Public security announcements: understandable, but why not proofread the headlines?

Posted on June 18th, 2008

Here’s another poster I recently saw in a subway station. In this case the English isn’t terrible to the point of being wrong or misleading. But it’s still wrong. How easy would it to be to get a native speaker to check the phrasing on important posters like this in public places that are seen by many people?

Shock English: We reinforce railway security.
Correct English: Reinforcement of railway security:

Shock English: Other rules when you see unattended item. Don’t touch! Don’t smell! Don’t move!
Correct English: When you see a suspicious item: Don’t touch it! Don’t smell it! Don’t move it!

Tags: announcement, information, poster, public, security, Trains and Mass Transit|電車、交通機関
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Classic restaurant mistake

Posted on June 16th, 2008

Some classic poor English at a restaurant I went to over the weekend in Shibuya, Tokyo. Okay, I think it does convey the point that you have to pay for your meal at the time of ordering. But still, for a restaurant in cosmopolitan downtown Tokyo, I think we can do better. Even a literal translation of the Japanese (”advance payment system”) would be better than what they have!

Shock English: advance pay the price
Correct English: Please pay in advance

Tags: ordering, payment, Restaurants|飲食店
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Emergency help buttons almost always in Japanese

Posted on June 16th, 2008

Here’s another common sight in Japan: emergency help buttons, especially next to toilets, which is without doubt a good idea. The pictures above show a toilet in a public subway station that no doubt it used by many foreigners. The text in Japanese says “Please press in an emergency” on top and “Emergency button” taped on the bottom. The placement of the emergency button is such that it could be easily confused for the flush button by some people. How hard would it be to put a simple English translation on it? No doubt the button has been pressed by mistake by some foreigners; I’m sure originally it didn’t have the protective tape over it at the beginning.

When I was a student studying in Japan during college, our Japanese reading skills were really awful. Many
apartments also have emergency buttons in the bathrooms. I still remember going to one of my friend’s apartments with another friend, who accidentally pushed the emergency button instead of flush, as again it didn’t have any English translation! This created quite a stir… I can somewhat understand the buttons in private homes being only in Japanese, but in public places it seems the benefit of avoiding unnecessary false alarms would outweigh the difficulty of writing “Emergency Button” in English. Yet I have still not seen a button with an English translation. I will keep looking…

Suggested English: Emergency Help Button

Tags: bathroom, emergency, public
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For Japan Rail, poor translations mean everything is an accident…

Posted on June 15th, 2008

Inside the JR Yamanote line trains, since around 2001 or so they’ve had state-of-the-art large LCD sign boards displaying comprehensive train information, news, and commercials. One of the info screens is for train delay information of Tokyo train lines.

But just what are the causes for those delays? Some lazy translator working for JR decided to translate most of the reasons as “accident.” You’d think they’d want to promote themselves as having fewer accidents, not more!

At least some of the translations are reasonable, like the one for crowding (see picture), which I could never imagine happening in America.

So many people see this information every day and the translations are so sloppy and easy to fix that it boggles my mind. Delays due to car inspection and signal trouble seem quite common, but English speaking riders will only see these as accidents. Why don’t we fix these mistakes? (Note: There are more reasons than those in the list below.)

Tags: accident, information, Japan Rail, JR, public, Trains and Mass Transit|電車、交通機関, yamanote
Filed under 公共空間, 電車、交通機関 | 3 Comments »

Logged in? Logined? I think it’s kinda cute.

Posted on June 10th, 2008

My friend recently sent me this screenshot from the Softbank Mobile website. It’s supposed to indicate that you are currently logged in apparently. Way to create new words, Softbank!

Shock English: Logined
Correct English: Logged In

Tags: mobile phone, web
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