English consultant
August 18th, 2006 by quaisiIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
I`m getting married (again) in September and we went to Kobe to iron out some of the details of what colour we wanted certain things, what shape other things should be until we found ourselves FOUR HOURS LATER in a twitching frenzy discussing what scented bleach we wanted the toilets cleaned with and and how many molecules of oxygen to hydrogen we wanted in the water.
We got to the photo albums and which one we`d like. The lady seemed shocked that I didn`t want the one with the English texts scrawled across it. I told her I didn`t want it as it didn`t make sense grammatically and there were words mispelled in it.
It went something like “Tow hearrs beating as one in threre chamber”
I then thought it would be a good idea if you set up a company whose pitch was to act as a consultant for when people write nonsensical sentences on shop windows, t-shirts and scrawled across overpriced photo albums.
All they`d have to do is phone or email in the sentence and credit card details and for a small fee, I`d read the text ask them if they`re sure they truly want what it said scrawled on top and pocket the cash.
For those who think I`m being snobby or acting the know-it-all gaijin role, I `d employ Asians as consultants before Westerners decide to etch permanently motifs for Chinese gibberish instead of “honour” or “strength”
I don`t think this is a new idea as I think I saw it in Mutant Frog. But it`s a pretty good idea for a business.
Posted in Engrish |






August 18th, 2006 at 9:54 pm
I thought of the same thing, being an English consultant for businesses that want to be correct in their English phrases. But that would take the cuteness out of one aspect of going to Japan.
August 19th, 2006 at 2:06 pm
I think it’s a great idea for a business. Linguistics in general are so useful these days, what with globalization. You can get paid just for having a second language. I think your consultation idea would be especially useful for Japanese businesses that do business with english-speakers. I do agree with the last commenter though, we don’t want ALL the grammar errors corrected.
August 19th, 2006 at 11:33 pm
maybe they have a consultant who makes it that way on purpose…hmmmmmm
August 19th, 2006 at 11:34 pm
R we invited to the wedding?
August 23rd, 2006 at 11:17 pm
You`ll have a front row seat via the blog!
October 23rd, 2006 at 12:27 pm
i’ve thought of that many times! and it’s not just for japanese products, it goes for many non-english products, really, like korean, chinese, thai, etc.
i’ve heard of it being somewhat like a business gimmick, but i’m not entirely sure.. =T