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philipjames
Joined: 03 Feb 2003
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 Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2003 4:35 pm Post subject: misspelled english industry ads |
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| I just don't get it. Yesterday I saw a van for Oxford American English with American spelled with two e's. It read Oxford Amerecan English. Just think about it. Thos school is teaching English as their sole product!! Incredible. I've seen examples of this a thousand times in Korea. Is there a culture of mediocrity in Korea. I'm simply unable to comprehend such incompetence. |
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Zed
Joined: 20 Jan 2003
Location: Shakedown Street
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| Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2003 4:50 pm Post subject: |
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When I worked at Wonderland they made us business cards. They had to send the whole bunch back to get redone because they all said "Enlish Education" on them. Not a good way to advertise methinks.
Last edited by Zed on Mon Oct 06, 2003 5:15 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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harryh
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: south of Seoul
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| Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2003 5:00 pm Post subject: |
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| I worked at Wonderland and my name tag read: Enlglish teacher |
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JennyJJ
Joined: 01 Mar 2003
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| Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2003 5:37 pm Post subject: |
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I would agree that proofreading is a problem here - but that is true for native speakers often too.
Part of the problem is visual discrimination. English uses a script which is not similar to Hangul. When I studied Chinese I certianly didn't have a detail-oriented eye for errors in the ways the characters were written. In fact, students would often laugh when I wrote my name in Chinese characters. I think the two issues are quite related. All this on top of the fact that most people (including me!) don't enjoy proofreading.
I'm not trying to excuse spelling errors - only to help the original poster "get it". |
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philipjames
Joined: 03 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2003 6:56 pm Post subject: "getting it". |
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Jenny, you miss my point. It's one thing to dislike proofreading, and to make grammatical errors on this board. It's another thing ALTOGETHER to work in the English language industry and yet be so lazy or incompetent that you spell American as 'Amerecan' and then actually proceed to put it on the side of you school van.
I've seen so many signs on the front of businesses where the English is so astonishingly bad that I wonder why they put the sign up in English at all. What's the purpose? The sign, on occasion, can cost several hundred thousand won, and yet they don't bother to spend 3000 won to buy a Korean-English dictionary and actually check the spelling.
Sorry Jenny, I still don't get it. |
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Son Deureo!
Joined: 30 Apr 2003
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| Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2003 7:16 pm Post subject: |
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My school's business cards say "Globar Junior English". You'd better believe I'm passing those out left, right, and center.  |
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BTM
Joined: 20 Jan 2003
Location: Back in the saddle.
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| Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2003 7:22 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| Is there a culture of mediocrity in Korea. |
Yes. |
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Corvid
Joined: 21 Apr 2003
Location: Suwon
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philipjames
Joined: 03 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2003 8:58 pm Post subject: Hair Saloons, etc... |
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And not only is the spelling atrocious, they don't bother to look up the meaning of phrases or company names. What the heck is a hair 'saloon'?....There's actually a hair dressers near my apartment called 'Bang Me."
Unbelievable. |
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katydid
Joined: 02 Feb 2003
Location: Here kitty kitty kitty...
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| Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2003 2:17 am Post subject: Re: Hair Saloons, etc... |
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| philipjames wrote: |
And not only is the spelling atrocious, they don't bother to look up the meaning of phrases or company names. What the heck is a hair 'saloon'?....There's actually a hair dressers near my apartment called 'Bang Me."
Unbelievable. |
They do it cause a) it either sounds cool and they don't know what it means, or it looks cool to write in English.
Think of the jokes you've heard about the guy who went in for a tatoo, and wanted to get Chinese characters that to him, only LOOKED cool. And the Chinese people, upon seeing his arm die laughing when they see a burly man with the characters that mean "Flower Princess" on his arm. |
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ratslash
Joined: 08 May 2003
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| Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2003 3:09 am Post subject: |
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| and you think the people who walk round wearing t-shirts with english wrote on them knows what it says? i think not. i've seen one once that said "love you long time"..... |
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Son Deureo!
Joined: 30 Apr 2003
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| Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2003 3:33 am Post subject: |
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| ratslash wrote: |
| and you think the people who walk round wearing t-shirts with english wrote on them knows what it says? i think not. i've seen one once that said "love you long time"..... |
Yeah, my favorite was "Just Do Me" on a 5-year old boy. 
I'd have told the parents, but apparently they didn't see anything wrong with letting their 5-year old walking around by himself with an invitation for waygooks to "do" him. 
But it's one thing to see atrocious English mistakes advertising hair salons, restaurants, or whatever else that are made by non-English speaking people, for non-English speaking people. The only real question is why they even bother with the English at all.
But put these horrendous mistakes on a school that teaches English, and it's a completely new matter. They're showcasing their complete incompetence. |
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gypsyfish
Joined: 17 Jan 2003
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2003 4:29 am Post subject: |
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| Son Deureo! wrote: |
| Yeah, my favorite was "Just Do Me" on a 5-year old boy. |
Aaugh! I saw the same one. I wonder if it was the same kid? |
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Son Deureo!
Joined: 30 Apr 2003
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| Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2003 6:06 am Post subject: |
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Well, I doubt it, since I took him at his t-shirt's word and he now lives with me. 
Seriously, though, I saw the kid in Chung Dong Market, which is in Bucheon. As much as I wish it weren't the case, I'm sure he's not the only kid in the greater Seoul area wearing a child-sized "Just Do Me" t-shirt, though. If they printed one, they probably made a whole lot more, and since it was in English and for children, it probably sold like hotcakes in Korea. Even if it was an invitation for pedophilia. |
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erlyn
Joined: 08 Jun 2003
Location: Incheon, South Korea
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| Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2003 6:40 am Post subject: |
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Our school has stickers that say, "You did good job!"
Articles, people. That's all I ask. |
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