Dean's World
 Defending the liberal tradition in history, science, and philosophy.

.:: Dean's World: This Kitchenware is full of device to derive deliciousness! ::.

November 13, 2002

This Kitchenware is full of device to derive deliciousness!

For a host of reasons, the Japanese use a lot of English. However, there are very few native speakers in Japan, so one tends to find a lot of examples of very funny English in Japan. You can find funny mangled English anywhere in the world of course, but the Japanese use English for so many things, there's just a superabundance of bad English over there.

Richard Barnett's Japanese Life is the funniest web site I've seen exploring the world of mangled Japanese English. A more famous, but to my tastes less funny, site is Engrish.com, which explores the same theme but seems less selective. Barnett has an eye for what's funny, as opposed to just strange or senseless.

(Link to the Japanese Life site nabbed from Paul Burgess.)

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My own favorite from Barnett's site is the "Charmy" frying pan: "We have a talk about our the party. It is pleasant to cooking with Miss Rabbit of the Charmy series."

I remember when I was a kid, I had one of those toy birds which would bob over into a glass of water again and again. It was "Made in Japan," and the instruction sheet stated, "This bird will keep keep drinking."

Or then there was the watercolor set I once saw in a store. "Made in Japan." Its brand name was "Snowman Banjo."

Dean, glad you got a kick out of this link on my site!

Posted by Paul Burgess on November 13, 2002 at 8:31 AM


"All your base are belong to us."

BTW, how many here remember when the inscription "Made in Japan" translated loosely as "Junk."

Posted by Ara Rubyan on November 13, 2002 at 3:43 PM


Please put on you seatbelt, prepare for accident!

Posted by Dean Esmay on November 13, 2002 at 5:12 PM


I've heard some mangled English from foreigners. The best is hearing a Japanese FOB trying to say rubber band.

Posted by Kevin Brehmer on November 15, 2002 at 1:54 PM


Well, this is one I saw while I was living in South Korea:

Please watch out danger! You do not want happen serious death to your personal body.

I nearly lost it when I saw it on a construction site.

Tim

Posted by Tim on November 17, 2002 at 9:13 PM


 



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