Re: What will Lenovo become?

Hi, Jelte

JWR wrote:
"Dan-the K" <kaliushkin@xxxxxxx> schreef in bericht
news:1151709197.386099.102740@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

JWR wrote:
Thank you, Louis!

Haven't had a laugh like that in ages!
....

http://www.engrish.com/

Yes, its funny but the website is completely and totally wrong. The
Chinese (all variants), Korean and Japanese languages don't include the
sound "R". The closest sound anatomically is "L". Hence "flied lice,"

As is explainig here : http://www.engrish.com/faq.php


I defer to the expertise of the site's authors and webmasters. I based
what I said on conversations with an M.D. from Beijing who is now
working in New York. She was bewildered over a critique of her
laboratory report. She reported that at the conclusion of the
experiment, she "killed" the mice. Her supervisor said it shoud have
read "sacrificed". But, my friend protested, don't they mean the same
thing? Well, yes, but ...

as printed on a menu at a Chinese restaurant in Charlotte, NC.

Germans, Frenchmen, and Russians might laugh hysterically at the way
Americans pronounce "R."

Only when pronounced the way Elmer Fudd does ;-))


To elaborate: an "R" in these three languages has a little trill.
German (IMHO) has the most pronounced trill. English doesn't. It's
just a flat "R". So an American (or Englishman) trying to pronounce a
word in German would fall flat on his face.

As everybody except the Dutch themselves (and then not even all!) have
problems with the Dutch "G" (the real guttural one).

Probably less than 10% of the site is dedicated to the "R"-problem; most of
it is about hapless translations of the native language into English. Which
can be taken as a personal thing, an offence, but only when the obvious goal
is making fun of someone who can't help himself.
With this site, that is IMHO not the case.

I agree -- it's close to the line but hasn't crossed the line. Using
other types of errors in English, such as sponnerisms, help. However,
an Asian person might feel differently.


E.g. when some company is producing stuff to be exported worldwide, the
least you can expect of them is to provide proper --and properly
translated-- instructions. The
http://www.engrish.com/category_index.php?category=Instructions section
shows a few gone horribly wrong.

This has been known for decades and Japan has been considered the worst
offender. This is a good reason to avoid Japanese products.

I'm still amazed at instruction manuals in 4, sometimes 8, languages.

You gotta hand it to Asian people. A three year old (4? 5?) can
fluently speak in Chinese.

I haven't got kids of my own, but my little niece was fluent in Dutch at
that age! Go figure.


Step aside, Louis. The 21st century belongs to China.

Dan
formerly Imperial Stud of Foochow


Jelte

Dan

.

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