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Previous: Thrifty car rental map | Main | Next: Bank doors
June 12, 2006 12:03 AM
Broken: Toy box description
Rob Gabel sends in a picture of a toy box:
My son received this toy for his 3rd birthday. It was bought here in LA.
It’s a cool toy but the copy on the box is a hilarous yet unfortunate product of someone in China using babelfish or Google Translator, I think.
Introducing… the "Install Self-Interchange Diverse Electric-Car"
With our marketing tagline:
"Let Tear Away in You Fancy DriveWayThe Fond DriveWayYou Doing Youself"
That is the very definition of "Engrish". I love it. How much would it honestly cost for some of these companies to hire someone who's at least halfway decent with the English language?
Kind of reminds me of my cellphones low battery alert. A blue screen pops up and says something to the effect of "You are recharge please."
Yes, the "Engrish" is definitely broken. Why even bother with any wording at all? The depiction on the box clearly shows what the product is.
I have often wondered if this occurs in other languages. For instance, is there a "Flench" or "Spangrish"? Speakers of English have long tolerated having their language spoken and written so poorly that it becomes indecipherable. Regardless, we are expected to understand. In my experience, speakers of French and Spanish would not tolerate having their language mixed up in this fashion. I often wonder what happens when a Frenchman calls tech support and is shuffled off to India.
Actually, this is correct. On the street, we often do use the phrase "let tear away in you fancy", which roughly means "have fun with this".
I was just at the market and I saw some candy that said, "make sure you fun time while eating *brand of weird asian candy product here*"
This is very strange. I once saw a toy that was constructed exactly like this (in Minnesota, not LA). It had the same interlocking pieces used to build the track (designed identically) and the same design of electric car. It was identical except for the terrain elements -- and it was in perfect English. I wonder why? Is somebody stealing someone's design here?
I think what's going on in these cases is that they hire someone who doesn't speak as good English as they claim.
The French version is called "Franglais", though this word is more used for complaining about English words creeping into the French language... My favorite Franglais words are "cdrom" - and, of course, "le week-end"
Just another politically correct toy--
Everything has to celebrate diversity now. And with the "rainbow coalition" track colors no less...
e-Bob: as a citizen of Mexico, I have seen several cases of "Spangrish", especially in products coming from China. But I don't think I have seen such a serious deformation of the Spanish language like the one depicted on this toy. Actually, I am quite amazed that this toy can be even sold in California with no regulation from the California Department of Consumer Affairs. In Mexico, the Federal Bureau for Consumer Affairs wouldn't allow such a bad Spanish translation to be sold.
Beyond funny, I think this is absolutely broken...
Sam sez: Actually, I am quite amazed that this toy can be even sold in California with no regulation from the California Department of Consumer Affairs.
I'm from California and as far as I know, there are no state regulations regarding readability of product labels. I suspect that unless there's some safety or public health concern, you're good to go.
"Is somebody stealing someone's design here?"-Alcas
I wouldn't doubt it. Chinese toymakers are infamous for their lack of respect of copyrights. You get bootleg Legos and such all the time from asia.
I like the labels under the small pictures. Forside's Bottom, Rearward's Bottom, and Install's Way
But, does anyone have the slightest clue what "Let Tear Away in You Fancy DriveWayThe Fond DriveWayYou Doing Youself" is supposed to mean?
"But, does anyone have the slightest clue what "Let Tear Away in You Fancy DriveWayThe Fond DriveWayYou Doing Youself" is supposed to mean?" -- Eric
My guess at a translation:
"Use your imagination as you have fun driving the car by yourself."
Not a terribly inspiring message, but the best I can do at the moment...
I'll take a crack at this total butchering of English:
Let Tear Away in You Fancy DriveWayThe Fond DriveWayYou Doing Youself
becomes:
Burnout Away in Your Fancy Car, You'll Like how You Can Drive Yourself!
Sorry if it's mostly guesswork, thats the best the best I can gather from some sweatshop worker getting 2 cents to do this.
I entered "Let Tear Away in You Fancy DriveWayThe Fond DriveWayYou Doing Youself" into the Google Chinese to English translator, and here's what came out: "Your child will play with this toy for seven minutes, then toss it into a corner where it will remain until you clean it up and donate it to Goodwill."
eBob: Yes, this stuff definitely happens with French. There's even a Flickr group dedicated to it: http://flickr.com/groups/44569173@N00/
One that I've seen personally, but didn't manage to get a picture of: "control pad" translated on an after-market Xbox controller as "contrôler le coussin" (to control the cushion)!
"BTW, since when did cars start being called cities/levels from Earthbound/Mother(slash)SSB:M???"
Ducky, you're referring to "Foreside's Bottom" (i.e., Fourside) right?
Here is my translation of what they were probably trying to say (if they had had a better translator.
"Let Tear Away" = let it rip
"in You Fancy DriveWay" = in the cool track
"The Fond DriveWayYou Doing Youself" = following the track you had fun building yourself.
(still not great but as close as I could come based on my experience dealing with engrish)
NOTICE TO ALL FOREIGN COMPANIES. For a flat charge of $100 I will check your packaging for well English.
"for well English" ?
Did you mean "for 'good' English"?
Things are good - people are well.
Actually it should be "for the correct English version".
Not-So-Simplified version of my comment:
Description: BROKEN!!!
People who made the description: probably BROKEN!
Toy itself: NOT BROKEN!
People who think the toy itself is broken: BROKEN!
People who think the description is broken: NOT BROKEN!
My spare change on the topic.
To translate the arrangement of the words, it would mean.
Put the car in the tracks, and let it drive itself without you having to push it. (unless you don't put batterys in or turn it on)
NO no no, The translation is: Your kid will play with it for 5 minutes when it breaks and gets left on the stairs, where you step on it in the dark, breaking it more and cutting your foot. Then toy gets put in trash.
>>I have often wondered if this occurs in other languages. For instance, is there a "Flench" or "Spangrish"?
YES! Here in New york we are inundated with posters and ads in Spanglish, a sad result of people illiterate in two languages!
Fortunately, in most languages, one can't get too far away from the proper grammar/word usage without the message disintegrating into babble, unlike English, which seems tailor made for Pidgin.
I have this exact toy!!! Bought it in Shanghai last year. Its damn fun. Who ever reads the box of a toy made in China anyway. I have another box with awfull English on it, but, nobody cares. Of corse people in China can't speak English. They are Chinese!
I once got a racing toy from my uncle that said,
"Look often picture: The winner in the whirling with the right or left hoof."
yeah
Some more pocket change:
I noticed that the two red SUV's on the track to the right are destined....
TO CRASH! they're set on the same path, and the people who set up the thing before the picture are...
BROKEN!
How are you gentelmen?
All your base are belong to us!
You are on the way to destruction!
what you say?
You have no chance to survive make your time!
ha ha ha...
-zero wing
"Let Tear Away in You Fancy DriveWayThe Fond DriveWayYou Doing Youself"
I'm going to put as much effort into my translation as the people who made this:
Let tear away: very siomilar to "turn it loose" which, as we know from the coors light translation debacle, means suffer from diarreah.
In you fancy drivewaythe fond driveway: means you can only play with it in your fancy drive way, for being such a "diverse" toy it sure likes to dicriminate against people who don't have fancy driveways they have fond memories of, in this case apparetly, suffering from diarreah on.
you doing yourself: something that right now seems a lot more fun than this translation ;-)
@ Alex B.
On your second 'pocket change':
The two red SUVs are going in the same direction, though it looks like they are headed for each other because of the leftmost one going under the bridge.
-James
LOL this is so funny it gave me a good laugh I love this website it is amazing thank you Mark Hurst for making it
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Previous: Thrifty car rental map | Main | Next: Bank doors
its always good to hear about little kids doing themselves.
Posted by: gmangw at June 12, 2006 12:36 AM