- Joined
- Mar 31, 2005
- Messages
- 10,232
- Reaction score
- 3,006
“Engrish” describes flawed English found in Japan and other Asian countries.
Q. What are common Engrish mistakes?
A. Regarding the Japanese use of English, common mistakes are most often attributed to the vast differences in their phonetic and grammatical structures as well as how the languages are used.
The most common mistakes due to phonetic differences are as follows:
1. The inability to differentiate between “R” and “L” (the Japanese “R” being closer to the Spanish “R” with a trill sound); samples found within Engrish.com include “Eric Crapton”and the word “Engrish” itself. Other examples include the misuse of the word “erection” (instead of “election”).
2. The pronunciation “shi” (or “shee”) vs. “see”. Common mistakes found are variations on “shit” vs. “sit” – there have been a number of reported sightings of “baby-shitter” in place of “baby-sitter”, and you can find one instance of “shituation” in place of “situation” within Engrish.com.
3. Lack of “th” or “v” sounds in Japanese – “th” is often replaced with an “s” sound, while “b” is most often substituted for “v”.
4. The Japanese language contains only 5 basic vowel sounds: “a” as in “ah”, “i” as in “eee”, “u” pronounced like “ooo”, “e” pronounced like “eh”, and “o” pronounced like “oh”.
English is used as a design element in Japanese products and advertising to give them a modern look and feel . There is often no attempt to try to get it right, nor do the vast majority of the Japanese population (= consumers) ever attempt to read the English words design. There is therefore less emphasis on spell checking and grammatical accuracy.
It is easier to come up with English names than Japanese for a particular product. New products are brought to the marketplace in Japan more than anywhere else in the world and Japanese words and slogans quickly get used up. Japanese graphic designers will often tell you that English is widespread because the Japanese writing script limits their creativity – there are only so many ways to display Japanese script, and limited types of fonts to use.
Q. What are common Engrish mistakes?
A. Regarding the Japanese use of English, common mistakes are most often attributed to the vast differences in their phonetic and grammatical structures as well as how the languages are used.
The most common mistakes due to phonetic differences are as follows:
1. The inability to differentiate between “R” and “L” (the Japanese “R” being closer to the Spanish “R” with a trill sound); samples found within Engrish.com include “Eric Crapton”and the word “Engrish” itself. Other examples include the misuse of the word “erection” (instead of “election”).
2. The pronunciation “shi” (or “shee”) vs. “see”. Common mistakes found are variations on “shit” vs. “sit” – there have been a number of reported sightings of “baby-shitter” in place of “baby-sitter”, and you can find one instance of “shituation” in place of “situation” within Engrish.com.
3. Lack of “th” or “v” sounds in Japanese – “th” is often replaced with an “s” sound, while “b” is most often substituted for “v”.
4. The Japanese language contains only 5 basic vowel sounds: “a” as in “ah”, “i” as in “eee”, “u” pronounced like “ooo”, “e” pronounced like “eh”, and “o” pronounced like “oh”.
English is used as a design element in Japanese products and advertising to give them a modern look and feel . There is often no attempt to try to get it right, nor do the vast majority of the Japanese population (= consumers) ever attempt to read the English words design. There is therefore less emphasis on spell checking and grammatical accuracy.
It is easier to come up with English names than Japanese for a particular product. New products are brought to the marketplace in Japan more than anywhere else in the world and Japanese words and slogans quickly get used up. Japanese graphic designers will often tell you that English is widespread because the Japanese writing script limits their creativity – there are only so many ways to display Japanese script, and limited types of fonts to use.