No dash on to a Train
Posted on July 3rd, 2008
This photo comes from the platform of the Seaside Line in Yokohama which I used last weekend to go to the Yokohama Bayside Marina to go sailing with a friend of mine. (It also goes to Hakkeijima Sea Paradise.
I find this sign a bit striking because it is located so close to Tokyo. Usually the more into the countryside one goes, the worse the English becomes, but in this case it’s near Tokyo and Yokohama.
The mistakes here of course are the use of the indefinite article (”a”) instead of the definite article (”the”), the capitalization of “Train”, and the space between “on to” - all admittedly difficult nuances since they don’t exist in Japanese. All the more reason to ask a native speaker such as myself to proofread your important English translation that will be seen by thousands of people!
Shock English: No dash on to a Train
Correct English: Don’t run onto the train; Don’t dash onto the train
Tags: information, public, Trains and Mass Transit|電車、交通機関
Filed under Public Spaces, Trains and Mass Transit |
One Response to “No dash on to a Train”
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M Says:
January 16th, 2009 at 9:54The Seaside Line also uses bilingual anouncements. Up until last year the announcement advising passengers on transferring to the JR Line stated,
“For passengers transferring to the JR Line, please stay here.”
The English is not incorrect but what the announcement doesn’t tell you is that to transfer to the JR Line you actually have to get off of the Seaside Line train, leave through the ticket gate, go down a flight of stairs, turn right, walk 50 meters, purchase a JR Line ticket, go through the JR Line ticket gate, take the stairs, escalator or elevator up to the JR platform and then get on your train. Is it just me or does, “stay here” not quite cover all of that? The announcement was replaced last year with a more correct and therefore unremarkable announcement. I’m glad someone noticed the mistake but the world is now a less funny place.
English
Japanese