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You'll see the same thing with japan randomly using english words (like one word of a song), though afaik they usually use them correctly (but very awkwardly).
by setr 9y ago
You'll see the same thing with japan randomly using english words (like one word of a song), though afaik they usually use them correctly (but very awkwardly).
But the chinese tattoos, and the english words, aren't meant for those native speakers to see. The tattoos are meant for other english speakers to see, and the words are meant for other japanese speakers to hear. They're not meant to be understood, so much as just being visually/audibly cool.
It looks good, and it sounds good, and its in an environment where almost no one will understand it, so it really doesn't matter if the content is correct. The idea is sufficient.
Now of course, if you get a chinese tattoo mispelled and move to china, you'll look like a bumbling idiot. Its the same as being a native speaker and mispelling it.
The context/environment matters, when deciding how important that mistake is.
- komali2 9y agoReminds me of when I lived in China with my friend, anytime we left the city for some tourism in the boondocks, he'd wear this white T-shirt with nothing on it except big block characters on the front - "外國人". (In simplified though, which apparently I don't have on my phone). Just means "foreigner." Chinese people got the biggest hoot out of it.
- hawkice 9y ago外国人 in simplified. To be fair, I've seen a Taiwanese person with the English "spice girl" as a tattoo, which is a reverse-poor-translation, because it sounds like a singular member of a defunct pop band. Makes more sense in Chinese.