First a caveat: no one should be too critical of bad English in a foreign country because we, who come from English-speaking countries, rarely speak a second language at all, so who are we to criticize? Nevertheless, Japanese Engrish can be quite amusing. My quite fluent fiancee has a t-shirt I make fun of which says, "Dogs is Best Friend." I actually took the associated picture at the train station closest to my house for a website I regularly read called Japundit which is all about Japan (and I listen to the weekly podcast, as well). The website has all manner of things-Japan including funny things like Engrish. (P.S. If you couldn't figure out what the sign is supposed to mean, it's instructing us not to run to catch a train).
As Americans, we are always right. That's how we can pronounce the Ls in Amarillo, Texas. It also allows us to honor our country's discoverer: Christopher Columbus. Now, his mom sewed Cristobal Colon on the inside of his undies, but we know what his name was better than some country where he was born right?
ReplyDeleteAs one who hails from the east side of Cleveland, I can also claim to speak English properly. David B. Guralnick, who WROTE Webster's Dictionary, is from Shaker. So, we Clevelanders are right and everyone else is wrong. It's pop, not soda, and Cuyahoga is pronounced KAI-uh-hog-uh.
Guess I hit a chord there! I remember going to college in Pittsburgh and all of the crazy pronunciations they had like Versailles (Vare-SALES) among others.
ReplyDeleteFor a comic look at many poor pronunciations see: http://www.tomatonation.com/?p=1816
Yumi will tease me about this from time to time because apparently the Japanese actually stick with the original city names while we convert Praha to Prague, München to Munich, and Firenze to Florence(actually just about every Italian city: Roma, Genova, Napoli, Venezia, Torino, Milano...)
The way I see it, you could try and pronounce things properly, but in many places, failing to do it right gets you mocked.
ReplyDeleteI say, stick to your guns, and if they give you grief, remind them how we saved them in (insert war here). Suggest that if it weren't for us, they'd all be speaking (insert language of vanquished American foe here).
Ben, it's not pop or soda. You've got to say it like an Englishman! It's "fizzy drink" ;-)
ReplyDeleteI remember seeing a lot of shirt's like Yumi's in Japan.
ReplyDeleteI've always wondered why we change the names of European cities - Is it really THAT much harder to say Praha, Firenze (wasn't that the name of a 1970s car?), Munchen, etc. I love the corrupted Midwestern city names too Cairo, Ill (cay-ro), Vienna, Ill (vi-anna), Versailles, Ind. (ver-sails), etc. Then there is my home county which is Vigo (vee-go) but often pronounced vi-go (long I); umm Francis Vigo pronounced it vee-go (Italian).
As Japanese, I have another idea about the sign " No dash on to a train ". It's probably just intended to show people that they care about foreign travelers, because I assume foreigners seldom run to catch a train. That could be a reason its English was strange. If they really cared for foreigners, they would have made the sign's English sure to make sense.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, are there similar signs as " Do not run to catch a train " at the platform in the US ?
Someone needs to tell the Brits we got our independence in 1776 and can call it soda or pop -- it's our right! :-)
ReplyDeleteTofuunion - I agree that putting signs in English is a sign of courtesy to foreigners (most places in the U.S. don't have signs in foreign languages unless there is a large population which speaks that language, i.e. in San Fransisco's Chinatown signs are in Chinese and in many parts of the Southwestern part of the country signs are in Spanish).
Sadly, most U.S. cities don't have very extensive train networks so I don't know if they have those signs or not. The only U.S. cities I know of which have good subways are New York, Washington D.C., and the San Fransisco bay area).
As for the signs : In Japan some people do run to catch a train at the rush hours. And there are many signs (and announcements) at the station which sometimes seem to be superfluous or unnecessary.
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