Engrish. In case you haven't heard of it, this is a phenomenon on the internet that has proficient English speakers chuckling at their laptops. 'Engrish' is the result of the Japanese producing t-shirts with English screen print without the consultation of an English speaker. Some of my favorites are 'Donkey Brings You Happy with Joy!', 'Truck, Smell the Pleasure', 'Cute Numb, Strenuous Heartthrob' and the one pictured here, 'Your Boyfreind Seen Nice'.
What happens to the people wearing these shirts when they go on vacation overseas? I would suggest to the Japanese clothiers to invest in some English lessons for their writing and design staff before producing new lines. While I know first-hand that it is difficult to learn Japanese, I wouldn't create any Japanese products without double-checking to make sure they were correct. Of course, they aren't selling these shirts to English speakers, right? It turns out that the Japanese are taught to learn English from first grade. While many will not go on to master the language, others will go on to English school later in life.
I have heard commentary from English tutors who travel to Japan to teach in elementary and middle school classrooms, who find these kinds of products very frustrating. When the kids are surrounded by incorrect English, it makes it harder to teach them what is correct.
In a way, I hope that the Japanese keep it up, or begin to do it intentionally. You never know, if the humor catches on then English speaking companies may start picking words out of a hat and selling their own line of quirky shirts in the West. (Photo by Frankie of What Happens Twice Happens Three Times)
Comments
Well in their defence at least they won’t poison you like some of the foreign made toothpaste which uses equally bad English in the ingredient list. (As long as you don’t coun brain rot
You would be amazed… or appalled… at some of the lyric transcriptions I’ve seen in cheap karaoke discs.
this was one of my favorite things about Japan!! trying to decode their “english” shirts was so much fun. many people on the trip bought them to bring home, a popular one was something about ridding a pirate…
my favorite one was “the story end with happiness and deeply love”…i have a framed picture of it and it makes me happy every time i read it.
God I WANT these T Shirts…..where can I get them?? While I’m at it I will get you a sense of humor
“Engrish” has been around a LOT longer than those shirts. It pokes fun at the Japanese who learn English, since they have trouble pronouncing an L sound, something not native to them.
I always believed that english speaking people were making these shirts and selling them to unsuspecting non-english consumers, then laughing at them. Probably not true, but makes for a great story.
D,
Yep, I’ve heard of Engrish before, but I don’t think this is a case of white people making fun of Japanese people. Japanese companies make these shirts. It is the Japanese companies failing to check their English before mass-producing these silly things.