There is an e-mail doing the rounds of Japanese signs which have been amusingly translated into English such as ‘Help Oneself Terminating Machine’ across an ATM. There are currently several ‘engrish’ sites that sprung up following the coverage given to ‘All Your Base Are Belong To Us’ (look it up in Wickipedia for a full explanation).
I’d like to think that all the websites were written with the same affection for the Japanese as the webmaster of www.engrish.com has, but I couldn’t vouch for that so we have to be careful that the sites don’t become vehicles for expressing or reinforcing prejudices. What I can say, is that their English – misspelt or not – is infinitely better than my Japanese.
Despite the above, the amount of English editorial work being outsourced offshore in an easterly direction is steadily growing. Using the quality of the copy on their websites as a general indication of the quality of their work, some companies undoubtedly deliver good, professional material at lower costs. Other sites, however, seem stilted in comparison but they probably still get work as they’re cheap, or am I being cynical? In the long term, it will be interesting to observe what effect this has on the English language.
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