English encounters in Tokyo

It's been too long since I've been here. I've had several people-intense days and no time or energy for writing. But today the writing "force" is strong and hard to resist. I know when I've been away too long when I can't decide on one single thing to write about...there's a lot buzzing around in my head.

But I'm already running out of time to get traction on my large to-do list, so here's a small offering.

Yesterday I had to print a A3-sized poster. The place to do that here is at a convenience store. It's been many years since I done this, but with no good reason to chicken out, I forged ahead, not knowing how this would go. (I have a dislike of using such machines in Japan, because it's so easy to make a mistake when you're language isn't super.) After all the worst that could happen would be that I'd have to swallow my pride and ask for help!

It turned out that I didn't need help at all. Good thing I speak "American English" though (wink). This was the touch screen that greeted me when I hit the "Language" button. Quite an impressive array of choices.

In English I had no problem negotiating my way through the screens. Then I got some entertainment (sorry for the poor photos, Japanese shops are seriously over-lit!). This screen appeared while I was waiting for my printout. There were three of these that rotated through while I waited. So cute, so Japanese!

I have to note that this machine was located in a convenience store within a stone's thrown of several universities and I suspect there are more foreigners frequenting this area of Tokyo than in many places in Japan. So I can't say that this would be so easy a task in a more rural area! But I am grateful whenever I find English in this country, especially good English.

I had no trouble sorting my rubbish at a local supermarket today. There are certain things that you can put in recycle bins at some supermarkets, but can't "recycle" them from home, that includes milk and juice cartons and polystyrene trays. We usually save them up and I take them every few weeks or so. But I was a little amused by the English on this poster. It seems that the synonyms "trash" and "garbage" have been allocated different meanings. "Garbage" meaning "food rubbish" and "trash" meaning "things that aren't supposed to go in this bin". Very subtle difference!

Mask eating shield candy!

I'm a bit confused by this product. I won it in a fun "bingo" game with CAJ parents a few weeks ago. Here's what one website says about it:

Product name: mask eating Morinaga shield acidophilus tablets (yogurt) 

Shield acidophilus tablet, the dry season of customers who have a vague uneasiness. Easy sweets warned that not is a yogurt taste developed in the wake lock crackers. Developed to know that there is a special lactic acid bacteria have been verified the effect of various kinds of lactic acid bacteria, lactic acid bacteria by using lock crackers. 

[Product features]  

• Health management in the dry season to "shield" lactic acid bacteria tablets goodies is.  

• Can one day consume 10 billion pieces in 3 grain lactic acid bacteria.  

• You can lock crackers can easily consume yogurt taste, so to worry about young children, in the habit of eating.

[The origin of the mask eating nicknamed] "Shield lactic acid bacteria" is a shield, to protect you. "That image is easy to understand, such thought in the development team. "Eat my mask" is flashed when you finally have meeting designers and packaging design.

-And shield lactic acid bacteria—Many immune cells reside in the intestine, has suggested that lactic acid bacteria ingested immune function. Shield lactic acid bacteria is lactic acid bacteria was chosen from among several thousand shares owned by Morinaga milk industry, focusing on "immunity".

I'm feeling pretty confused. Would you eat it? When I won it I asked the Japanese parents in the room about what it was and their explanation didn't help much either. I've tried one and I'm not totally enamoured by the flavour, nor am I convinced that it is helping me in any way!

Interesting English

As usual I'm on the look out for unusual sights and word-usage while I'm out and about. I found a few recently and snapped photos of them.

I'm wondering what version of English a "dust port" comes from. Otherwise known as a rubbish bin or trash can. In Japan usually known as a gomi bako, how did they get "Dust port"? 

This motorised scooter was parked next to my bike at my local supermarket. I'm wondering what the invitation is: "Let's4" seems an odd thing to put in that particular place, not to mention that I need a noun.

This is not a Japanese app, but the language seemed a little odd to me. "Ponding on the road" and "Breathing is very good in your area". How would they know the state of my lungs? I guess they're talking about pollution?

I spotted the next sight as I drove along a local road. Someone got all excited about putting up warning posters at their local rubbish-collection station. I think it is just English and Japanese.

To finish off, I was reading in an orthodontist's waiting room this morning and found this sentence: "Another hallway was perpendicular to the staircase." This gave me vertigo! Which angle of the staircase did the author mean? That the hallway angled upwards towards the ceiling? Because this is a Kindle book I can look up this word usage in the book and I'm not too surprised to find that this author uses this slightly unusual word three times in the book. She must like it!

Altered forever

I'm the mum of three boys. It's altered my humour forever! 

Not long after we took off for our camping trip on Monday I saw this and got excited. "Toilet Car"! Seriously?

Bath tissue

This was on the wall in my toilet cubicle at Costco this morning. In the company of north Americans I've grown accustomed to calling the "toilet" a "bathroom" even when there is no bathroom. Sometimes I'll use restroom, because bathroom just seems too weird.

But this is pushing it too far. All I can see when I read "bath tissue" is a bunch of tissues floating in bath water. Eeew!

Language is funny, because when words are a part of your regular vocabulary you don't even think about the literal meaning or an alternative literal meaning. For example "car park" sounds strange to American ears. To us it is merely a place that you park your car. But they think about parks and how weird it is to have a park full of cars!

What other phrases do you use that makes sense in your culture, but not to people from other cultures?

More funny English

Finding funny English can be an interesting pastime in non-English speaking countries. In Japan a great source is the 100 yen shops that have English translations on many of their products. Here's some we found on the weekend.

The last one I found on a packet of tissues this afternoon. It brings to mind images I'd rather not imagine.

Why are Japanese people so bad at English?

It is a discussion we often have, in Japan and here. Japanese people seem convinced that English is too difficult for them. But there are other reasons beyond the fact that English is vastly different to Japanese.

Here are some reasons and language-learning ideas for those of us living in a land that doesn't speak our heart language: http://japaneseruleof7.com/why-are-japanese-so-bad-at-english-5-reasons/

Name hassles in Japan

When we first were going to Japan, nobody told me my name would change.

Wendy Marshall became Maasharu Ooendii (my first name isn't too different from it's Australian pronunciation).

I became a citizen of Awsutoraria. I baulked at this. Surely I could just call Australia, Australia? But no, it isn't understood, you have to use a Japanese accent with foreign words, unless someone speaks English. 

Getting used to the Japanese version of my name was a little
like getting used to breathing through a snorkel (this was
during our brief holiday in Cairns in July). It felt awkward
and constricting, and took time.

So, incidentally, I have a terrible time in Australia with Australian pronunciations of Japanese words. I have this reoccurring conversation with people who think they know Japanese food and ask what food I like, I hesitate, then they tell me what they like, in an Australian accent. It can be awkward, because I often don't know what it is that they've said.

But back to names, there are much worse names than ours, particularly names that have bad meanings in Japanese. Like "Ben". We had a friend who was working in Japan and he never revealed that he was called "Ben" in Australia. He stuck with Benjamin or his surname. Sorry to all you Bens out there, but "Ben" means, among other things, a bowel movement.

It's not always as simple as a straight translation problems. Because Japanese generally adds vowels between consonants, names can end up almost unrecognisable. Given a list of names of our friends only written in Japanese script, it is really hard to figure out their names.

I've sat at our local doctors with friends and heard their names called and not recognise it. For example:

Robert becomes Robaato.
David becomes somethings between Deibiddo and Deividdo.
Kelly becomes Kerii.
Lesley becomes Rezurii.
If you'd like to check out your name, try this name translator.

Check out what's happened to these German women's names in Japan. 

Straightening out some kinks

This morning I went to my local dentist. We had a short warm-up conversation about language (he complimented me on my pronunciation). I politely said that Japanese is very hard. 

Then he mentioned a current affairs item (another time I'm glad I've browsed Facebook and knew about this), a prestigious private university in Japan has announced they're going to change their name. Why? Because they are called Kinki University (pronounced 'kinky') merely because that is where they are located, in the Kinki area.

Of course this name produced giggles. Can you imagine a graduate going overseas with that as her alma mater? Or trying to recruit international students? Hence, they're changing it to "Kindai". This is a combination of "Kinki" and "Daigaku" (university). Makes sense!

The news has made headlines internationally, but here is one article you might like to read.

Indeed, words that make sense in one culture may be worse than not making sense in another. There are English words and other names that don't translate very well into Japanese either, like Backer (turns into an insult in Japanese) and Ben (body waste).

Ah, the fun you can have trying to make yourself understood across cultures.

Photo answer #50

This one didn't turn out to be too hard, at least the answer came very quickly from a few

sources.

But before we get there, it is fun to brainstorm about this mind-boggling product, Maple Flavoured Almond Poodle Blend. Here are Deb's fun suggestions:

A large vat of poodles from which is extracted...
Or a type of almond hair conditioner for frizzy hair...
Or a carpet freshener for poodle accidents in a maple scent....
Ah, the possibilities are delightful.

The true answer lies here: http://www.justhungry.com//almond-poodle. Basically it is a mangled French word that means "powder". So it is Powdered Almonds.

The Japanese language has a tendency to do this, because they only have 46 sounds, they squeeze foreign words into those 46 sounds and the result can be unrecognisable. For example, Makudonarudo is Japanese for McDonalds!

In the case of the "Almond Poodles", they've taken a foreign word (poudre), squeezed it into Japanese (puudoru or プードル) and then "translated" back in "Romaji" script (ABCs) with an unfortunate result.

Fun English #3

It is pretty obvious what these are, so they don't qualify for a "Photo Question" post. I'm not sure where they got the name "Muddler" from, though. Would you like your coffee "muddled'? 150 of these for 105 yen!

Fun English #2

Here is my second "Fun English" for the week. Two right-handed rubber gloves with "fluffy processed" insides! Yours for only 105 yen.

Fun English #1

We're away for four days at an OMF Conference. So I'm going to do some easy photo-based posts. 

Do you think this slogan might work in Australia?