Saturday, October 17, 2009

Funny Engrish

I can never quite figure out Japan and their English...or Engrish. You see, the Japanese often get their "R"s and "L"s confused. For example, when playing "Scattagories" with some of my English students and they were having to come up with nouns that began with the letter "L" they came up with "Lalph Lauren" instead of Ralph Lauren for a brand name. Or, a sign that is near our neighborhood has a picture of a lit match with a circle and crossed out that reads, "No Open Frame". It happens quite often.

Well, not only do they get their "L"s and "R"s mixed up but they also have the most interesting/confusing English translation on their signs and products. When my mom was visiting Japan I would often see her staring intently on a sign or reading a t-shirt trying to figure out what the shirt was saying. "Mom," I said, "Don't even try to figure it out. It doesn't make sense."

Lately, we have spotted many signs and advertisements reminding people of etiquette (train etiquette, social etiquette). Which have proven to be some of the most consistently entertaining signs. Below are some of these pics. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.











3 comments:

Unknown said...

How amusing. Sign #3 really cracked me up.

LittleAnnieK said...

Those are awesome!

Emileigh Latham said...

These signs are so hilarious! They are very interesting and SO unique!

The concert was great! We didn't take the camera, because we didn't even think about taking pictures but we got a couple of autographs and really enjoyed our time. The boys brought their flipvideo to the concert and caught some not-so-very-good-sounding-but-awesome-videos!
ECNJ sat VERY close to the speakers but our great Papa got us some earplugs to save our ears. I took them out when Skillet came out because I wanted the full affect but I don't think I got that. Our theory is: While I was wearing the earplugs, I pushed some wax down into my ears causing them to clog. Now, even after a week after the concert I am still having problems with my hearing. It is not only frustrating to me but to the people that have to repeat themselves. Our solution: we are trying to dry out my ears.
(That was a long explanation) ;P

I have been enjoying seeing pictures of ya'll on Facebook. Deacon is growing up so much! What a handsome boy! Ya'll are awesome people.