Let’s engrish!

Some bad grammar is international.


Two of the most commonly (mis)used bits of English in Japan are “let’s” and “get” (sometimes the alternate “gets” is used). Phrases like “Let’s Enjoy Happy” or “Get Upgrade” are all too common. I don’t see them that often in Korea, which is a good sign. Bad English here is usually referred to as “Konglish” and is a similar mangling of the language – just without these two words.Imagine my surprise, then, when I was checking two of my students’ journals from our writing class and came across them.

Here’s the first one:

It’s easy to see what she meant, but still amusing. I often studied hardly when I was in school. (And look where it’s gotten me today! ^.^)

And the second one:

This is some fantastic Engrish! Complete with stylized exclamation point! I’m not sure exactly what she meant by this. Was she saying that the book made her want to be good natured? Or maybe that she identified with the character and was encouraging her to be good natured?

I’ll have to ask them where they learned these phrases. It certainly wasn’t from me!