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May, 24th 2004 - Tokyo: The English Speaking Union of Japan and
eigoTown.com today announced the winners of their annual "Surprising
English" Awards. The awards, in their first year, are designed
to spotlight English used in Japan that is amusing, unnecessary,
embarrassing, exceptionally creative or just downright wrong.
Masamichi Hanabusa, the Chairman of the English-Speaking Union
of Japan commented: "The Awards are intended to cover various
types of English, from those that make foreigners laugh out loud
to those where older Japanese people are made angry by the utter
absurdity of forced pseudo-English -words which don't make any
sense at all."
Russell Willis, CEO of eigoTown.com Limited noted "This is
the first year of the competition and we've had a good response.
We hope that the Awards help to shed light on the good, the bad
and the downright ridiculous usage of English here, and that as
a result, English usage in Japan is improved." |
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The Award winners were as follows:
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| １． |
Hilariously Funny Award
"When a visitor has injustice, I will notify the police irrespective of quantity."
Willis noted: "This gem came from a department store in Kamiouka, Kanagawa
prefecture. Either someone went to a lot of trouble with
their dictionary for this, or it's another sign of machine
translation let loose..." |
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| ２． |
You Should Know Better Award
"Our city is fruity."
Hanabusa noted "This was found on paper fans distributed at the Hanagasa
festival in Yamagata prefecture in 1998. With so many native
English speakers in Japan it is hard to understand why involved
in municipal promotions should print something with such
connotations." |
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| ３． |
Nonsense Award
"High Touch Town Roppongi"
Willis noted; "The reason for this slogan for Roppongi, Tokyo has been debated
endlessly by the foreign community in Japan. The sign still
adorns signs in Roppongi and can be clearly seen attached
to the overpass a Roppongi Crossing."
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| ４． |
Obnoxious English Award
"Ambitious Japan"
Hanabusa noted "This year's Obnoxious English Award went to Japan Railways
for their slogan on the side of the
super express Shinkansen “Nozomi” trains
and on their television commercials.
"Discover Japan" which JR
used when it was a national railway
company was excellent, but this slogan
is meaningless and unnecessary. Examples
like this should be avoided!"
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| ５． |
Brilliant English Award
"Walkman"
Willis noted: "English has accepted words from around the world over many
years, and whilst many of the examples above would never
been accepted,"Walkman" has made it into the dictionary.
Sony should be congratulated on creating such a creative
brand and word that has been accepted the world over." |
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| ６． |
For Japanese Only!
"Twilight on Movement"
Hanabusa noted: "Sometimes we really wish that the forced coining of English
words and phrases would not take place and that, instead,
the appropriate Japanese word would be used. Many shops signs
today have no Japanese at all, which can be very confusing
for older Japanese people. Now we have campaigns which use
a form of English that native English speakers don't understand
and neither do all Japanese. The campaign to encourage drivers
to turn on their headlights before it gets dark, "Twilight
on Movement" has to win this year's award -- the Japanese
should have been used instead."
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The Awards were decided upon by a judging committee which consisted
of the
following members:
Yasushi Akashi-President of the Japan Center for Conflict Prevention
Masaru Ikei-Professor Emeritus of Keio University
Hisashi Inoue-President of the Japanese Centre of International
P.E.N.
S. Gomersall The British Ambassador to Japan
Kenichi Takemura-Critic
Peter Barakan-Broadcaster and Music Critic
Toshiko Marks-Writerand Professor of Shumei University
Masumi Muramatsu -Representative of NPO MM Cross-Cultural Forum
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