language hazards... like a water hazard

[branchandroot]

I want this book: Here Speeching American: A Very Strange Guide to English as It Is Garbled around the World

And you thought Engrish was bad. Examples given in the blurb:

On a Mexican bus: Keep all fours in the bus--eyes only out window

At a hotel in Vietnam: Compulsory Buffet Breakfast

At a temple in Burma: Foot Wearing Prohibited

In a Barcelona travel-agency window: Go Away

At a hotel swimming pool in France: Swimming is forbidden in the absence of the savior


That last one made me laugh until I cried.

And the moral of the story: never, ever use fangirl Japanese, because this is probably what you'd sound like to them.

Comments

[ladyvorkosigan.livejournal.com]

I met a Spanish guy once who told me that when the Olympics came to Spain a local restaurant translated their menu into English. So Rape Marinero (the rape fish cooked in a certain way) because "Rape Sailer-style".

[branchandroot]

Ow, man. Just... ow.

[naanima.livejournal.com]

In a Barcelona travel-agency window: Go Away

*laughs* needed that. *goes off to study*

[akatonbo.livejournal.com]

Fodor's, a publisher of travel books, once distributed promotional buttons that said 'GO AWAY' in a rather large font and had further promo type stuff in a notably smaller one. Oh, how I wished I had and could wear one at this one job I had (where I worked in the book department of a general entertainment chain). It would even have gone with my damn red uniform polo shirt.

[branchandroot]

*bows* My pleasure.

[fromastudio]

*chokes*

You may just have deterred me from fangirl Japanese. For a lifetime.

[branchandroot]

*grinning* My good deed for the day.

[akatonbo.livejournal.com]

Aren't I smart, looking at my friends-of. (Which I actually did because I realized I'd added so many people lately due to new fandom that my flist probably greatly exceeded my readers again.) Hello. :)

I read the entire Challenge arc today, by the way (mostly at work; I'm a bad girl but I clear my history), but I'm not sure I have anything coherent to say about it. *indicates icon instead*

[branchandroot]

Greetings, and welcome!

*blushing* And thank you. Challenge is my own favorite, so far, of everything I've written. These Rikkai muses, man, the're pushy little buggers.

*giggling* And that's a fantastic icon.

[opal363.livejournal.com]

*giggles* what a great moral, love the Barcelona one. That's just great.

[branchandroot]

*grins* I really love my Bas Bleu catalogue; they do the greatest blurbs for the books they sell.

[the-tower.livejournal.com]

there was one about a Chinese hotel (don't remember whether it was in China or Hong Kong or Taiwan) where they had a sign on the door that said "Please use our chambermaids in any way"

hee hee hee...

[branchandroot]

*snorfles* Oh, jeez...

[solaas.livejournal.com]

*collapses over keyboard, dead from the giggles*

[katharos-8.livejournal.com]

*snickerfit*

Do you know this site? http://engrish.com/
Lots more where they came from.

[branchandroot]

Oh, beautiful. *grins*

[arashi-neko.livejournal.com]

I've seen a number of truly lousy ones.... in China, home country of Singapore at times, and maybe Australia.

The ones in China looked as if they'd been translated over directly without checking how much sense the resulting ones made.

*I can't recall any examples, though. It's been two years since my last trip there*

[branchandroot]

Oh, yes, I can imagine.