Today's Engrish

This is a sign on the top of a self serve rice cooker at a Raman shop I went to yesterday. In other words, Obama or Americans eat too much rice!

Engrish

Em and I went out to eat at our first Chinese Restaurant in Japan last night, Karinba. It was pretty good. While waiting to be seated I noted the clock had an airplane on the second hand flying around the clock. Em asked if I had read what it said on it. After reading it I decided to regularly share some good Engrish encounters with you. How regularly? As reuglarly as I fell like. For those of you not familiar with the word engrish, it is english words arranged in a manner as to have the appearance of a profound statement but which has no real meaning, usually the result of a translation from Japanese to English, which just doesn't make it all the way to real English. "Engrish" has an "r" because that is how an L is pronounced in Japanese. So what did the clock say you ask?

"MY DESIRE IS BASED COMMUNICATION WITH OTHERS"

So true don't you think!

Happy Birthday

We teach the cutest group of 5 year old girls at church. There are 9 of them that come (one boy hasn't come yet). One of them had her birthday last Sunday. We sang happy birthday to her and then some one mentioned doing it in Japanese, but we didn't know how. Then the Birthday Girl said she knew how. She goes to a Japanese school so I don't doubt her. So she starts singing:

Haappee Birfdayyy Tooo Yhouu...

really slowly and carefully. I join in singing it normally. She then tell me, "No Like this!" and proceed as previously demonstrated. I then realize she is singing it just like her Japanese Mamma-sans try to sing it at her school, in English but with a Japanese accent. It was hilarious! But unfortunately I was the only adult present to witness it.


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