this post was submitted on 23 Nov 2023
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[–] [email protected] 50 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Tumblr Post Transcription:

cheshireinthemiddle

Don't let people make fun of you for liking japanese culture.

I am living in japan right now and let me tell ya:

There are people here who can't speak or understand English who play nothing but Missy elliot and ludacris, even in businesses like housing offices and restaurants.

There are people who have cowboy hats and dead cow skulls in their home because they idolize what they assume American homes are like.

There are people who learn English strictly through music videos and American television shows. There are entire karaoke bars with english songs often sung by people who have no idea what the lyrics mean.

Japan often takes American shows like the powerpuff girls and make japanese versions of them.

They often mistake common Americans for celebrities. I have been mistaken for Micheal jordan, tiger woods, Shaquille o'neal, Tyler perry, and saddest of all: queen latifa.

The act of sprinkling English into your japanese sentences is considered cute and cool and is popular with teenagers. Bonus points if you happen to use it correctly.

Japanese stores sell shirts with english on them and people buy them not knowing that most of those word combinations are nonsense.

Don't let someone shame you for singing an anime opening, using japanese in your sentences, wearing clothing with japanese on it, ect. If anything, this is just one more thing that you have in common with them.


mutant-aesthetic

The American/Japanese cultural exchange is so pure and wonderful and I love it so much


88wingding

OK BUT RESONATE WITH THE SHIRT THING THOUGH

My Chinese relatives buy me shirts from China with English letters on them hoping I think it's cool

I have a shirt that says "Hi Quality Uality"

It's amazing

cheshireinthemiddle

[Photo of a man wearing a shirt that reads "Crap your Hands Make noise!"]

[Photo of a shirt that reads "WORLD DIFFERENCE EXECUTE"]

[Photo of a shirt that reads "round eyed LAD dwarf bravery THIS perceive"]

[Photo of shirt that reads "WATER ON THE THIRSTRY SOIL"]

[Photo of shirt that reads "MAKE FUTURE -SO- ROUND"]

[Photo of shirt that reads "MUCH LIKE HOLD"] The "O" in HOLD is replaced with a flower symbol

It happens alot.


downpoursofmoonlitraindrops

And then what's really great is Americans getting tattoos of Chinese characters thinking they mean one thing when they really don't


cheshireinthemiddle

[Photo showing a woman's shoulder, tattooed with "value*"]

[Screenshot of a photo of a wrist, tattooed with "YES"]

[Photo of an arm, tattooed in cursive with "Sky Earth Yuuka"]

[Photo of a shoulder, tattooed in cursive with "Scorpion"]

[Photo of a a man's torso, tattooed in cursive with "Take care FAMILY"]

[Photo of skin, tattooed in cursive with "I live without regretting all for myself"]

[Photo of a shoulder blade, tattooed in cursive with "Live always thinking that it is the last momnent of the life"]

[Photo of an arm, tattooed in cursive with "FRUNK"]

Also a topic where the reverse happens.


mrelisha26

lemme tell you..i have been in a grocery store in Japan and heard the unedited Get low playin over the intercom..it was literally a Katt Williams moment


cheshireinthemiddle

Oh, unsensored songs are pretty common.

I should not be hearing an unsensored 'Magic Stick' playing at a family restaurant.

And the best thing is when literally no one shows that they understand what is being said.


kazoomusic

I was in a Chinese cafe one time and they had obviously put on their "fuck you" playlist. I mean, uncensored versions of Fuck You by Lilly Allen, Fuck You by Cee-lo Green, etc. No one else had any idea.


kazoomusic Oh, also, I got my favorite shirt ever in a little tchotchky store in Sichuan:

[Photo of a shirt that reads "I wish that I had never met you" In cartoon balloons the words "TOUCH MY BUTT" "Then there would be mo need to imprese you o need to want you.No Naed for. loring you No need tar crying over you.Noneed for heartbreaks.No nead for paln oru tears.No neard for forgoure promises .nead for"]


cheshireinthemiddle

[Photo of a shirt that reads "BECOME DOOR!"]

[Photo of a woman wearing a shirt that reads "try my delicious SALT BEEF"]

[Photo of a shirt that reads "BE DANCED, OR DANCE"]

[Photo of a woman holding a shirt that reads "IT'S ONLY BABY BORN YOU MAKE ME FEELLIN. DANCING"]

[Photo of a shirt that reads "Hamberger friend" A drawing of french fries "I feel happiness When I eat a him"]

More


misanthropistok

that last one got me holy shit.


geibuchan

i wish i had

never met you

TOUCH MY BUTT

then there would be mo need to imprese you

o need to want you.No naed for. loring you

No need tar crying over you.Noneed for

heartbreaks.No nead for paln oru tears.No

neard for forgoure promises .nead for


joy-in-opera

For every american teenager that is screaming the lyrics to their favorite anime opening, there's likely at least 1 or 2 Japanese teens singing English profanities at a karaoke bar.


thej-key

I really want that "I'm so fucking future" shirt.


im-the-princess-now

Bro went to Japan and went to a karaoke bar with some high schoolers. They wanted to show me how good their Japanese rap was. Turned on kanye. Fucking sang the word nigga and everything. It was hella based


cheshireinthemiddle [Photo of a text, sent by "Joshua" that reads "My friend that works at Lockheed Martin had a group of Japanese defense representatives touring the plant. While on lunch he heard them arguing over whether King of the Hill is better subbed or dubbed. One even said "Japanese doesn't express the essence of the characters like English does" this basically confirms that King of the Hill is in fact Texas anime."]


2urban2fantasy

Brothers of the same soul

267,736 notes

[–] [email protected] 46 points 1 year ago (2 children)

phew. this transcription took me a literal hour to write.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago

Thank you for your service. o7

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think the unreadable text on the guys torso says “family”

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

That looks right. Thanks!

[–] [email protected] 44 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Last time I went back to Taiwan, I made sure to seek out Engrish shirts at one of those clothing markets. Here are a few I found.

a shirt with a picture of a woman printed on it. The english text on the shirt says "Laundry Room ~loads of fun"

a shirt with "orlifornir" printed on it. its clearly meant to say "california"

a shirt with text on it. the text says "clothing" then a bunch of random letters.

Bonus signage picture

a picture of signage in the window of a cafe that says "bread (new line) is the staff of life". its clearly meant to say "staff" instead

[–] [email protected] 42 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Wow big oops on my part, TIL!

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

This is my favourite kind of mistakes!
It shows you that someone knew enough to pick a word like CALIFORNIA, but for them, A and R looked the same, much like C and O. Something I totally saw with primary school kids learning our alphabet.

It's like us mistaking 手 and 毛, or 人 and 入, 目 and 日, etc. Looks idiotic when you're a native, but a fair mistake when you are a beginner.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago

This shirt stuff sometimes happens in Finland too, in spite of the majority of the population speaking English. A major supermarket chain was selling a child sized t-shirt with the print:

Pop my 🍒

Fucking really...

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago

Really feeling that make future so round shirt

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago

"Dance, or be danced" is my favorite, though I truly appreciate the "Become Door!" energy..

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago

I'd wear the absolute shit out of the "High Quality Uality" shirt.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I want that crap your hands shirt

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I assume they meant "ku-ra-po yo-ru han-zu".

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

It's a classic spoken language mistake. I knew a shop in Wuhan whose name was Crojing ("clothing"), iirc. I loved seeing these, haha!

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago

This is the best thing I've seen all day. That King of the Hill joke was the freaking cherry on top!

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Become Door! That Frunk tattoo looks Photoshopped.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

That was my favorite. It just seems so excited!

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

This post just keeps on giving.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

World is a fuck.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Translating King of the Hill into any language sounds nightmarish. It takes some effort just to follow it in English, as an American. Lindsey from Rooster Teeth said 'I don't understand how this show caught on anywhere outside of Texas.'

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

It's pretty fuckin funny, especially if you skip season 1 that's why