r/engrish 4d ago

Please use it.

Post image

(Found at JR Osaka Station)

382 Upvotes

20 comments sorted by

55

u/deceze 3d ago

FYI, the Japanese says:

This door doesn't open exactly at the store opening time of 10am.
If you are in a hurry, use the central concourse entrance.

I guess somebody opens the central concourse door at 10am, then walks over to this door to open it, so there's going to be a delay of a few minutes. Very Japanese to point that out. And very Japanese to mess up the translation so badly that it says the exact opposite.

Please use it.

50

u/LikeAThousandNinjas 3d ago

I'm willing to bet the line break within the Japanese sentences messed up the parsing of the translation software they were using. The first half before the line break and the second half after the line break (if you translate them in isolation) sort of map 1:1 with the weird English translation below.

For example,

ご利用ください, split from the rest of the sentence, just became "Please use it."

18

u/deceze 3d ago

Yeah, each line was clearly translated individually, and the translator was a bit too smart for its own good and filled in the gaps to make it full sentences.

2

u/KamenRide_V3 3d ago

The translation isn't the only one at fault. The original Japanese sign is poorly written to begin with. Whoever wrote the original sign just wrote the verbal form. Which is fine for people who speak Japanese and know how to break up the phrase in their brain. The English one is likely done by an AI, and it just takes the written verbal forms and assumes it is a complete sentence.

2

u/HansTeeWurst 2d ago

What's the issue with the Japanese? Sounds completely fine to me

17

u/KSynapse247 3d ago

In case it wasn't clear, please use it.

3

u/Glittering-County727 2d ago

please, and I cannot emphasize this enough, use it.

14

u/Rehberkintosh 3d ago

They've seen what happens if you don't and don't want relive the trauma.

13

u/DoublePostedBroski 3d ago

Please use it.

2

u/Track-on-the-side 2d ago

Please use it

2

u/expatjake 2d ago

Please use it

27

u/Shinyhero30 3d ago

Passive agressive Japanese sign.

Probably was meant to be respectful but the repetition of “please use it” implies that some people need to hear this twice.

15

u/Avatar_Yaksha 3d ago

Honestly, I'm not even mad. That first sentence is confusing, especially when you read it for the first time. Well...The translation isn't completely accurate, but when in doubt, just search for another entrance or wait a few minutes, I guess. The second sentence advises you to use another entrance anyway and there don't seem to be any mistakes in that sentence.

9

u/hakatanaijin 2d ago

I personally experience this, but I think most of the time when writing in Japanese, a line break is used to make the sentence as a whole look cleaner. And when the sentence is copy and pasted, Google Translate literally translate them as individual sentences leading to Engrish.

The actual sentence is "This door does not open at the same time as the store opening hours at 10 am" or something along those lines.

こちらの扉は10時開店と

This door opens at 10am (as the store opens)

同時に開きません

Do not open at the same time.

The same goes for the bottom part of the sign.

5

u/AdOrnery6155 2d ago

This is the correct answer in this situation!

Just add that "Please use it" appears twice because Google Translate likely (correctly, by the way) interprets を-ending sentence as a volitional form.

Technically there’s only one “Please use it” i.e. on the last line.

11

u/VladVonHochstes 3d ago

Domo arigato.

8

u/Gloomy-Holiday8618 2d ago

Neither makes sense

Is it saying you cannot open the door at exactly 10am? But you can open it at say, 10:01am??

5

u/Ivanna_is_Musical 2d ago

Yes, if you open it at the same time, it creates a quantum superposition and probably breaks all the known laws of Physics 😂

8

u/rccyu 1d ago

The Japanese says the store opens at 10am but this door doesn't. (It's implied that it will open at some later time, maybe even just a few minutes afterwards, but no other information is given.)

You'll have to find another way in, e.g. the central concourse entrance.

3

u/saltamontes11 3d ago

.

Do not open till Fuckin Christmas.