Engrish Tuesday – Video Edition
On Sunday night we were invited to dinner with a Japanese family. They have two children a five year old and a two year old. Aaron and I spent quite a bit of time entertaining the kids – juggling, playing puzzles, making faces, and tickling. Amazing how those sorts of games are totally void of cultural and language barriers. We were able to carry on with them as well as we ever were able to carry on with our nieces at home.
In the short time that we were there, I found that I was able to pick up quite a bit of Japanese. Also, it was fun that the kids were trying so hard to imitate my English. I made it my personal mission to teach them both a few phrases, “Oh No!” seemed to be their favorite.
[…] she taught me more than any other teacher. On a couple of occasions in the last few months she had invited us to her house. I really enjoyed working with her. I am happy however, that she has moved to a school where she can […]
[…] Somehow it just seems to come up a lot, and the students think it is really funny. Remember the video with the little Japanese girl? Well, my students are kind of like that….just bigger. They not […]
Hi:
What does Engrish mean?
Love Grandma
Good question Grandma!
Engrish is sort of a joke. In Japanese they don’t have the “L” sounds, so often they pronounce words with an “L” with an “R” instead. For example, if they want to say “lake,” they often say “rake” instead.
So, Engrish has become a word to describe Japan’s often failed attempts at English. Foreigners often refer to the totally and completely nonsensical English on signs and T-shirts as Engrish.
Does that help?