An Expatriate in Taiwan » Engrish

Japanese oddities

The Expatriate — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:22:55 +0000

Stores that sell Japanese products are very popular here in Taiwan. I enjoy going to them and browsing, just because the Japanese are insane and I always find peculiar items. Today I thought I’d share some of my finds with you.

The elusive Banana Case! Holds and protects your banana so that no harm comes to it!

I should have bought this banana case when I had the chance. Now the store doesn’t have them anymore.

And, of course, you must have the banana rack to go with it.

Engrish notebooks.

Yes, I guess it does...

Alright then...

Yes, people actually buy large Choco Pie bins.

These next few are pretty cool. You put them into your bath and they foam up and dissolve into a piece of tempura that you can play with. Pretty funny and they come in several shapes.

You put this into your bathwater and it will dissolve to reveal tempura!

So much fun... comes in many shapes, too.

This next one is just…. well, it’s Japanese. I’m sure you can figure it out.

Seriously... I'm just not sure what to say.

Does it really need instructions?

And now some bags with some good sayings.

Quite obvious, really.

I didn’t get the whole thing, but it reads “True love is like Big Foot. Everybody talks about it, But nobody has ever found it. Don’t worry, I’m not going to sell you to an ear-duster.” What is an ear-duster?

Indeed.

This is a longer one.

Finally, a water nozzle. Except it’s written phonetically again. I don’t know, maybe “Waterr nozuru” is the actual Japanese pronuncation for this thing, but I highly doubt it.

A water nozzle... sort of.

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Japanese oddities

Japanese Engrish

The Expatriate — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 07:40:03 +0000

This is a series of Japanese anti-smoking pictures that line the walls of my school. I find these quite entertaining, but also somewhat confusing. Not all of them are entirely clear, but I’m sure they make much more sense in Japanese.

Random Engrish

The Expatriate — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 07:17:01 +0000

Found this on a poster for a new Jazz club opening up. Honestly, I have no idea how it gets this bad. With dictionaries, online dictionaries, spell checkers in every program, there’s really no excuse. I simply don’t understand.

Related posts:More Engrish pictures Some Engrish pictures Engrish

More Engrish pictures

The Expatriate — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:22:19 +0000

I’ve had these pictures on my phone for a while and just lately got around to tagging and cataloging them. About time, I guess.

First up is courtesy of Bank of Taiwan, one of the oldest banking institutions on the island, with branches pretty much everywhere. I saw this upstairs when I was sending money back to America. It reads “飲水區” or “yǐn shuǐ qū” – literally, water drinking area. For some reason, they translated it as “kitchen,” even though it’s only a water machine and nothing else.

Next up are two pages from a book I found at the nightmarket. The book is aimed at young children, quite obviously. Each page has a picture with accompanying Chinese and English text opposite it. Needless to say, some things were translated quite oddly.

OK, so maybe it could be called a nipple, since that is what it is supposed to substitute for, but come on… wouldn’t “pacifier” be better?

And what is a pinafore? This looks like a “bib” to me. I actually had to lookup the word pinafore because I’d never heard it before. Wikipedia tells me that a pinafore is a sleeveless garment worn as an apron. Going off that, I can definitely say that the object pictures here is not a pinafore.

Finally, just a random shot of a local business. It should be “Sang Mei Design,” but they got a few letters mixed up. The Pinyin (Sang Mei) also has a mistake. The character pictured there (上) should make it “Shang Mei.”

Engrish

The Expatriate — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 08:17:25 +0000

It’s been a while since I’ve posted. I’ve been quite busy both with work and the Chinese New Year, which was quite fun.

Time to get back on track with some Engrish. I don’t quite remember where I snapped this sign, but needless to say, they messed up the translation just a little bit.

Roman was not built in a day

Some Engrish pictures

The Expatriate — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:52:50 +0000

In my ongoing DAM Project, I’ve come across a few humorous pictures from times gone by. These have been lying unorganized in various folders and since I’ve recently come across them, I thought I’d put them up here.

This first one was from Taipei. Not exactly Engrish, but I thought it was entertaining nonetheless. Taken in a men’s bathroom.

Next is one from… I’m not sure where. Might possibly be Hong Kong or it might be Taiwan. I’m not quite sure, but it’s pretty good Engrish.

Zoo Engrish

The Expatriate — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:26:31 +0000

This Engrish picture today comes from Forumosa, a popular meeting and discussion place for expats and Taiwanese.

At first it seems rather incomprehensible, but thanks to some of the Chinese speakers at Forumosa, it was quickly decoded.

The first sentence means “No destruction of property.” The second sentence is really odd, but it’s just a simple misspelling. The Chinese means “No graffiti” and the “scrabbling” is obviously a misspelling of “scribbling.”

Finally, the last sentence in Chinese means “Let us enjoy the zoo.” How they got “Let us zoo in” is beyond me.

What’s interesting is that it is apparently a use in the Chinese of a subjunctive or imperative tense, so really, as one of the forum posters pointed out, a suitable translation would be one of the following:

No vandalism and no graffiti makes things more enjoyable for us.
No vandalism and no graffiti affords us enjoyment.
Without vandalism or graffiti, we can better appreciate [the zoo].
A zoo without destruction and graffiti
is a zoo we can all enjoy and appreciate.

Engrish movies I

The Expatriate — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 16:04:00 +0000

I’m a big fan of movies and generally watch quite a few. Even in Taiwan, I like to go to Blockbuster and rent a few every few weeks. I also enjoy staying home and just catching whatever is on HBO, Starz, or Cinemax.

I’m often fascinated with the Chinese translations for American movies. They are usually humorous and never quite right. Some of them are just downright absurd. I always ask Miss Expatriate what the translations are so I can make a blog entry about them. So, without further ado, I give you the translated Chinese titles for several American movies.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High – Free Americanism
Count of Monte Cristo – The Last Hero
Charlie Wilson’s War – A Great Genius
Lucky # Slevin – The Key Password
No Country for Old Men – Don’t Go Near the Dangerous Road
There Will Be Blood – Black Gold Corporation
She’s All That – The Beautiful Girl
V for Vendetta – Weird Guy V (yeah, it really is translated as Weird Guy)
Hellboy – Weird Man from Hell (Another weirdo)
Pan’s Labyrinth – Goatman’s Maze
Shanghai Knights – The Royal Dragon
Jeeper’s Creeper’s 2 – Creepy 2: Evil Blocks Your Way

Some of these are pretty funny in my opinion. Some of them are correct, but just odd (Goatman’s Maze). I watch quite a few movies and I’m always pestering Miss Expatriate to translate, so expect more installments in the future.

Engrish Ketchup

The Expatriate — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 02:24:00 +0000

Another little gem from some restaurant. King’s Soce Ketchup.

It was, apparently, supposed to be “King’s Sauce” but either through bad spelling, bad luck, or bad software, it ended up as “Soce.”

Related posts:Some Engrish pictures Zoo Engrish Random Engrish

Engrish kitty treats

The Expatriate — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 12:08:00 +0000

Miss Expatriate and I wandered into the local pet store after dinner and started perusing the cat section to find some treats for our cat. We ended up finding some small twigs from a Japanese tree, which are apparently wildly popular with cats.

Our cat really loves them – like catnip, but without a mess and it lasts longer. She’s been playing with it for a while now. In case you can’t read the upper corner, here’s a closeup:

It says “Tree of Silvernine for cats which they love most.” I figured that was Engrishy enough to warrant a post.