| When I was in Helsinki last year, I was constantly amazed by how well everyone spoke English – and that’s on top of speaking Finnish, Swedish and passable Russian, which made me feel like a linguistic slob. I lamented not being in French immersion, not keeping up with my Turkish (I let you down, Professor Dobrovolsky – forgive me!) and occasionally murdering my own language during heated debates.
But then I always remembered those few T-shirts I saw in a tarty teen disco clothes emporium in Stockholm: "Rock Me Hard and Merry Me Young," "Kiss Me Fresh" and "’80s Born and Bread." I knew I wasn’t the only one at fault and it gave me hope.
It seems there is a subculture focused specifically on the effects of English on Japanese pop culture. Known as Engrish, it offers a disturbing look into the world of poor translations. At engrish.com you can view packaging, signs, clothing and computer errors providing an Asian perspective on the English language. Some are scary, most are hilarious and a few are just indescribable.
However, there really is nothing to fear because our celluloid and music megastar heroes are hip to the challenge of spreading their message in Japan. Brad Pitt manages, Madonna doesn’t have a problem with it and even the Muppets – who have been teaching us our ABCs for decades – have gallantly fought to get their voices heard Japanese-style. And their message is "Buy It." At japander.com you can watch many celebrities pimp and pander various wares to the Japanese media. See Spike Lee gettin’ down with Mazda, watch Sean Connery dance with Japanese scotch, and laugh at Winona Ryder tooling around in her getaway Subaru. I won’t even get into the irony of Scottish-born Ewan McGregor doing ads for a Japanese firm teaching English. |
