Engrish Classification B
I got a new bag today (or, if I live with you, no I didn’t get yet> another one).
You are probably familiar with Engrish, the pitiful attempts at translating (particularly Japanese, Chinese and other Asian languages) into English. With such favorite brand names as Pocari Sweat (very good and Conan endorses it), Booing Fireman Gum, or anything that has an R where an L should be (the source of the name Engrish.) Engrish is very cathartic to people who struggle with their own second languages.
In any case, I would like to add a second category to it. My new bag had instructions that at one glance I could tell was from Japanese. The imperitive parts of the instructions included the word “please”. No native English would be so unnecessarilly polite. After I confirmed the bag was Japanese more clues came. They talked about how the bag could be used for cigarettes, train passes, and tissues. All these things are conceivably American, but they’re undoubtably Japanese standards, especially in that combination. The third clue was the English was too perfect. They used higher end vocabulary that would generally be avoided for instructions.
I tried to think of a word for this type of “Engrish” but failed beyond classifying it as a varyation. Any suggestions would be most welcome. (Jenglish?)
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