Fun with Engrish
by Lauren Nemec
The term "Engrish" widely refers to the incorrect usage of the English language - usually in written form - by people in East Asian countries, including Japan, Korea and China. "Chinglish" is the term used to describe incorrect usage of the English language in China or by Chinese people.
Things associated with the west, including English, are wildly popular in East Asian countries because they are seen as exotic. So the Chinese, for example, slap English sayings on anything from t-shirts to pencil cases to bubble gum wrappers. Sometimes the translations are done by professionals and checked for quality- but often they are done using machine translation software, a dictionary or a person who knows very little English, producing the "Chinglish" phrases that we all love so much.
Americans are guilty of doing this too- not so long ago, it was all the rage in the United States to wear clothing spattered with Asian languages or to get tattoos of Chinese or Japanese characters. Much of the time, this writing was nonsensical, meaningless, or silly. I'm sure many people were stopped in the street by Chinese speakers who would say something like, "Hey, did you know your shirt/tattoo says 'female horse rice'?"
So now that we know more about Engrish and Chinglish, we can have some fun.
The term "Engrish" widely refers to the incorrect usage of the English language - usually in written form - by people in East Asian countries, including Japan, Korea and China. "Chinglish" is the term used to describe incorrect usage of the English language in China or by Chinese people.Things associated with the west, including English, are wildly popular in East Asian countries because they are seen as exotic. So the Chinese, for example, slap English sayings on anything from t-shirts to pencil cases to bubble gum wrappers. Sometimes the translations are done by professionals and checked for quality- but often they are done using machine translation software, a dictionary or a person who knows very little English, producing the "Chinglish" phrases that we all love so much.
Americans are guilty of doing this too- not so long ago, it was all the rage in the United States to wear clothing spattered with Asian languages or to get tattoos of Chinese or Japanese characters. Much of the time, this writing was nonsensical, meaningless, or silly. I'm sure many people were stopped in the street by Chinese speakers who would say something like, "Hey, did you know your shirt/tattoo says 'female horse rice'?"
So now that we know more about Engrish and Chinglish, we can have some fun.
- Watch a 1,300+ photo slideshow of Chinglish photos on Flickr.com.
- Visit the Hanzi Smatter blog - 'dedicated to the misuse of Chinese characters in western culture' - to see many examples of tattoos gone wrong
- Take a look at Engrish.com; read about Engrish in the fabulous FAQ section and see hundreds of hilarious photos of objects with Engrish
- Read an old post I made about Beijing's effort to rid the city of poor translations in time for the 2008 Olympic games
Fried yellow croaker in squirrel style
Ocutopus with vegetables
Grape-shaped fish with bones
Chicken of three vigours
Ocutopus with vegetables
Grape-shaped fish with bones
Chicken of three vigours
Have any more fun Engrish sites to share? Post a comment and tell us all about it.
Labels: Japan, Language Fun, Lauren Nemec
posted by Lauren Nemec at
8:53 AM
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