Top Greetings. Of the Beautiful, Today Is.
Our hilarious friends over at Engrish Funny have reminded us that the Japanese haven’t quite cornered the market on poor translations. Frat boys and other idiots in our very own U.S. and A. have been abusing Asian languages for decades. For every laugh we have at confusingly translated signage, someone in China has one at our inability to read what we have inked onto our own bodies.
This gentleman, for example, thought he did everything right by going to Japan to get a native speaker to do his tattoo, which he was told read “Dragon Soul,” whatever the hell that means:
Source: Hanzi Smatter
Unfortunately, the joke is—literally—on him, because it says “gaijin,” the derogatory Japanese word for “foreigner.”
So what about you, dear readers? Do you or your friends have awesome foreign tattoos and a dubious grasp on their translation? Send us your pics by this Friday, and we’ll put up the best ones next week. Bonus points if you include the intended meaning behind the tattoo, and super-double-gloriness points if the actual translation is different.
haha wow thats great! i should put this on IMMD cause it sure as hell did!
gotta love idiots who don’t do their homework.
one of my personal faves of this sort of faux pas comes by way of britney spears.
the ever-prudent ms. spears has a kanji tattoo she believed meant “mysterious” when it actually it’s translation was more equivalent to “crazy.”
but one mistake wasn’t enough to teach britney to be more diligent in her tattoo research. a tattoo on the back of her neck is the second half of this glorious misstep. it is in hebrew (she got it during the kabbalah craze) and reads “new beginning” … or so she was led to believe. any good jew knows that marking ones body is considered desecration, so the very idea of a tattoo in hebrew is paradoxical to say the least. and even those that aren’t jewish are often well-read enough to recognize that hebrew is read from right to left. well, britney makes her own rules. the hebrew characters are arranged from left to right, rendering them meaningless. the ignorance never ceases to amaze me.
by the way, do frat-boy equivalents and other idiots in japan or china get tattoos of words in english? because that would be swell.
I’ve seen some awesome t-shirts worn by Japanese youths, with English words on, making no sense whatsoever, which I assumed was direct translations gone wrong. I would love to see some tattoos like that though!
A friend of mine has a funny she got in Spain. It has random english words put together making sentences. How do they do that? Flip though a dictionary and pick words for their designs?
*’shirt’, not ‘funny’. it’s not a funny shirt, it’s just dumb
I got some Kanji without doing my homework. Not that I’ve done it thoroughly since I got them. Mostly afraid that I fucked up. What I did look up however, seems they’re only half right. In any case, I guess it’s time I look this shit up and find out if I need to get them covered up. Luckily I thought that far ahead that it shouldn’t be a problem.
Gaijin actually isn’t derogatory, it’s just short for gaigokujin, the full pronunciation for “foreigner”. Japanese people like to abbreviate everything they can.
I’ve heard this as well, and far be it from me to question your Japanese as you appear to be a student; however, I’ve seen from many sources that the abbreviated form is very often used as a slur.
Yes, it is derogatory. I know japanese like to abbreviate everything, but in this case, it’s a bit offensive. And if you watch japanese news, you’ll see that they don’t say “gaijin”, they’ll say “gaikokujin”.
It isn’t derogatory. It is simply descriptive. Gaikokujin and gaijin are equally acceptable. It’s offensive in the sense that every non-Japanese person is an “outsider”, but that’s it. Just like Mandarin, in that sense. If they wanted to be offensive, they’d use a different word.
Two years living in and 7 years’ study of Japan says: yes, it’s mildly derogatory, but not so much that little kids would know it. A friend once asked, “Does ‘gaijin’ bother you? Should we say ‘gaikokujin’?” I honestly didn’t have a good answer. In most cases, it’s not meant as a slur, anyhow.
Have to add my 2 cents. As someone who lived in Japan for years, and is married to a Japanese native, the word “gai-jin” (”outside-person”) is not at all offensive, in my experience. (Although, like any noun in Japanese or English, it might sound derogatory based on the inflection or the context you used. If someone points to you and laughs rudely while saying it, that doesn’t imbue the word itself with pejorative connotation.)
I’ve often heard Japanese speakers refer to Americans (or other nationalities) as “gaijin”, *even* when they are physically in the U.S. Taken in this context, a better translation for “gaijin” would be “non Japanese”, or “non Asian”.
And yes, it’s a contraction of “gaikokujin” (”outside-country-person”), but gaikokujin is rarely heard; it’s somewhat formal for everyday conversation.
It can be derogatory or not depending on the situation. If stranger calls you Gaijin they probably intend to insult you. Similar to Japanese/Jap
In the case of this tattoo, it’s as derogatory as it gets.
maybe this douche should try pig latin.. just for fun ya know
I personally love that Angelina Jolie has the famous Neitzsche quote
(That which does not kill me makes me stronger.) tattooed on her person – in LATIN! Neitzsche spoke and wrote – that quote included – in GERMAN!
I especially love it that in your high-and-mightyness, you misspelled Nietzsche’s name.
Maybe she likes latin. Hey, who doesn’t? I LOVE latin. But German, I just can’t pronounce it.
No it’s not derogatory if it is not used that way any more than the word dumb in English. The more literal translation of the word is outside person; of which we all are in some way. In Japan this is the common way to refer to anyone that is not from Japan, just as Americans would refer to some one that in no from America.
What was that someone was saying about research? 何人はばかですか。
Let’s face it. In many situations, gaijin is meant to mean, if nothing else, kind of an ignorant foreigner. The kind who pronounces things wrong or, you know, gets a kanji tattoo without doing enough research on what it actually means. Part of it depends on who you ask; adults are likely too polite to be mean about it while teens will laugh at you.
But thank you for the Japanese. I can’t remember the last time I saw someone use kanji correctly outside of Japanese class.
This whole thing is why I love this website. I can’t wait to see what people send in. F*&^ing Americans. I’m embarrassed by association.
U.S. of A, not U.S. and A.
Also, “someone in China has one”? Won? What?
“For every laugh we have…, someone in China has one at our inability to read…”
a laugh. someone in China has a laugh at our inability to yada yada.
“[E]verybody in China has one” is grammatically and syntactically correct. Good spot on the U.S and A., though.
U.S and A is a quote from Borat, I believe.
He can look at the bright side, at least it doesn’t say white devil. Well, in its own way “white devil” would smack of awesomeness; why wouldn’t you just want it in English?
For more tattoos involving Asian characters that will make you smack your head a lot harder than this one, I highly recommend http://www.hanzismatter.com. It’s a pity that it doesn’t get updated more these days, but it definitely proves the point that research is critical.
While “Gaijin” is dubiously derogatory (most people aren’t usually speaking in glowing terms when they refer to someone as a “foreigner”), the worst part about this tattoo by far is the sloppy calligraphy. And, obviously, that it doesn’t mean “Dragon Soul” – at all.
If the tattooist knew what he was doing, I’d almost call this a “WIN”. If Andy Sakai were real, he’d be a hero of mine.
Thanks for the pointer to Hanzi Smatter. I knew someone had to be doing the Asian equivalent to Engrish.com and all of its variants.
I haven’t found any examples on teh InterTubes, and I haven’t taken pictures of them, but I’ve seen at least five people in three different states with this character: 木 for a tattoo. It’s pronounced “ki” and they were probably thinking about a representation for spiritual life energy newage stuff.
The kanji for the newage stuff, pronounced “ki,” is 気. The ki they have tattooed on their arms translates to “tree.”
Then again, they could be a bunch of eco-warriors or something.
I’d much rather have 木 than 気. But I’d MUCH rather have 機, to subtly imply that I am a piece of useful machinery in disguise.
I saw a story in a tattoo mag of a guy who had “Beef with broccoli” in Japanese intentionally tattooed in honor of all the poor slobs with poorly or deceptively translated tattoos.
There are a lot of cases of people in Western countries getting incorrect or poorly thought out Chinese or Japanese tattoos, but I don’t believe for one second that this guy actually went to a Japanese tattooist asking for “Dragon Soul” and got this.
Someone my friend knew got the Chinese for fire near her butt, when you say it out loud its ho. LOL
he could make the best of it and add the lyrics to “dirty white boy” in japanese…
Since dragons are considered acred in Japanese culture, it’s no small wonder that this man was tagged with “foreigner” on his arm. Walk into any tattoo parlour in Japan and try to get a “4-toed dragon” tattoo and watch them look at you like you spit in their eye (4-toes means royalty).
Oh my but Austin, that is the greatest link! I have seen stuff about the “Gibberish Font” on font forums (yes, truly I am a geek) but some of those defy belief! Thanks for making my day
I live in a small, rural Japanese town and I can assure you that Gaijin is regularly used as slur. True, people are generally lazy when it comes to speaking any language and words do regularly get shortened. However, it’s the context in which the words are spoken that matters and as wisely mentioned above, “(most people aren’t usually speaking in glowing terms when they refer to someone as a “foreigner”)”
I love Japan but a fact that you get used to pretty quickly is that it’s an incredibly racist country.
Soap box aside, I think the tattoo is hilarious! What a donut!
Fuck, I LOVE bad translations!
Ever see Engrish.com? Maybe they have bad tattoos there too. Hm.
An earlier post mentioned some mistakes that Britney Spears had made with her Hebrew Tattoo. Hebrew is a particularly tricky language, because it is often in a language that people who get the tattoos cannot read, and the Tattoo artist probably can’t read it either. As a result there is a lot of scope for the Hebrew tattoo to be upside-down, back-front, words and letters in the reverse order, translated badly, and everything else. The blog http://hebrewtattoos.blogspot.com/ gives some great examples and an analysis of what went wrong with some Hebrew tattoos, and explanations of what to avoid. It is essential reading for anyone interested in a Hebrew Tattoo.
Wow… as a Hebrew scholar myself, I must say I am happy to see this. Thanks!
My husband is Japanese and he thought this story was completely and utterly hilarious.
I’m assuming this person got the tattoo as a joke.
[...] Don’t forget to send us your pics of Chinese and Japanese tattoos. We’re going to post the best ones next week, both here and over on Engrish Funny. Like I [...]
This must have either happened outside or we’re getting the story wrong. The social penalties for doing your job poorly in Japan are enormous.
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It would have been even funnier if it said “Baka gaijin”, or “Stupid foreigner”.
I’m gonna throw in with the people who say that “gaijin” isn’t offensive. If anyone outside of a formal situation uses the more formal “gaikokujin” they’re being totally stiff.
It is true that if you wanted to refer to foreigners as stupid or untrustworthy, you would use this word (or something more offensive). Likewise if you wanted to say that foreigners were attractive and good in bed, you would use this word.
Some people have a twisted sense of humor, and this guy might just know what it means.
How else can you explain that T-shirts with the characters “Baka Gaijin” are selling at http://www.cafepress.com/redtengu/341549 even though it is explained what it means?
I wouldn’t mind wearing such a T-shirt in Japan, just to watch the surprised expressions of people who assume I didn’t know what it meant and tried to figure out a polite way to tell me.
I think any sort of asian character tattoos are horribly douchey. That is why I want one that says xioa mei mei. People will say “oh what does that mean?” And I will say, “oh it means love, peace, harmony” or something of the like. But I will know. I will know.
Tattoos for women are usually much prettier and a bit smaller than tattoos for men. Some of the most well liked tattoo designs for girls include flowers, butterflies, and attractive Celtic designs as well..
when I first saw this I saw it was hilarious. :’)
Then I read what was written at the bottom. This guy probably asked for something like “write something cool in Japanese” I don’t know. And the tattooist must have said it read “dragon soul”, but had intentionally written “foreigner” as a joke to himself. Japs are a bit fucked and tend to make fun of foreigners like that. Tattooist must have gotten a good laugh with his friends after that.
But if this dude got 外人 tattooed on his arm with his own intentions, well then, he’s goddamn awesome.
Instead of 機, I would Much rather have 何てこったここでやってるのですか which is a poor translation to “What the hell are you doing?” I just can’t find a better one