Gus works

Since the Engrish.com site folded, there have been few places to go for examples of language boners. I find them humorous and enjoyable, and nobody's hurt by it. PS: One would think that Tokyo's gas utility would know the correct spelling of the product is provides to consumers.

No wonder Japan is one of the ( very ) few nations where the ( great ) majority of the population can only speak their native tongue.

Same as US or UK, for example? :)

At least they know to use the phase "under construction" Not something like "Erection in progress.".

Since the Engrish.com site folded, there have been few places to go for examples of language boners. 

Just google image of "Engrish signs" you will get lots of laughs.

Lmao , they really don’t give a ... about the English language. No wonder Japan is one of the ( very ) few nations where the ( great ) majority of the population can only speak their native tongue.

I'm sure Gus appreciates the shoutout while being mended.

Well to be fair, there's not much use for English in Japan.

Yet, English is everywhere here, albeit in bastardized katakana form. And, therein lies the problem. They created an entire alphabet, katakana, to be used for foreign words. But, it simply replicates the existing alphabet, hiragana, sound for sound, instead of providing the characters/sounds necessary to pronounce the foreign words correctly, which would have been the logical thing to do.

It's such a perfect example of the unnecessary complexity, illogical methodology, and inefficient processes endemic to the country and culture.

Reminded me of a sign I recently saw at a Takino Park in Sapporo which translated ゴール(Goal) as GORL

where the ( great ) majority of the population can only speak their native tongue.

Basically, English speaking countries and Latin America. Most of my friends are from those regions and when they came to visit me in Japan and heard me speaking Japanese they reacted like if I was doing some sort of witchcraft.

Not a big issue anymore. You also won’t find so much perfectly English speaking or writing people in UK or US. Agreed, the main problem are the use of katakana as it is more for whole syllables not for letters or sounds and of course all those meaning changers like the worst one in ‘kontakuto’ which hasn’t much to do with contacts and scheduling but is only used as a short form for contact lenses.

I used to see lots of signs like this back home in Florida.

Lmao , they really don’t give a ... about the English language. No wonder Japan is one of the ( very ) few nations where the ( great ) majority of the population can only speak their native tongue.

Well to be fair, there's not much use for English in Japan. It's not like in Europe for example, where people frequently cross country borders - or at least they used to before covid - and English is the main language of communication. There's more motivation to maintain a certain level of English ability whereas in Japan...honestly what are they using it for? A lot of people study it for business or study purposes; not because they want to and it's very blatantly obvious in their attitude and motivation when studying it. And when they have no more use for it it's like everything they've learned vanishes from their mind and their level drops dramatically.

Having done the English instructor gig in Japan, I've literally seen students' profiles that say in the extra information section "doesn't like English". ¯_(ツ)_/¯

It reminds me of a local hairstyle business called "Sakura Saloon." After at least 15 years, the sign hasn't changed.

Not sure what the point of this article is? Humor? A u instead of an a is hardly side splitting stuff. A safety tip? Be careful in Setagaya or did JT just have some space that needed filling?

Lmao , they really don’t give a ... about the English language.

But I wonder if they could handle Welsh better than the UK

https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2008/nov/01/5

No wonder Japan is one of the ( very ) few nations where the ( great ) majority of the population can only speak their native tongue.

Same as US or UK, for example? :)

Actually, the US doesn't have an official language, though many people speak English.

JT really resorting to seemingly mocking misuse of a non-Japanese language? Class act guys...