Amusing sign

[Mark_1984]

One of the lighter sides to living in the far east is some of the amusing signs you see. We found this one at work today.

Attachment 11529

No offence intended to any of our Asian members. I find the signs amusing, but I am very impressed that you make signs in English at all. My attempts at Korean or Chinese would be even more laughable.

[Mark_1984]

and here is a corker of a menu.

Attachment 11539

PS. If anybody does object to these let me know and I'll remove them.

[rickstef]

bean curd creatures seeking refuge, hmmmm, an illegal alien problem in South Korea too?

sheesh

Rick

[gnAsher]

The sign writer for the first picture is obviously a Newcastle United fan!

[paperbeam]

I was looking at the red roast chicken cats one myself - what the Hell's that one about?

Terry

[Gil]

Mark,

On my first period in Tokyo I had to learn how to get around using the trains, buses and taxis. Back then few of the station signs were in English so I had to learn to read Kangi/Katakana characters. This eventually led to understanding place names and finally to learning the language including some of the more intricate forms of honorifics. Making a long story short I ended up able to both read and speak Japanese after about five years or so. Not perfectly, mind you, but enough to make presentations and be fully understood without abusing the audience with improper usage.

One interesting thing is that punctuation is a relatively new item to Asia and its use brings about what is called Jinglish (Japan), Kinglish (Korea), Tinglish (Taiwan) and Singlish (Singapore). Hong Kong is missing due to its long use of English. The use of English has undergone an upsurge in Asia over the last decade becoming the default lingua franca and hence its use on signage...,

I still miss the smells of Tokyo at around 7:00 PM on a hot muggy August evening prior to a cold beer and some yakatori...,

-Gil

P.S. I used to Smorke..., what about you?

[gnAsher]

Ok in case you are wondering:

bean-curd-creature seeking refuge - sech yuan spicy bean curd
red roast chicken cat - roast chicken
modest west orchid - fried brocolli
To-double - 3 stir fried meats (pork, ham and chicken)

Boring really!

[Mark_1984]

Sounds good - I wish I'd eaten there now

btw - I love your signature

[gnAsher]

Mark,

Thanks. You know what they say, the spirit is willing, but my seven thumbs keep getting in the way!

[Lex]

Being a Chinese I don't have any objection to these pictures, it means we really needs to increase the English awareness in the public

More here:
http://www.engrish.com/

[cgutzmer]

Dang Nezard - I was too slow to post that one
Chris

[Mark_1984]

Originally Posted by Nezard

Being a Chinese I don't have any objection to these pictures, it means we really needs to increase the English awareness in the public

More here:
http://www.engrish.com/

I'm in stitches - that's one of the funniest sites I've ever seen

[Art Decko]

Haha! I love those!

Here in Shanghai they try harder than in other cities, but still you see plenty of un-intentional chucklers.

My favorites are the head scratching, inexplicable ones. For example, a watch store on one of the city's busiest streets was adorned with signs (in English) saying typical things like "Watchbands" and "Batteries Replaced". But one of the signs said "Spousal Abuse". Huh?

T-shirts are also fun. Always comforting to see Chinese Mom strolling around emblazoned with "Free Cannabis".

The flip side is the growing number of Americans and other westerners sporting messed-up tattoos of Chinese characters. Sometimes they're upside-down or missing strokes. Or maybe the character is fine, but the meaning is not at all what the owner thinks (sometimes embarassing or stupid). I'm sure Chinese speakers must similarly bust up over those.

The other flip side are the mistakes I make speaking Chinese. A friend once cracked up when I tried to ask him to "give me your marker pen", but through mis-pronunciation instead asked him to "give me your mother's **** <insert coarse term for primary female anatomy>". Nezard can guess it.

[Lex]

Originally Posted by Art Decko

The other flip side are the mistakes I make speaking Chinese. A friend once cracked up when I tried to ask him to "give me your marker pen", but through mis-pronunciation instead asked him to "give me your mother's **** <insert coarse term for primary female anatomy>". Nezard can guess it.

No swearing please

As for tattoos, many simply regard the characters as a symbol of oriental culture. Sometimes meaning is --not-- important

[Mark_1984]

Ha ha - I remember one guy proudly wearing a shirt with what he thought was his name in Chinese. He didn't wear it after he found out it actually said something very rude indeed !!!!