising "Cut and Blow".... I'm like, hey, can I just skip the cut?...
0
DocLeod
The first "your".
You are =/= your
It is a variation of Axl Rose's "Welcome to the Jungle."
0
aedfed
The restaurant with "Fine dinning" on its sign. Makes me think family restaurant.
The driving school named "Flushyou."
And my all-time favourite on a glass given away with Blendy Coffee -- "I wonder why coffee tastes so good when you're naked with your family?"
0
Nessie
Ironically, most the flesh sanwiches are fleshless, filled with potato salad or yakisoba.
0
stevecpfc
A sandwich should also have a crust unless for under 5`s.
My local DVD store has a flag outside that proudly promises " high prices", oh dear!!
0
Jkanda
Welcome!! - Please Don't Hesitate to ask us!!
This is the name and slogan of a used car dealer in Okayama.
0
Jkanda
Sorry the quote got messed up. The name of the exporting company is Auto Parts Mother's
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