Sign Language （間違っている英語の看板） Archives - Page 21 of 44

Apply for a job as a parking space!

Monthly Parking is Being Recruite (photo by Tim Young)

X Monthly Parking is Being Recruite

Tim says:

It’s clear that someone left off the “d” at the end of the last word. However, that’s not the only problem with this sign.

“Monthly parking” is not being recruited. People who will USE the parking lot are being recruited! They need cars, not parking spaces!

While you could say “Now recruiting people to rent our monthly parking spots”, it would be more natural English to say:

O Monthly Parking Spaces Now Available

周囲にある英語を見て、果たしてそれが正しい英語なのだろうかと感じる英語はありますか？「あの英語は絶対に間違っている」という英語の表記はありますか？看板の写真を撮って、Machigai.comに送りましょう！とんでもない英語だったら、このコーナーで出します！

I have plenty of it at home, thanks

DogWiz (photo by Tim Young)

X Dog-Wiz

Tim says:

I really laughed at this one! I suppose that they meant “wiz” meaning “wizard”, or perhaps they meant “whiz” — someone who is good at something. They wanted to communicate that they’re good at providing dog supplies.

However, to an American, this shop name seems to mean 「犬のおしっこ」! I’m sure you can’t escape that aspect of caring for a dog; I don’t think we need a shop to provide it!

Let’s avoid that problem and call the shop this:

O Dog Wizard

Has this club been “dismembered”?

Member's Club (photo by Tim Young)

X Member’s Club

Tim says:

There are two problems here. The first problem is quite simple: This club surely has more than one member, but they’ve used the singular possessive form “member’s”, rather than the plural possessive “members'”. The apostrophe needs to come after the “s”.

But when I gave it a bit more thought, I realized another issue. ALL clubs have members. The entire idea of a club is that people can (or can’t) become members of it. So “members’ club” is meaningless; it tells us nothing about what kind of club this is!

This is a very exclusive private club, known as a 会員制クラブ. In English, let’s call it:

O Members-only Nightclub

Ayumi says:

いわゆる「会員制クラブ」のことのようです。メンバー (会員) たちのクラブ、というつもりのようですが、そうであれば members’ と複数形の所有格である必要があります。どうもこの複数形の所有格を苦手とする方は多いようです。例えば、両親の家だったら、【×】my parent’s house 【○】my parents’ house 発音は同じですが、意味は違ってきます。もう１つの問題点は「クラブ」。日本語では「クラブ」と言っただけで、夜お酒を飲むところを表しますが、英語のclubにはもっと多くの意味があり、これだけではどのようなclubなのかハッキリしません。 nightclubとすると誤解もなくなります。

田中亜由美は「TOEICテストクロストレーニング PART 1・2」などの本は販売中！ブログはこちら.

Quite a Sight

No Smoking Flore (photo by Tim Young)

X No Smoking Flore

Tim says:

Oh, come on. Give me a break! This is an incredibly simple spelling mistake.

There’s really nothing to explain here, but what is noteworthy is where I saw this sign: Tokyo Big Sight! I would hope that a place that wants to be thought of as an international convention center would try a little harder to get its English signs right.

For that matter, the name “Tokyo Big Sight” is, itself, odd. Most native English speakers assume that it’s called “Tokyo Big Site” (site=場所) rather than “Big Sight” (「大きい見ること」? What does that mean?). It would help Tokyo, and Japan, a lot to take a little more care to make more foreigner-friendly signs.

O No Smoking Floor

Ayumi says:

東京ビッグサイトで見つけた単純なスペリングミスです。ちょっと辞書で調べれば簡単にわかるはずなのに、なぜこのような間違いが訂正されないままなのかが不思議。ところで Tokyo Big Sight には私も最初驚きました！「ビッグサイト」と聞いてイメージするのは、Big Siteですから。命名の意図としては、sightseeingのように多くの人が見に来るから。そして音は「彩都」「祭都」などのにぎやかなイメージなのだそう。（これならsiteでも良さそうだが・・・）いずれにしてもこちらはスペリングミスではなかった模様です。

田中亜由美は「TOEICテストクロストレーニング PART 1・2」などの本は販売中！ブログはこちら.

Express it correctly, for a change

No Change Please (photo by Tim Young)

X No Change Please

Tim says:

This sign was intended to mean that you can not receive change from this cashier. But it sounds as if the restaurant does not want to receive change from you!

The Japanese translation uses the term 両替. We can assume that the intended meaning is お金をくずす (“make change”) and not, for example, changing yen to dollars.

But “change” is being used as a noun here (rather than the verb “make change” or “give change”), and as a noun it should mean 「小銭」, or 「おつり」, or even 「変革」! So “No change please” translates as「小銭を私たちに与えないでください」! (Native speakers will NOT think that “No change please” means “Please don’t ask us to make change.”)

Technically, 「両替は御遠慮下さい」 means “Please refrain from asking us to make change”, which is a natural way of expressing this in Japanese, but sounds strange in English. We expect a sign like this to tell us directly what THEY will not do, rather than asking US to avoid doing something.

It’s still possible to do this in a way that sounds polite, though:

O Sorry, we cannot give change

Stop that train!

Leaving Underground. (photo by Tim Young)

X Leaving Underground.

Tim says:

Something about this sign made me worry that I was going to miss the train. It’s leaving already?!

It would sound a little better to say “leaving from underground” or “departing from underground”. But most native English speakers (perhaps Americans in particular!) prefer to have the intended meaning stated more clearly. The point of this sign is not that the train is leaving, nor even that it’s underground; it’s that the track is below where you currently are, and that you need to go down in order to board the train. So how about:

O Go downstairs to board the train

Ayumi says:

日本語は「地下ホームから発車します。」まず主語がありません。もちろん主語は電車。明白なので日本語では省略です。動詞の形も気になります。 leavingと現在分詞を使っていると、もうすぐに発車してしまう感じ、、、急がないと！そもそも日本語の「発車します」は二通りに理解できる。近い未来に「すぐに発車します」の意味と、たとえば「10分おきに発車します」のような習慣を表す意味。前者ならば現在分詞ですが、ここでは後者の意味なので現在形が適切でしょう。もう１つ気になるのが、undergroundの使い方。ちょうどabroadと似ているのですが、「海外に行く」はgo abroadと前置詞なし。一方で「海外から来る」はcome from abroadとfromが必要です。同様に「地下に行く」ならば go underground、「地下から発車する」は leave from undergroundです。修正案としては、1) 主語を補い、2) 動詞の形を変えて、3) underground に fromをつける。 The trains leave from underground. ところで、日本語で「地下ホームから発車します。」と言われたら、「地下ホームに降りてください。」の意味だとわかる。「降りてください」と直接言うのではなく、間接的な表現を使うのが日本語の特徴でもあり自然なのですが、英語では違う。まどろっこしい言い方では、beside the point (的外れ) でわかりにくいと判断されてしまいます。たとえ正しい英語でも、単なる日本語の英訳だと英語としてピントがはずれてしまうこともありますね。気をつけねば～

田中亜由美は「TOEICテストクロストレーニング PART 1・2」などの本は販売中！ブログはこちら.

But neither guy has a mohawk

CLash (photo by Tim Young)

X Clash

Tim says:

I have a few theories about this very strange sign:

The picture shows people “slam-dancing” to the music of the ’80s punk group, the Clash
Since “clash” can mean “a violent confrontation”, such as a fight, perhaps the two people in the picture are fighting by simply running into each other, instead of using weapons or their fists
Each person in the picture is shocked by how the clothes worn by the other person “clash” — that is, the colors of the clothes don’t look good together. So both people are fainting because they can’t believe how badly the colors clash
The person who designed this sign didn’t know a good way to translate 「衝突注意」！(Or perhaps they meant “crash”?)

「衝突」in English is “collision”, not “clash”. However, “beware of collisions” is a little unclear. Perhaps we could say:

O Be careful when rounding corner

Ayumi says:

“clash” は、意見の衝突や思想の対立、または色などの見た目がぶつかっているときに使います。絵にあるような「衝突」は “collision” または “crash” など。でも、名詞を示すだけでは「衝突注意」との喚起にはなりません。ましてや、crashを動詞と考えると「衝突しろ！」との命令になりとても変。注意をするのならば、Be careful not to collide with each other…などとなるのでしょうけれど、意図して衝突しようとする人がいるわけでもなく、結局伝えたいのは「角を曲がるときに気をつけて！」ということなのでしょう。本当に日本人は名詞だけで話そうとする、、、「飯」「金」「飯」をどうする？「金」がどうした？いつものことながら、以心伝心の「名詞文化」をそのまま英語にすることには無理があります（笑）

田中亜由美は「TOEICテストクロストレーニング PART 1・2」などの本は販売中！ブログはこちら.

It’s a sign. It also has words on it.

Restaurant and Food (photo by Tim Young)

X Restaurant & Food

Tim says:

A common theme of “Sign Language” signs has been signs with two nouns that aren’t from the same category, such as “Pasta & Cafe” — a type of food and a type of establishment. (I have a collection of these photos that I haven’t yet put on the site!)

But this week’s is probably the best ever in that category, because, while the two nouns are from different categories, the sign is also redundant. A “restaurant” ALWAYS serves “food” — so why do they even need to mention it on the sign?!

O Restaurant

Ayumi says:

この階段を降りると何があるのでしょう？

レストランがあって、隣に食べ物が並んでいるのでしょうか？それともお店が併設されている？

ミステリーです。

“and”の前後には、並列に並ぶものがくるはず。

「レストラン」と「食品」を並べるのは不自然です。レストランで食品を提供するのは当たり前ですし。

一体どういう意図でこの２つを並べているのでしょう？

やっぱり階段を降りてみないとわからないようです（笑）

田中亜由美は「TOEICテストクロストレーニング PART 1・2」などの本は販売中！ブログはこちら.

Use it while sitting in a cheir?

Tebleware(photo by Tim Young)

X Tebleware

Tim says:

In Japanese, it’s pronounced “teeburu”. However, the vowel used in the English spelling is “a”, not “e”! I can understand why this would be a bit confusing. But… why didn’t someone check a dictionary, before making this sign?!

O Tableware

Category: Sign Language （間違っている英語の看板）

Apply for a job as a parking space!

I have plenty of it at home, thanks

Has this club been “dismembered”?

Quite a Sight

Express it correctly, for a change

Stop that train!

But neither guy has a mohawk

It’s a sign. It also has words on it.

Use it while sitting in a cheir?

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