The perils of automatic translators

Index » 喫茶店 (Koohii Lounge)

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Reply #1 - 2009 June 08, 7:46 pm
Thora Member
From: Canada Registered: 2007-02-23 Posts: 1691

smile
http://engrishfunny.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/building-smokers.jpg


〜 喫煙されるお客様へ 〜      構内は禁煙になっております    外の喫煙コーナーでお願いします。

The gist (but politely): "To customers who smoke: This is a non-smoking area, please use the smoking corner outside."  A blogger took the time to compare various automatic translators. Here are his results fyi:

[Babelfish]
    - To the customer who smokes -
    the enclosure we have become prohibition of smoking,
    we ask with the smoking corner outside.
[Google]
    Smoking to be one of your
    Smoking is on the premises,
    In the smoking area outside.
[Reverso]
    I ask a smoked visitor for the yard at the outside smoking corner that smoking is prohibited in.
[Paralink]
    Customers will be smoking on campus is a non-smoking, smoking outside corner.
[Windows Live]
    and smoking that is customer to premises smoking and: on the outside smoking corner in.
[OCN]
    Premises at the outside smoking
    area which becomes no smoking
    to the customer who smokes, please.
[@Nifty]
    - Visitor smoked -
    please give me premises in the outer smoking corner which is giving up smoking.
[Excite]
    To the customer from whom it smokes
    I hope premises in the smoking corner of the outside that is no
    smoking.

Kind of like reading modern poetry.

Reply #2 - 2009 June 08, 8:26 pm
vosmiura Member
From: SF Bay Area Registered: 2006-08-24 Posts: 1085

Well, the dodgy honorific "sareru" does make it read like "To smoked visitors..." :p.

Last edited by vosmiura (2009 June 08, 8:33 pm)

Reply #3 - 2009 June 08, 11:04 pm
bodhisamaya Guest

I love those Engrish photos on Flickr smile

I never understood why so many Japanese businesses dsiplay billboards and signs that make little sense in English.  Are they so cheap as to not pay a native English speaker for five minutes of proof-reading before going through all the expense of printing them?

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Reply #4 - 2009 June 08, 11:08 pm
captal Member
From: San Jose Registered: 2008-03-22 Posts: 677

I have always thought that'd be a great business- fixing English in Japan- but I'm doubting most companies would pay for it.

I do have a fun story however. I was at a video rental place and on their price list they had Blu- Lay - I pointed out to the person at the counter that they had made a mistake and told them the correct way to spell it. In America, nothing would probably have happened, but the next day when I went back to return my movies, they had pasted Rs over the Ls on the menu. That's my little contribution to Japan. wink

Reply #5 - 2009 June 08, 11:50 pm
vosmiura Member
From: SF Bay Area Registered: 2006-08-24 Posts: 1085

In the US you could probably sue them for false advertising wink.

Last edited by vosmiura (2009 June 08, 11:50 pm)

Reply #6 - 2009 June 09, 12:01 am
bodhisamaya Guest

If it was specific as to exactly what was being smoked, this would all make a little more sense. I wonder if they have Maui Wowie in Japan cool

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