Hello Work, Go To Travel, My Number Card; the English used for government programs is strange and doesn't make sense to native speakers.

head of a group of eight researchers and interpreters who have come together to try and fix the problem of strange English

Good ruck !

The problem is that these terms are not English per se. They are English words that Japanese officials feel best describe what they want to explain. Japanese people seem to understand and like them. We English speakers are left scratching our heads at them, but they are not made for us.

Use Japanese, problem solved.

I’ve heard the reason they do it because apparently it’s “oshare”, it’s trendy and fashionable. Yeah, nothing trendier than poorly thought out and incorrect English on things.

Imagine what they’d say if other countries did the same with Japanese

Use Japanese, problem solved.

Look, we're talking about using common sense and logic here. People only speak Japanese here, so why on earth would we want slogans in Japanese?

the English used for government programs is strange and doesn't make sense to native speakers.

It's not meant for our consumption.

I feel Coke.

Hello Work does sound strange, but I don't see the problem with Go To and My Card. Maybe a bit strange to a native, but catchy and easy to remember. Germans call it Sozialversicherungsausweis, I will take My Card. Shakespeare wannabe bunkei professors have too much free time

What exactly do you complain? Completely in Japanese it would even make much less sense , if any, for most of the ‘native’ (English) speakers, right? lol

French fries - フライドポテト

Written examination -　ペーパーテスト

Downsizing - リストラ

To name a few......

To name a few what?

Fried potatoes is perfectly good English.

Paper test is a valid distinction from oral test and avoids the potentially confusing (to Japanese speakers) リテンテスト　ー　利点テスト？

Restructuring is a euphemism used in English speaking countries when the boss doesn’t want to say redundancies.

Once a foreign word becomes a loan word, the borrowing language can do with it what they will.

There's plenty of butchered foreign words, or 'acquired words', in English that I'm sure French and Italians cringe when they hear them being used or pronounced incorrectly.

The main problem I have with the use of English words as slogans is it actually harms / demeans English education. The amount of times I've received homework this year with 'go to' wrongly used has shot up massively, becoming much more prevalent than the usual 'go to shopping' mistake. Using nouns as adjectives like in the case of 'safety driving', doesn't help students with the correct use of adjectives. There are tons more examples that actually cause students confusion.

Make use of foreign words by all means, but where possible please try and use the correct form in the correct context. It would help language education massively.

Italians cringe when they hear them

Like 'one panini, please?'

Its just a tag line, sound bite. Inline with most things "English" in jp

マイブーム got my foot itching for several years. 'Hello Our Stadium' had me wanting to crush the cat. I found peace during the 'Fukuppy' debacle. Now I have come to love 'Engrish', it's as reassuringly Japanese as unnecessary traffic lights.

Come on, everyone! Don't worry! Let's Japan!

Now I have come to love 'Engrish', it's as reassuringly Japanese as unnecessary traffic lights.

Totally agree - ultimately it is harmless, but quite endearing.

Agree...

And one of the biggest mistakes I always hear on TV ou news articles is calling 'America' to the U.S.A.(United States of America). America is not a country name. This mistake starts with the own U.S. country calling their country 'America'.

And so on...

America is not a country name. This mistake starts with the own U.S. country calling their country 'America'.

If the Americans refer to their own country as America, and everyone else, when using the words America and Americans, are referring to the country and people of the USA, it can be accepted that America is valid reference to the USA. And if The USA isn't America, then what are Americans, and what would you call the people from the USA in replacement?

Also note that by your logic, the name Japan wouldn't be valid for this country, as the people of this country don't even call it Japan - it's Nippon or Nihon.

The audience is Japanese so I do not think it really matters what native speakers think in this case. If the target audience is an international audience then of course a different story.

As far as "Americans" most of my American friends refer to our country as either the U.S., U.S.A., or United States. Might be generational...I do not know...