Monday, March 15, 2004

I'd headline this "Lost In Translation", but....

....according to the FAQ, often there is no attempt at translation.

It's Engrish.com, which collects examples of fractured English used in print materials and on products from around the world, and often in Japan. Apparently, the use of English words is something of a design tendency -- just because they look cool, which sounds odd at first until I consider that I own a lot of stuff with Japanese or Chinese characters on them, and I have no idea at all what they say, either. This, plus the problems faced by Japanese people attempting to speak English (few opportunities for use in any kind of vernacular setting, different grammatical structures, and entire sounds in English not present in Japanese), combine with often funny results.

(via Libertarian Jackass)

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