Engrish is a global language
Nope, I didn't coin this term. The Singaporean context of Engrish (aka English) would probably be "England", I suppose.
"Wah, your England very powderful leh."
I wonder who came up with such "ingenious" terms.
Do Singaporeans really speak terrible English? I don't know if this was mentioned anywhere, but I think Singaporeans in general are very adaptive creatures. We have the ability to switch from Singlish to English and vice versa effortlessly as and when the situation calls for it. And since there has been much (long past) debate on Singaporeans speaking poor Mandarin, are Singaporeans equally bad at the subject as well?
For the record, I think I am pretty good at both subjects. I got an A1 for both O level English and Chinese and A2 for both General Paper and Chinese in JC ok! Don't pray pray! And my JC tutor wrote this in my testimonial:
"She writes and speaks fluently in both English and Chinese which makes her geniunely bilingual."
Hee. I am not trying to boast about my "excellent" results here, but my point is, most Singaporeans who have had decent schooling ( i.e. up to the secondary level. Not a bad benchmark right? Most young Singaporeans at least finish secondary school.) speak at least average to above average English/Mandarin. Sure, we still hear the lahs and lors everywhere, but when confronted with formal situations, we switch to standard English.
However, I must agree that we can't rest on our laurels. Singapore seems to be portrayed as a "neither here, nor there" nation in terms of language ability.
Moving away from the language debate, I chanced upon this site, Engrish.com that showcases a wide selection of pictures depiciting poor and sometimes puzzling English from all around Asia (mostly).
According to the website, Engrish is defined as "the humorous English mistakes that appear in Japanese advertising and product design". However, the use of Engrish is no longer confined to Japan although "the vast majority of the really funny and creative Engrish is from Japan."
The website also gives a rather thorough explanantion of why the Japanese are such poor speakers of English, despite having one of the world's best eduational system.
The pictures are divided into many categories and I found a couple of interesting ones.
Nothing wrong. Jeans are meant to serve this purpose. But a little too crude?
Image courtesy of www.engrish.com
Found in a restaurant menu from China.
Image courtesy of www.engrish.com
A brand of er.. toilet paper from China. A very apt and "functional" name I must say.
Image courtesy of www.engrish.com
Literal translation.
Image courtesy of www.engrish.com
Another case of literal translation.
Image courtesy of www.engrish.com
Speaking of literal translation, I still remember this classic example of literal translation 14 years ago (boy! I am really growing old!) when I was in Primary 2. I overheard a classmate telling my teacher:
"Sorry, Miss X. I didn't bring come." Which should have meant: "Sorry, Miss X. I didn't bring it/(the thing)."
Meaning of the words in Chinese:
I = "wo3"
didn't = "mei3 you3"
bring = "dai4"
come = "lai2"
Ok, she can't be blamed. But given my above-average English standards at that time, I was already feeling very puzzled!
Continuing...
Image courtesy of www.engrish.com
No, I won't be so silly. In case, they get dumped into the Kallang River too. Sorry.. I know this is not funny.
Image courtesy of www.engrish.com
Yucks! The chicken is going to taste all "mousey".
Btw, despite efforts to blur the company's logo, it's still pretty obvious that this ad came from a popular fastfood chain, also available in Singapore, whose food just tastes better. Hmm...
Image courtesy of www.engrish.com
No, no I won't. I don't think I will get scalded. Anyway, the cup can't get scalded by the heat right?
Sometimes, one small little alphabet is all it takes to cause the damage...
Image courtesy of www.engrish.com
Utterly hilarious! Should check out the site!
P.S. Engrish.com has cautioned readers of their site to refrain from using the site's pictures for their own Engrish.com site. This isn't one; it's a blog. So I suppose it's okay right? Besides, I am doing free advertising for the site!
ciao!
"Wah, your England very powderful leh."
I wonder who came up with such "ingenious" terms.
Do Singaporeans really speak terrible English? I don't know if this was mentioned anywhere, but I think Singaporeans in general are very adaptive creatures. We have the ability to switch from Singlish to English and vice versa effortlessly as and when the situation calls for it. And since there has been much (long past) debate on Singaporeans speaking poor Mandarin, are Singaporeans equally bad at the subject as well?
For the record, I think I am pretty good at both subjects. I got an A1 for both O level English and Chinese and A2 for both General Paper and Chinese in JC ok! Don't pray pray! And my JC tutor wrote this in my testimonial:
"She writes and speaks fluently in both English and Chinese which makes her geniunely bilingual."
Hee. I am not trying to boast about my "excellent" results here, but my point is, most Singaporeans who have had decent schooling ( i.e. up to the secondary level. Not a bad benchmark right? Most young Singaporeans at least finish secondary school.) speak at least average to above average English/Mandarin. Sure, we still hear the lahs and lors everywhere, but when confronted with formal situations, we switch to standard English.
However, I must agree that we can't rest on our laurels. Singapore seems to be portrayed as a "neither here, nor there" nation in terms of language ability.
Moving away from the language debate, I chanced upon this site, Engrish.com that showcases a wide selection of pictures depiciting poor and sometimes puzzling English from all around Asia (mostly).
According to the website, Engrish is defined as "the humorous English mistakes that appear in Japanese advertising and product design". However, the use of Engrish is no longer confined to Japan although "the vast majority of the really funny and creative Engrish is from Japan."
The website also gives a rather thorough explanantion of why the Japanese are such poor speakers of English, despite having one of the world's best eduational system.
The pictures are divided into many categories and I found a couple of interesting ones.
Nothing wrong. Jeans are meant to serve this purpose. But a little too crude?
Image courtesy of www.engrish.com
Found in a restaurant menu from China.
Image courtesy of www.engrish.com
A brand of er.. toilet paper from China. A very apt and "functional" name I must say.
Image courtesy of www.engrish.com
Literal translation.
Image courtesy of www.engrish.com
Another case of literal translation.
Image courtesy of www.engrish.com
Speaking of literal translation, I still remember this classic example of literal translation 14 years ago (boy! I am really growing old!) when I was in Primary 2. I overheard a classmate telling my teacher:
"Sorry, Miss X. I didn't bring come." Which should have meant: "Sorry, Miss X. I didn't bring it/(the thing)."
Meaning of the words in Chinese:
I = "wo3"
didn't = "mei3 you3"
bring = "dai4"
come = "lai2"
Ok, she can't be blamed. But given my above-average English standards at that time, I was already feeling very puzzled!
Continuing...
Image courtesy of www.engrish.com
No, I won't be so silly. In case, they get dumped into the Kallang River too. Sorry.. I know this is not funny.
Image courtesy of www.engrish.com
Yucks! The chicken is going to taste all "mousey".
Btw, despite efforts to blur the company's logo, it's still pretty obvious that this ad came from a popular fastfood chain, also available in Singapore, whose food just tastes better. Hmm...
Image courtesy of www.engrish.com
No, no I won't. I don't think I will get scalded. Anyway, the cup can't get scalded by the heat right?
Sometimes, one small little alphabet is all it takes to cause the damage...
Image courtesy of www.engrish.com
Utterly hilarious! Should check out the site!
P.S. Engrish.com has cautioned readers of their site to refrain from using the site's pictures for their own Engrish.com site. This isn't one; it's a blog. So I suppose it's okay right? Besides, I am doing free advertising for the site!
ciao!
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