Where's the Website for Chinese People Making Fun of English Speakers?
As the Beijing Olympics draw near, a number of e-mail messages are circulating with images from Engrish.com. Although conventionally the genre focuses on "humorous English mistakes that appear in Japanese advertising and product design," this site also has a section for errors committed to writing by Chinese speakers.
What I find interesting about the website is their insistence on authenticity and their claims that they only manipulate images digitally to lower resolution and add their domain name watermark.
The Engrish contained in the pages of Engrish.com are real and true examples of flawed English. Engrish.com has not touched any of the photos in any way (to enhance their humor or otherwise), except to lower their resolution and to add "www.engrish.com". The webmaster personally took many of the photos found on the site and can assure you that they are genuine.
If there has been any such editing, it was done by those that forwarded Engrish.com their samples. Engrish.com scrutinizes all photos as much as possible before posting them, but we cannot rule out the possibility (however slight) that they are not genuine. If anyone can prove that a photo that Engrish.com has received from others is not real then it will be immediately removed from the site (or put into a special “fake Engrish” section).
The photo below ("Fuk Mi") is an example of tampering and was sent to Engrish.com many times. The original name of the restaurant is actually Fu Kim. Although it goes without saying, this picture will never make “Engrish of the Week”.
Although I will admit to chuckling over the sign in the Korean taxicab I once read that advised passengers to contact the authorities "in the event of uncomfortable intercourse with the driver," as a teacher of English and a learner of foreign languages I have nothing but admiration for people who try to overcome their default monolingualism.
I also found this "English to Engrish" generator, which transformed the opening paragraph in this very blog entry into the following sample of scrambled prose.
"When the Beijing Olympics pull soon, simultaneously, several E-mail messages are circulating the image from Engrish.com. Usually genre &The focus is adjusted to quot, but; Humorous English appears in Japanese and the product design which it has announced mistake and " There is a section for the being wrong which endeavors in writing and with the Chinese speaker in this place."
What I find interesting about the website is their insistence on authenticity and their claims that they only manipulate images digitally to lower resolution and add their domain name watermark.
The Engrish contained in the pages of Engrish.com are real and true examples of flawed English. Engrish.com has not touched any of the photos in any way (to enhance their humor or otherwise), except to lower their resolution and to add "www.engrish.com". The webmaster personally took many of the photos found on the site and can assure you that they are genuine.
If there has been any such editing, it was done by those that forwarded Engrish.com their samples. Engrish.com scrutinizes all photos as much as possible before posting them, but we cannot rule out the possibility (however slight) that they are not genuine. If anyone can prove that a photo that Engrish.com has received from others is not real then it will be immediately removed from the site (or put into a special “fake Engrish” section).
The photo below ("Fuk Mi") is an example of tampering and was sent to Engrish.com many times. The original name of the restaurant is actually Fu Kim. Although it goes without saying, this picture will never make “Engrish of the Week”.
Although I will admit to chuckling over the sign in the Korean taxicab I once read that advised passengers to contact the authorities "in the event of uncomfortable intercourse with the driver," as a teacher of English and a learner of foreign languages I have nothing but admiration for people who try to overcome their default monolingualism.
I also found this "English to Engrish" generator, which transformed the opening paragraph in this very blog entry into the following sample of scrambled prose.
"When the Beijing Olympics pull soon, simultaneously, several E-mail messages are circulating the image from Engrish.com. Usually genre &The focus is adjusted to quot, but; Humorous English appears in Japanese and the product design which it has announced mistake and " There is a section for the being wrong which endeavors in writing and with the Chinese speaker in this place."
Labels: China, generators, global villages, photoshop, sports
posted by Liz Losh at 10:47 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home