Engrish

Posted on 20 June 2008 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I often check in at Engrish, which site digs up some fun "translations" into a sort of English perhaps more appreciated by the authors of the lame-duck ICEL prayers.

Here is a sample that amused me:

Wonderfurry fravorfur sandrich, no doubt.  Yum!

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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13 Responses to Engrish

  1. Padre Steve says:
    20 June 2008 at 11:28 am

    This is like Scooby Doo English!

  2. M.J. Ernst-Sandoval says:
    20 June 2008 at 12:23 pm

    We all know the Japanese have difficulty with ‘liquids’, hence the ‘lollipop test’ during WWII.

  3. Derik Castillo says:
    20 June 2008 at 12:27 pm

    That Engrish website is hilarious, thanks for brightening my day

  4. RichR says:
    20 June 2008 at 12:55 pm

    With a Korean mother-in-law, I have a certain respect for foreigners who attempt to learn our ridiculously complex language. However, you have to be able to laugh a little, too.

    Funny.

  5. Guy Power says:
    20 June 2008 at 1:18 pm

    Fr. Z,

    Engrish is a great site! I studied Japanese for two years at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, married my teacher; and later lived in Japan for five years; and … I have been surrounded by all my wife’s Japanese friends for the past 20 years. Still …..

    This site is just plain funny!

    But, as RichR said: I have respect for non-native speakers of English.

  7. Guy Power says:
    20 June 2008 at 2:15 pm

    By the way, the katakana identifies the product as “Chikin.katsu.sando” — “Chicken Katsu (deep fried) Sandwich.” Note, theJapaneselanguagedoesnotspacebetweenwords, which is why the combination of kanji (Chinese ideograms) and kana (syllabry) are important.

  8. Gloria says:
    20 June 2008 at 2:28 pm

    China has recently become aware of too much laughter about its signs in English, especially with the coming Olympics. They have something like sign police going about to change such signs as: Deformed Man (outside a handicapped restroom); Show Mercy to the Slender Grass (Park Lawns); To Take Notice of Safe: the Slippery Are Very Crafty (Be careful, slippery); No Entry in Peacetime (emergency exits at Beijing Airport); Racist Park (Ethnic Minorities Park); Nice to live, No Cross Railing (next to a cliff). Please explain menu items such as: bean curd with feeling or government abuse chicken. There are others that sound really, um, off-color, shall we say, so ’nuff said.

  9. Jayna says:
    20 June 2008 at 2:42 pm

    I used to have Engrish as my homepage just so I could always start my day off with a good laugh. I think my all time favorite is the “No Smorking” sign.

  10. Wendy says:
    20 June 2008 at 6:40 pm

    “China has recently become aware of too much laughter about its signs in English, especially with the coming Olympics. They have something like sign police going about to change such signs as: Deformed Man (outside a handicapped restroom); Show Mercy to the Slender Grass (Park Lawns); To Take Notice of Safe: the Slippery Are Very Crafty (Be careful, slippery); No Entry in Peacetime (emergency exits at Beijing Airport); Racist Park (Ethnic Minorities Park); Nice to live, No Cross Railing (next to a cliff). Please explain menu items such as: bean curd with feeling or government abuse chicken. There are others that sound really, um, off-color, shall we say, so ‘nuff said.”

    Thanks for the laugh, this post/thread is hilarious. :)

    -Wendy

  11. Melody says:
    20 June 2008 at 11:42 pm

    Here’s a pic from my friend’s recent trip to Japan:


    Sanders no Shinsengumi Taicho!

    As an anime fan, I have long been amused by Engrish in Japanese pop songs.

  12. Melody says:
    20 June 2008 at 11:55 pm

    *sigh* Why does your site block HTML?
    Here’s that pic: http://i31.tinypic.com/2hyyxky.jpg

  13. Anthony OPL says:
    24 June 2008 at 7:42 pm

    Chicken Katsu is actually quite delicious. The mistransliteration of L/R sounds is exceedingly common in Japanese printed materials intended for Japanese, since the English is little more than decorative. Anything which has a decent chance of going to actual native English speakers is usually professionally translated, and therefore tends to overcome this extremely basic substitution error.