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Feb. 23rd, 2010 04:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hug_machineNot so long ago, one of my dearest pals went to Japan to teach English. She is having a great time, meeting tons of awesome people and getting to see a ton of jealous-making sights all over Asia.
She's also become my personal importer of kawaii socks, cute stationary, delicious Japanese candy and Engrish.
Engrish, if you don't know, is one of the best things to happen to translation evar.
It's what happens when poorly made translation software is depended on by people who don't really speak English very well. A lot of it happens in Japan, but it's kind of a global phenomenon! It even happens in English speaking countries, when people get tattoos or wear shirts of languages they don't speak. Heck, there's also a website for Engrish-in-reverse --people who don't read Chinese trying to use it because they think it looks cool.
Since I very much heart the funny and odd things bad translation does to English, I had to try my own! So a few English proverbs and a few run-throughs of Babelfish (sometimes to Japanese and back to English, sometimes to Japanese and then to Italian and then to Greek and then back to English. Whatever it took!) later, and I have me some mangled proverbs ready to be embroidered into your favorite dish towels.
Original: The early bird catches the worm.
Engrishified: Morning shift hen will get worms.
Original: An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
Engrishified: One day the absent doctor keeps an apple.
Original: Life is just a bowl of cherries.
Engrishified: Life is exactly the dish of the cherry.
Original: Laughter is the best medicine.
Engrishified: Laugh is the foremost drug.
Original: Actions speak louder than words.
Engrishified: Behavior is superior to the yell of words.
BONUS! POST YR FINEST ENGRISH EXAMPLES IN THE COMMENTS, IF YA GOT 'EM!
This post brought to you by week eleventysomething of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
therealljidol!
She's also become my personal importer of kawaii socks, cute stationary, delicious Japanese candy and Engrish.
Engrish, if you don't know, is one of the best things to happen to translation evar.
It's what happens when poorly made translation software is depended on by people who don't really speak English very well. A lot of it happens in Japan, but it's kind of a global phenomenon! It even happens in English speaking countries, when people get tattoos or wear shirts of languages they don't speak. Heck, there's also a website for Engrish-in-reverse --people who don't read Chinese trying to use it because they think it looks cool.
Since I very much heart the funny and odd things bad translation does to English, I had to try my own! So a few English proverbs and a few run-throughs of Babelfish (sometimes to Japanese and back to English, sometimes to Japanese and then to Italian and then to Greek and then back to English. Whatever it took!) later, and I have me some mangled proverbs ready to be embroidered into your favorite dish towels.
Original: The early bird catches the worm.
Engrishified: Morning shift hen will get worms.
Original: An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
Engrishified: One day the absent doctor keeps an apple.
Original: Life is just a bowl of cherries.
Engrishified: Life is exactly the dish of the cherry.
Original: Laughter is the best medicine.
Engrishified: Laugh is the foremost drug.
Original: Actions speak louder than words.
Engrishified: Behavior is superior to the yell of words.
BONUS! POST YR FINEST ENGRISH EXAMPLES IN THE COMMENTS, IF YA GOT 'EM!
This post brought to you by week eleventysomething of
therealljidol!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-02-23 10:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-24 07:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-23 10:30 pm (UTC)Oh and I love this one:
see more Engrish (http://engrishfunny.com)
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Date: 2010-02-24 07:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-23 11:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-24 07:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-24 12:22 am (UTC)Attention: Please at the time of dismantling wrappingly, be careful and do not run into the knife blade, because of for the wound hand easily.
The handle is placed in to slip away the slippery appearance descend (oil, water, wash away dirt etc.) to please do not make use.
Descend to please do not use at the appearance that transformed.
Yeah, what?!
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Date: 2010-02-24 07:30 am (UTC)That is 1000x more confusing than helpful, bwahaha.
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Date: 2010-02-24 01:20 am (UTC)...aaaand I found it. Here it is:
Brilliant. I know.
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Date: 2010-02-24 02:24 am (UTC)*drinks sake and refuses the future!!!*
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Date: 2010-02-24 02:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-24 07:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-25 06:16 am (UTC)Yeah, that explains EVERYTHING. lol!!
<3 treeson
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Date: 2010-02-25 06:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-24 01:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-24 07:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-24 01:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-24 07:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-24 02:29 am (UTC)You Can't teach an old dog new tricks
To
They Can't notifies an old dog of new turn
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Date: 2010-02-24 07:32 am (UTC)I shoulda used that one too!
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Date: 2010-02-24 11:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-24 10:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-25 09:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-25 06:18 pm (UTC)My favourite Engrish!
CAN NOT REFUSET!
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Date: 2010-02-26 02:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-26 03:20 am (UTC)One of my first jobs was secretary to a German woman who came over to head the U.S. branch of a German publishing company. She asked me to help her with her English by editing her letters as I typed them. One of the first ones she wrote, in which she was asking to speak with the President of another company began "I would like to have intercourse with..." because in some Thesaurus she had been looking at "intercourse" was listed as a synonym for "conversation".
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Date: 2010-02-26 05:57 pm (UTC)P.
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Date: 2010-02-26 03:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-26 01:51 pm (UTC)A lot of my translations for Old Norse class looked a lot like those, though. Same with Czech. Translating into English is hard. >.
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Date: 2010-02-26 05:55 pm (UTC)I can't think of a one good example right at the moment, but I do know that in some countries it is aceptable to say their word equivalent for "catch the bus", but in some places, "catch the bus" means to get laid!
Be careful in which country you want to go for a bus ride! hahaha
P.
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Date: 2010-02-26 11:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-27 12:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-27 04:23 am (UTC)The gem I have never been able to shale from memory was found in Carnival season in Vienna:
"THIS IS THE TIME OF YEAR WHEN THE FIREMEN, THE POLICEMEN, THE LAWYERS AND THE DOCTORS ALL ASSEMBLE TO HOLD THEIR BALLS."
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Date: 2010-02-27 03:37 pm (UTC)Japanese candy? I never thought about candy in Japan, not sure why.
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Date: 2010-02-27 05:19 pm (UTC)