Tattoos Lost In Translation
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- Опубликовано: 27 сен 2024
- Hazardous hanzis, calamitous kanjis and everything in between! Whilst the likes of Reddit and Bored Panda helped, a special commendation is owed to hanzismatter.blogspot.com for their superb work on this topic. I have made efforts to pronounce and analyse everything correctly but I aint no polyglot so if anything is wrong please scold me in the comments.
Toilet Goblin made me make the most horrific cackling seagull noise I've ever heard. I would genuinely get that tattoo on purpose.
Same! Fucking hilarious
I would wear that tattoo with pride 😌
If anyone gets that tattoo solely because of this video I will be equal parts impressed and horrified
@@Matt_Rose You shouldn't have said that. I have never been more tempted to make a worse decision.
Made me think of the anime Toilet-Bound Hanako. I don't know anything about the show but that's what "Toilet Goblin" made me think of
My friend tried to get a 'I am vegetarian' tattoo in japanese but it ended up saying 'I am made of vegetables'. When told this, my other friend said 'you are what you eat'
Well, they didn't lie
They're not wrong
And that's why my client is an innocent man, your honour
@@gremlin8635 better call Saul
Perfect.
Got to be honest, the guy with the economic recession tattoo for sure got what he asked for.
That tattoo artist knew what he was about. Probably still laughs about it
He wanted his money 😈😈
I mean I wouldn’t be mad. The guy did ask for bad words.
true
Oh I'm the thousandth like💀
“Translator server error” tattoo in a foreign language is actually a top tier tattoo, self-irony and meta commentary at the same time. Probably much deeper than whatever else was planned for the arm.
I could dig it
It feels like an amazing conceptual joke in itself, whether intentional or accidental.
I would agree that it's likely better than whatever was intended. =)
Same goes for "illiterate foreigner". I'm not going to get a tattoo, and if I did it wouldn't be in a language I don't speak, but if it was I'd definitely go for one of those two options 😀
@@studiouskid1528 No idea, since I don't speak any of those languages, but good luck getting a tattoo in a language that doesn't have a written form 😀
Means the tattoo-er was just plugging phrases into google translate and tattooing whatever came up. In this case, google didn't have a translation for whatever they typed in but gave the Mandarin version of the error message. /chef kiss
I mean, "dead person at no charge" is technically correct depending on you interpret "free spirit"
Bet that freeing your spirit is like dying in China. This is the example where people from Occident makes assumptions about a remote culture.
🤣
Reminds me of that story of the early computer translation from English to Russian which converted "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" to "the vodka is strong but the meat is rotten"!
Tattooing "foot" on your head is the highest form of comedy and that person should be rewarded.
yes, he should also get 2 tattos for foot saying 'head'
@@equilibrum999 "head 1" and "head 2"
@@ChaosEnthusiast And just FALSE on the one arm and nothing on the other one.
@@linklink3069 yes lmao
Are you sure it's not the person who wrote a tampon brand logo on a person? Or what about the guy who wrote illiterate foreigner?
"I love my grandson" being "I love fat boys" is actually just a misunderstanding from the the translators part, they've must have accidentally wrote in "Grand Son" and not "Grandson"
Translating that would probably make that guy look like a chubby chaser out of context lol
Probably Google translate
No, “big fat boy” (大胖小子) is a common term of endearment for your children or grandchildren. It doesn’t literally mean fat, it means healthy. Okay it does mean fat, but that’s because the skinny ones used to die off. But since it’s a saying, no one would actually think it means fat.
@@TumblinWeedsyeah some of these stories seem to be intentionally making the translations worse than they are
“Use other entrance” was actually pretty clever and probably intentional.
😏
Yeah I’ve seen people with similar things in English. Once met a woman with a ‘no entry’ sign as a tramp stamp too.
@@Vhargondid you really have to?
I'm a translator of Japanese to English and I see these all the time. My favourite find in the wild was a man with what he claimed was 'football' kanji on his shoulder, cheerfully sunburning his way down Sidmouth prom.
It actually said 瓜 (Uri) which, rather appropriately, means 'melon'. Being lubricated by a day of good cider I told him what it meant, but happily he laughed it off.
The next year I spotted him again, and he'd rather smartly had it amended to read 嵐 (Arashi) which means 'Storm'. Still not football but at least my dude was making the best of a bad job!
Hoping to spot him again this year and see what new delights that painted man has for me.
Actually genius move on that guy's part.
Yeah, no kidding, Storm is way damn cooler ngl
嵐 means mountain mist in chinese, I struggle to comprehend how it became "storm" in japanese
@@---iv5gj That meaning makes an awful lot more sense, but I feel like this could be said of half of the characters in existence.
@@LavaSaver then again, 嵐 is 山（mountain）風(wind), and japan is a mountainous island country sitting in the middle of the ocean with big storms. when you see air currents(like fast flowing clouds and mist) on top of mountains in japan, it probably means a storm is here in that context.
My sister purposely got the words "dumb wh*re" in Korean on her back and went online to troll people by asking them to translate it (she told them it was supposed to say live laugh love-)
that sounds great LMAO. imagine having to ask a tattooist to put "dumb whore" on your back
YOUR SISTER IS AN ICON
What a legend
Your sister died for our sins
ur sis is legendary
ok but getting "translator server error" tattooed on you is actually fucking hilarious
Like that sign that said "Nid wyf yn y swyddfa ar hyn o bryd. Anfonwch unrhyw waith i'w gyfieithu"
"Estás usando este software de traducción de forma incorrecta. Por favor, consulta el manual."
@@jacobthesomething Wow. That's so beautiful. Spanish is such a sensual language. Thanks for helping me work out what I next want to get inked!
As a translator/ interpreter i often do get mental/brain “translator server error” moments, especially near the end of the day. 😁🤯
@@jacobthesomething portal reference
Huge fan of how the Live Laugh Love tattoo artist didn’t realize that “koi” (恋) for romantic love and “koi” (鯉) for Japanese carp are not, in fact, the same kanji
I though it said live laugh crap
So the tattoo means
Live
Laugh
*AKIRA NISHIKIYAMA, TOJO CLAN NISHIKIYAMA FAMILY PATRIARCH*
@@markomega8719 TEN YEARS
@@yapflipthegrunt4687 Didn't expect someone to actually get the reference. I feel like Yakuza is slowly becoming the new JJBA.
@@yapflipthegrunt4687 IN THE JOINT
I love how half of these are legitimately understandable mistakes and the other half of them were obviously pranks. it makes perfect sense that "grand son" could've accidentally been translated to "fat boy," but there is no goddamn way that a chinese tattoo artist tattoed "Illiterate Foreigner" by accident.
Translator server error
Yeah, with the clothes, in chinese is yi Fu so it's understandable if the tattoo artist just misheard them and didn't question a foreigner mixing up the pinyin.
That's my favorite because it's true!
the outlaw becoming snitch after translation cant be a coincidence can it?
there was a guy who said he got "God-Almighty" tattooed on him, and it really said "stupid foreigner"
Imagine getting one of these on purpose, and then when asked by a native speaker what you think your tattoo means, you look them in the eye and say “Squid butt fairy.”
the ultimate troll
I'm just imagining a picture of Ursula from the Little Mermaid as a fairy and thank for that
@@catrinacoons390 Her wingspan would have to be enormous.
@@ijustdocomments6777 I mean, you have a point, but she could just be tiny like most fairies
@@catrinacoons390 no, make her into a giant cthulu monster
Worked on a rig in Indonesia and asked the radio operator to print a label for a flight case which would read “Computer - Fragile”
Got stopped by the police at Changhi airport who asked why I was walking around with a case which read “Confused and delicate” 😂
Unlike tattoos, you can easily remove labels
Underrated comment funny
Now that's a tattoo I'd want
They just described me
"ELECTRIC BRAIN (FRAGILE)."
(Yes, computer in Chinese is electric brain.)
If memory serves, it was something like “Bingung Kacau” in anglicised Indonesian
This is hilarious! As someone who speaks Chinese, I'm going to keep a lookout for tattoos like these. There are so many words that sound similar but mean completely different things. I can imagine someone getting a tattoo on their 40th birthday and thinking it says "40", but it actually says "dead snake".
Or "16" and "pomegranate".
And shameless plug...
I'm also hoping some of you might like the music that I make :)
Question as someone who is just beginning to learn Chinese. The one at 1:57 that says "Bitter Idiot", The character for Ku is upside down. Is this intentional?
@@PaintingWinterMusic I’d probably like it if you didn’t self promote
@@teegan-rose You're right, it is upside down, and I'm honestly not sure why. The other two characters （阿 and 呆）are written normally, so I don't know why 苦is not. Maybe a stylistic choice?
@@PaintingWinterMusic That's what confused me. I thought it may have been 2 different characters but nope, just written incorrectly for some reason.
Sidenote: I just realised your username is Painting Winter Music and I'm in a band called Saving Winter, how crazy!
A common thing for artists to do is write something stupid in Chinese, Japanese and Korean (most commonly). They then sell the artwork to someone who does not understand the language who will then put the picture that says ‘cheese with a side of nachos’ on their wall.
Edit: Matt, next, you should do people misnaming celebrities.
Edit 2: omg! Just realised this got 5.4K likes! Tysm!! (Sorry to be that person lol)
@@dianaayt he said that it was most commonly Chinese AND Japanese AND Korean, not just Korean
@@dianaayt I’m not sure, but I think they meant that Japanese, Chinese, and Korean are the most common languages, not just Korean.
people also do it with english words to sell to the japanese, i once saw a post of japanese people walking around tokyo with stupid things written in theyr shirts.
honestly though
yep
The one with "Live, Laugh, CARP" actually makes sense. For the last word, they requested "koi", which (depending on context) means both "carp" and "love" in Japanese, with different kanji ofc.
@Polar Barracuda if you do you should include Magikarp the Pokemon
i knew something was looking different about that live laugh love when i saw it
i was like hmmmmmmm but "koi" didn't look like that, omg it's literally koi
It's carpin time.
I love actual koi fish so...double koi!
Actually, on that note, the grill one isn't too far off either! The word for the grill is is shichirin, which indeed just about means "seven rings".
I heard somewhere that the tattoo error might have been done on purpose for the laughs, but I don't really follow pop and it was also years ago, so I don't know how true it is...
“Free Spirit” and “Dead Person with No Charge” reminds me of “Dirty Deeds Done Dirto Cheap” and “Filthy Acts at a Reasonable Price”
I'm currently studying Japanese, (or more correctly, trying to study Japanese) and I think it would be funny to get something really weird tattooed on purpose. People might think I tried to get something fake deep, but in reality I have tomato criminal on my arm.
id do the same if i wasnt a wimp
Omg sameeee
Same, I want to get "知らない" sorrounded by something aesthetic someday, think it'd be funny.
"Tomato criminal" would make for an amazing tattoo.
トマト犯罪者 ー tomato criminal
“Illiterate Foreigner” is probably the most brutally honest and relevant tattoo I’ve ever seen.
Exactly my thoughts. It summarizes the whole "I want a chinese/japanese/korean etc. tattoo" and getting something they didn't want at all.
it's so people can recognize them when they're on a trip
like the signs they mark on cows
You heard him say "fish," right? 😂
I think that had to be intentional
“Illiterate foreigner” is absolutely perfect. If I’d just asked for random characters, and got that, I wouldn’t even be mad.
I mean, he wouldn't be wrong though.
@@mikialovic5304 yeah but he would be human trash
lol
Once had a nice middle aged woman come into my job wearing a shirt with Japanese on the breast pocket and along her back. In horror, I asked her where she got the shirt and said her husband was a businessman who bought it for her while on a business trip and "it says, Hello Kitty or something".
It actually said something more along the lines of "dominatrix". I didn't have the heart to tell her, but it remains my favorite encounter with something being "lost in translation".
what is that? Is that a matrix character?
Yago, you sweet summer child 😂
$20 says the woman's husband secretly wants her to be a dominatrix for him.
someone explain what a dominatrix is
@@gjkdshgkjshjkgdfg A woman dominating their partner
These seem to fall into three distinct categories: 1)They got exactly what they asked for, but it did not mean the same thing in Japanese or Chinese as it did in English. 2)The tattoo artist did not speak Chinese or Japanese and copied the character wrong 3)The tattoo artist knew exactly what they were doing 😂😂😂
I feel like it's mostly the third one with the second one closely following
@@octosquid48I have a feeling I know which one "cheap shit" was...
There is also a fourth category: the (Japanese or Chinese) tattoo artist misheard the client's request (such as "College" instead of "Courage").
That's the thing, too -- nine times out of ten, you cannot do a word-for-word translation in Chinese because it will definitely not mean the same thing....or just won't make sense 😂
@@yurenchu Especially when there is no differenciation between r and l in japanese
I heard a story about a guy who intentionally got "steamed pork dumplings" tattooed on his arm just so he could make ordering at the local Chinese restaurants easier.
For steamed hams.
That sounds like the story from @dangitdoodles in this comment section
Legend
豬肉餃😂
I was just eating one and im dead
My father, being the absolute nut case that he is, got his coworker who is fluent in Chinese to translate “combo number 5” (or directly it’s “meal number 5”) then got it tattooed on his leg. He was so proud of it that the next time we had gone to the Chinese restaurant we like and knew the owners of, he excitedly shown his tattoo to the one owner and said “it means peace love and happiness”. She then said “no it doesn’t” then my dad confessed that he knows it means meal number 5 and specifically got it to clown on people who don’t know what they’re getting written on their body
Ladies and gentlemen, this is Combo Number 5
@@BlackBloodCombatClub Happy to know I’m not the only one who misread that the first time…
@@BlackBloodCombatClub 😄
The absolute dad joke
Should have had "2 #9s, a #9 large, a #6 w/extra dip, a #7, 2 #45s, one with cheese, and a large soda"
The "public cow" one isn't exactly wrong tho? "Ox" typically translates to “公牛”, with the first character meaning "male" and the second meaning "cow" or "bull". However, the first character can also mean "public" when used in phrases like “公交车” (= public traffic car = bus), “公民” (= public people = citizen), or “公家” (= public family = traditional monarchy). So, it all depends on how you interpret the phrase. I assume that the translator just read the tattoo word-by-word which twisted its meaning into being more awkward.
公 is also loosely used as the adjective "work", so 公牛 could be thought of "work cow", the cow used to do work
I guess the Chinese laughed at them because getting that tattoo was basically like if a chinese person tattooed the words "Water carrier" instead of the symbol of Aquarius
🤓
Same with “evil butt”
I thought that's why all of these tattoos turn out weird. Chinese characters dont seem to have one definite reading, so you'd have to be very meticulous with what characters you choose for your tattoo.
I got the word quiet tattooed on my arm. People think it was an accident, but really i got it for my Japanese aunt (not a blood relative). The only time i ever heard her speak was when she told her about-to-become-ex-husband "quiet." She had been so quiet for so long, and so now it was her turn to demand silence.
I love that so much. It's rare that I feel a genuine flare of pride for a stranger.
5:38
Actually, 妖 is also a commonly used term for mythical creatures in China that can turn into beautiful women, usually to seduce and lure men into giving them their soul, with their original form being usually animals. could be understood as a demon or succubus. Most well known ones are probably 狐妖 or 蛇妖, which could roughly be translated to fox succubus or snake succubus.
Yeah, so basically, that man tattooed "toilet succubus" onto himself.
scat man
...kinky..i guess?
@@runeanonymous9760 Skibidibi
妖 can also just mean monster, so toilet monster
@@angsern8455 Ghoulies?
I remember reading about a (presumably nice/neckbearded) guy who went to Japan or something and wanted a tattoo that said “appreciator of Asian beauty.”
The tattoo artist gave him a tattoo that instead translated to “foreign pervert.”
Update: A close second goes to a man who got tattoos of the kanji for ‘reason’ and ‘living’ or something like that. He probably wanted it to say ‘reason for living,’ which is fair. But apparently, if you put those two symbols together, it means ‘menstruation.’
Artist was Lisbeth Salander.
Based
deserved
hentai gaijin
Artist took their civic duty to protect their neighbour seriously ❤❤❤
"Wanted: loyalty. Got: noodles." Tale as old as time
I see this as an absolute win.
I heard about a Japanese tattoo artist who had an American customer who asked for a tattoo that said "lover of Asian beauties" in Japanese
The artist wrote "foreign pervert" instead
ive heard of that too
XD
it was written 'gaijin biantai'?
Oh my god that is so funny lmaoo 😂 good on that tattoo artist I hope they're doing well XD.
Amazing
I had a classmate in college who got a tattoo that was supposed to say “purity” in Chinese on her forearm. It was supposed to be a promise to herself to stay pure while focusing on her studies. I was dabbling with calligraphy at the time and understood what it said and that wasn’t it. They gave her the word penguin spelling it like business goose. She was disappointed when she found out but hey, it’s a good thing she was in a business program.
🤭
I am going to call penguins business geese from now on thank you
(this is in traditional chinese)
企 = corporate/enterprise
鵝 = goose
企鵝 = penguin
@@OneDotLeader doesn't that mean Standing Goose?
@@1224chrisng
It means penguin, the 企 means business and 起 means up? (I don’t know much)
Both are pronounced qǐ
"Love and Strawberries" sounds like a generic British love novel from the 60s
Also: "Fast and foolish" sounds like a Chinese comedy action movie
Fast and foolish should have been a spoof of Fast & Furious starring Sammo Hung.
Fast and Foolish sounds like a parody of The Fast and the Furious movies similar to "The Dragon Lives Again" (anyone remember that movie's review by Brandon Tenold?)
In college, my classmate from China laughed everytime a certain caucasian lady from a nearby class walked by. The caucasian lady had a Chinese character tattoo on her lower back, which she showed off all the time. I finally got curious and asked... The character was a certain variation of the word chicken which was used as slang to describe a prostitute.
Lol
My grandad got a tattoo while on holiday in the Canary Islands, it was supposed to say “Jackie” in Chinese which is my nan’s name. However we discovered that every Chinese person we asked in Chinatown would do a kung fu pose and shout “JACKIE CHAN”.
That's a win in my book
LOL More of a win than a fail tho
Did it say 成龍？
Honestly that's more of a win than a loss
Did you tell everyone that Jackie Chan was your grandma? 😆
When my father was a wrestler, he worked with this Japanese guy, and these four other guys. Guy number one, who we’ll call True Translator was a Japanese immigrant who spoke both English and Japanese fluently. He worked with my dad and these other guys. One of these guys decided to get a Japanese tattoo that said, “Immortality and Strength” or something dumb like that. He shows up to work the next day sporting his new ink, and True Human Translator was like, “Alright - Why the Hell do you have special fried rice number seven tattooed on your arm?” The guy never lived that down. 😂
Lol that's hilarious!
I’ve definitely heard this exact story on the internet but ok 😳
@@angelbiscuits yeah this is the internet and you heard it here
But have y'all *tried* the special fried rice number seven? Best dish ever! 10/10. Would totally tattoo that order on my arm.
@@angelbiscuits or maybe; same story, same person, different user
If you have a tattoo in a foreign language, and someone asks you "What do you think that means?" be very afraid, because it is 100% not what you thought it means
I work at a tattoo shop as an apprentice. They made me and the other apprentice organize different kinds of tattoo flashes/designs, one of which was Chinese symbols. To make a joke around the idea that people have no clue what they're getting, I drew two fun Chinese symbols on the front of the folder organizing them. When our boss noticed the drawing we were complimented for our "creativity". I wrote the symbols for "butt soup"...
屁股湯 😂😂😂
LMAO
狗暨煎蛋卷🥺
@@HairyJuan 腹瀉餛飩 😁
These are beautiful 🤣
my dad is into tattoos and he had a horrible phase where he was obsessed with getting tattoos of my name but in different languages, until he found out most of them were just nonsense words that didnt mean anything. thankfully hes now moved on to tattoos of like dragons and stuff, and leaving my name out of it
At least your dad loves you to think it's your name translated, even if it isn't. It's the thought that counts
at least it was your name and not some bullshit like "warrior"
good thing your dad changed his mind, I also wouldn't want to tattoo someone's name who I don't know at all on my beloved skin.
Edit: My English is not as advanced as other people for it isn't my main language, this is a complement not an insult.
aww that's really sweet.
As someone who also has a dad who tattooed my name on himself. It's nice! I'm just lucky mine didn't fall into the rabbit hole yours did.
Someone who overheard me speaking Chinese asked me what their tattoo said. Now, I can't _read_ much Chinese but I knew that one...So Chinese characters can have more than one meaning depending on context. The topic of conversation can change what the character means in that situation or what other characters its paired with. While the same character _can_ have wildly different meanings, the meanings are usually at least somewhat related (though not always). Technically her artist didn't lie. He told her it meant 'transcendent spirit' which, well it CAN mean that, but its more commonly used to mean demon or evil spirit sooo...
Context is everything 😅
It's weird, but I remember the Japanese used to walk around with shirts in English that were just gibberish. I remember a shirt that read "Hello Mayonnaise" on it. The idea that we would return the favor with Japanese gibberish kind of makes sense.
I hope that one image with a chick wearing a hoodie that just has a bunch of F-bombs printed on it is real.
Hello mayonaise is a perfectly reasonable sentence if its meant to be read by English speaking foreigners in the streets of japan
@@Jokoko2828 Reminds me of a Japanese kids' show called Miburi TV (I think it was a segment on the show that teaches kids exercise?) that featured a woman called Sasuga Minami (the host of said show) wearing a tracksuit with the sentences "I love fuck" and "I love p**sy" on it. And yes, it caused controversy in Japan.
I would unironically wear those
I've seen ones that said "shop lifting" on the shirt.
On one of the last days of school, my Chinese teacher showed us a bunch of these bad tattoos and we translated the ones we knew. Fun times
Yo, I go to a Chinese Language help school on Sundays (During the typical school year) and we did that too, it was hilarious🤣
I have asian parents so they naturally made learn mandarin and it's HILARIOUS to see some of these tatoos in person
I thought Mandarin was not widely spoken in Asia outside of China, I never met an Indian or a Russian speaking Mandarin
@@PouLS Maybe this person is from China. China is in Asia
@@PouLS India is a very different type of Asian. Some russians do speak chinese if they live near the chinese border - my mother had chinese speaking classmates in college. Generally, though, the asians of russia are very different nations and ethnicities from chinese
@@PouLS mandarin is really popular didnt you know
@@smarf93 then why not just say he has Chinese parents?
When I've played Yakuza Kiwami I saw one random woman in the street wondering if she would get a tattoo, and Kiryu adviced her against it and to think twice because a tattoo is a personal thing and could affect your life down the line.
Seeing this video I can see why.
Yakuza have something with tattos anyay...
In Kiryu's case, he was probably referring to the fact that tattoos are often associated with the yakuza, and many businesses will not allow people with tattoos to enter as a result. Also good luck getting a job when your skin is practically shouting "gang member" to the world.
2:22 makes sense because 恋 is read as koi(love) and 鯉 is also read as koi(y'know, the fish) so someone must have romanized it before chugging it into kanji
Ahhhh good to know, thanks!
I'd have gone for 愛 anyway since 恋 is more specifically romantic.
love your profile picture
It *is* easier to do that just because of how much English is just a mash of languages
But, I mean CARP
You'd think they'd at least do a google search of "鯉 in english" or something for a tattoo that goes on their body permanently.
I'd genuinely find "economic recession" and "beep beep lettuce" to be amazing tattoos.
My all-time favorite is someone wanting to get a tattoo meaning "Freedom" 自由 on themselves in Japanese but got the word "Free" as in 'Free of charge' 無料
There’s actually a neologism in colloquial Chinese where you say “我免费啦“ as in the free of charge meaning instead of the freedom meaning as a wordplay on how “free” means both in English
"I asked him for some bad words, something really bad."
"economic recession"
The tatoo artist has a very dark sense of humour.
Also, I feel sorry for the girl with the "use other enterance" tatoo, people mist be thinking of some naughty things with that.
That was the point of the "other entrance" tattoo.
You could have a tramp stamp of a tellytubby and people would still think naughty things
She def meant that
Yeah “use other entrance” has to be what was intended. That’s funny af.
I think she should've done her research... Or just tattoo a language she *does* understand.
I was on a short trip in Japan back in 2018, the amount of times I have seen "馬鹿外人" tattooed on tourists is honestly concerning. (Translates to stupid foreigner) I prefer not to tell them, it won't hurt to continue to let them believe they have some inspirational shit om their bodies
At this point, more people probably get baka-gaijin on purpose as a meme. Still obnoxious.
Bakagaijin as a meme is A LOT older than 2018.
I would never get a tattoo in a language I don't speak but if I was going to, "stupid foreigner" at least is honest.
@@hughmortyproductions8562 true 😂
@@hughmortyproductions8562 I'd go with "self-aware foreigner".
Moral of the story: don’t get a tattoo in another language unless you are fluent in that language and make it obvious to your artist, or bring someone with you who is
right, and you don’t give a rat’s arse about the culture either and just do it because you reckon it’s exotic or some white people nonsense
"illitirate foreign" and "toilet goblin" are peak tourist tattoos I would see someone taking on purpose for laughs
Toilet goblin = Ghoulies
Toilet Goblin sounds like a children’s book gone wrong
Or an anime
"Mommy, I don't want to use the toilet."
"Why?"
"There's a toilet goblin trying to drag me inside."
"I told you it's only a story, I shouldn't have gotten that _Hairy Tales_ book for you."
Only one word: Ghoulies
I now unironically want a tattoo saying “Beep beep lettuce”
In English.
Used to know a Chinese girl (still do), my brother got a tattoo and believed it said "bad romance" because he was a big Lady Gaga fan, my friend informed me that it said "cat smuggling", my brother was NOT amused. He now covers his tattoo.
I'd rather get 'cat smuggling'
cat smuggling is better for sure...
@@moonhunter9993Yeah
七輪 actually does (roughly) mean "seven rings". It just also has other meanings. It'd be like someone getting "7-Eleven" tattooed because their birthday is July 11th.
Also, the Chinese word for ox/bull actually is 公牛. 公 means "public" and 牛 means "cow". These people don't know Chinese, they just put it into Google translate.
I agree with ya there, I just want to add that the lady was probably going for "Ox" because she was born in the year of the ox...in which case she was probably looking for just the 牛 paired with some indicator of "zodiac sign"
公 has multiple meanings. It can mean “public” but it means “male” too.
@@hugohuang1518 it also translate to grandfather but with double 公
It's even better if the person goes to a place where the bate would be said as "11 July" instead, meaning 7/11 will be understood as 7 November ... which is most of the world.
That's why it is best for foreigners to get tattoos in Kana instead of Kanji.
My friend was trying to get something but then got “spill milk” our Chinese friend told us what it translated to (spill milk), it was such a good opportunity that I HAD to say “don’t cry over spilled milk”
"Toilet goblin" is pretty solid, but I think "illiterate foreigner" is our winner here.
Not quite a flub in meaning, but someone I know got what's supposedly her name on her ankle - I don't know what it _actually_ means, for all I know she's right, but everyone who's seen it seems to think it's just English...because it looks like "DIE" - and yes, in all caps like that.
妛 means ugly, 蚩 means fool. these two kind of look like "DIE"
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"Die" is (feminine) "the" in German, and is pronounced "dee". idk if this helps or not~
@S WxIxLxLxIxAxMxS Yes
@@WxIxLxLxIxAxMxS I didn't notice when I was writing up the comment, but it looks like I didn't mention that the tattoo in question is in Korean.
Woops!
If you go to like Japan and look at all the stuff people sell with English on them, they all translate like these do. So having a weirdly translated words that just looks cool, is actually fitting with the culture.
Some of these, while not what the person wanted, could very much still be cool tattoos
"dead person at no charge" is, technically, a "free" spirit
"what you got there mate, is chronic hepatitis" had me rolling
Which is so perfect because that's exactly what you can get from a tattoo, it's one of the most common ways people get hepatitis C. No way that was an accident.
I heard a story of some lady who saw two beautiful hyerogliphs in a restaurant window and got them embroidered on her dress. They translated to "Cheap and tasty" because what the hell else would you seee in a restaurant
I see one of us by calling them "hyeroglyphs", for some reason they don't in English. It's just "Chinese characters" for westerners.
@@KasumiRINA I mean, my nickname is kind of showing it too😅 Didn't know that westeners don't use this word, though
@@НаталіяАлексєєва-м4хin english it’s usually relegated to egyptian hieroglyphs and other ancient dead languages. so calling chinese characters “hieroglyphs” would feel like: “i can still hear her voice 🥺” “STOP TELLING PEOPLE IM DEAD”. you can call them glyphs tho i’ve seen that
@@chesspiece4257 I didn't know that, English is not my first language and in my native language they are called hieroglyphs
0:55 don't think that was lost in translation
Tbh, I would do that
Yeah that one seemed too perfect to not be intentional
@@sanrioenby3230 oh same
Yeah I think that might’ve just been a prank
A friend of mine wanted to have the "Year of the Ox" (the Chinese calendar year she was born in) tattooed on her ankle (who knows why). The tattoo artist decided that "I am a cow" in Chinese was appropriate.
Wait until someone wants a "Year of the Dragon" tattoo, only for the artist to write, "Year of the Worm" instead. (Fun fact: In Chinese, a common saying is that the opposite of "dragon" (龙) is "worm" (虫, can also translate to "insect" or "bug"), because dragons are seen as powerful, majestic, and scary, but worms are seen as pathetic and weak. A popular insult in Chinese is, "You think you're a dragon, but in reality, you're nothing but a worm/insect")
@@nicholaslienandjaja1815 Then comes the Applin line...
I mean, technically still correct, but it just doesn’t have the same ring to it, y’know?
@@nicholaslienandjaja1815 I mean, as a Dune fan I wouldn't entirely mind Year of the Worm.
@@nicholaslienandjaja1815wait, can I get this saying with pinyin? I'm trying to learn Chinese and I love this insult
My cousin’s wife has Japanese characters down her arm that translates to, “I have no idea what this means”. She got it on purpose.
That's actually genius. If someone asks her what it means, she can say "I have no idea what this means" and be correct.
@@pyrofromtf2 She always says it's some inspirational line from a Basho poem.
@@redfive5856 oh ok. Like how when my coworker asked me if the earth is round or flat, I said "earth shaped".
@@pyrofromtf2You're brutal. 😁
@@ThomasNimmesgern thanks.
At a Chinese buffet in South Carolina. The family sitting at the table to my right kept raving about how good the sushi was. They were eating spring rolls.
oh god
oh no
Screams in Chinese
how did they not know the difference 💀
In times like this I feel so bad for my country. It's popular but full of dumb people.
2:43 Honestly, I wouldn't even be mad if I found out that's what the tattoo meant. "I have the lemon sickness" sounds way more entertaining than the whole when life gives you lemons saying. I would just think "that's way better than what I wanted."
Holy crap the toilet goblin one killed me 💀
My stomach hurts from laughing.
Thanks for making my horrible day better, Mr. Matt Rose.
Pleased to be of assistance Taco, hope you're feeling better
It wasn’t correctly entirely the second part 妖 can translate anywhere from demon to spirit/fairy (as it’s a term from Chinese/Japanese mythology that does not translate directly to English), so it could’ve just as easily been translated as toilet demon or toilet fairy
@@waterunderthebridge7950 just as good
@@waterunderthebridge7950 Could it possibly be… toilet ghost? If so we’ve got Hanako on our hands again
@@sherumayu Nah, ghost has it’s own Japanese term in 幽霊 or お化け. 妖精 are by definition supernatural living being while the two terms above refer to the ghost of dead beings
I’m in the midst of chronic pain Hell and have been absolutely miserable all day…then I watched this video. Now, my gut and and sides are hurting worse than anything because I laughed so fucking hard! Thank you so much! Subscribing now!
There’s also a big problem with Arabic tattoos, mostly people get the words flipped out (because arabic writing starts from the right) and the letters aren’t connected, and it like writing calligraphy with only the capital letters and also not connecting them
a d n i k e k i l s i h t n i h s i l g n E
Also one time i saw a girl with a huge tattoo on her spine who had the same problem and also it translated exactly as “Laugh is because smile is above the go” another one was “is being in peace, not in parts” which I’m pretty sure she translated “be in peace, not in pieces” which just doesn’t work in Arabic
Expecting a pun to just literally translate into a completely different language is one of tge biggest tells somebody only speaks one language.
@@ZenoDovahkiin I once read that in order to truly understand a different culture, you have to learn the language because so much of the way people really think is revealed in slang, idioms, collective 'in-jokes', historical references, religious references - things that can't be translated without understanding where they come from.
Sheer pain writing from left to right in Arabic
@@jarnotrulli849 that's how left-handed people feel about normal left to right writings.
pieces in Arabic is "قطع" which can be translated also to “cutting/slitting”
So it could be read as: “be in peace, not in cutting/slitting” which is uhhhhh……….not….good💀💀
Not a weird one but: I was at the airport and saw a guy with the characters "Da Wei" (大卫) most likely meaning David (Google translate said) then I went up to him and said, 'Hi, David," and he gave me a shocked look. Mandarin classes in school payed off.
Do u know Da Wei
@@kameronpan2939 He literally found da wei and didn't even notice.
Da wei can actually be translated as something like "great protector" (大 da means "big/strong" and 卫 means "to guard") so maybe it was on purpose.
Some western names actually have great translations to Chinese with cool meanings and can be translated literally.
Mine translates as "Origin of stupidity" so probably not a good idea to get it tattooed.
@@eukarya_ that's very... Self sabotaging...
You’re saying that Da Wei is a name people use? So basically, a lot of people know Da Wei?
2:26 its even funnier because I know how that happened. A word for Love in Japanese is a homophone for Carp. Both of them get transliterated as "Koi" even though they are as different as can be. Kind of like the sentence, "I feel hole again."
Yup.
I’m natively Japanese and at my time in England I saw someone’s tattoo translating to “Skinny Foreigner” assuming it was a person of Japanese person who wrote it out of spite because they wanted something “oriental”
I mean, on one hand, it is funny.
On the other hand, it is extremely petty, tatoo removal is not easy and making someone have to get one intentionally is just sh*tty no matter how you look at it..
@@razi_man If you ask for a tattoo in a language you don't remotely understand (and not bothering googling out what's being written) that's kinda your problem
0:59 That might not have been a mistake.
I don’t think so either.. 😭
As a translator who's regretful of life choices, I'd gladly got myself "Translator error" tatoo
My brother has a tattoo that says "Five wood fences" on his forearm.
He refuses to believe that's what it says, and still claims it says something about wisdom and patience.
These were hilarious to watch, and I think they're not just on tatoos. I saw a picture of a restaurant in Turkey that translated "iskender with extra meat" to "Very Alexander" (iskender is a Turkish food but Büyük İskender is the translation for Alexander the Great)
im want iskender with estra meat or fries now[food]
I think I saw that, they also translated “mixed Iskender” to “Alexander confused”
I love the Chinese menu that says “chicken rude and unreasonable“ instead of “jerk chicken”
I remembered the paul is dead in arabic in these sorts of videos... I am not fluent but phonetically since they do not have the /p/ sounds, they replaced it with /b/ (ball translated to paul) and meat phonetically in arabic, without indications of the proper sounds on each letter (eg: basically lines to determine the correct reading like ba, bi, bu,) can be read as death.. Ergo meatball becomes paul is dead
I'd love to get the "beep beep lettuce." tattoo just to have someone ask me what it means.
The inevitable question is asked and my deadpan delivery fills the room. "Beep beep lettuce," I answer, holding back a low chuckle as I am asked if I am serious. I simply respond "yes." and continue with my day
well there are many variations you can have. like "避避白菜“ (Force Cabbage) or ”比比白菜“ (Let's Compare Cabbage) or ”笔笔白菜“ (Pen Pen Cabbage)
if you're wondering how each of those are pronounced its (Bi Bi Bai Cai), (Be Be Bai Cai) and (Bie Bie Bai Cai)
i want the word *beep beep lettuce* in japanese on my arm
I once saw a guy in a public swimming pool with a huge tattoo of a chinese character on his arm, it kind of looked like the character for water 水 but had two extra random strokes, I thought I just didnt learn that one yet so I tried writing it down in my notes app to look up later, such a character does not exist.
You mean 冰 ? It means ice or cold
just to note i have very little understanding of chinese, I can only understand a small collection of characters
@@interro588 it didnt look like that, it had the two strokes on the left side, kind of in the upper corner, right under eachother
沃 maybe somehow?? 😭😭
According to Wiktionary, 永 means "eternity" or "permanent, forever" (how apt, given that it's a tattoo!).
1:39 I’d probably blame the translator here, ox is 公牛, which if translated character-for-character can result in ‘public cow’.
2:53 Another possible translation shenanigan if ‘move’ was in Chinese and as 運, as luck is 運氣 and not uncommon to be shortened in certain contexts, while 運送 would mean to transport.
(non-Chinese/Japanese speaker translating using machine translation just out of curiosity)
Chinese is this:
公牛 = "bull"
公 = male, public, common, fair, metric, general, just, honorable, state-owned, duke, public affairs, husband's father, father-in-law, generally, or make public
牛 = cattle, cow, ox, bull, neat, or bossy
運氣 gets translated as "luck", character for character as "transport gas", but apparently can't be translated as anything else
運送 gets translated as "transport", character for character as "transport deliver"
送 can be send, deliver, present, carry, see off, or handsel.
Japanese is this:
公牛 = Public cow
公 = Public, duke, prince, lord, companion, subordinate, or open
牛 = Cow, cattle
運氣 = Luck
運 = Luck, fortune, chance
氣 = Ki (phonetic only I guess)
運送 = Shipping, transportation, transport
送 = Send
@@MandMs05 公牛 couldn't possibly Japanese, it's just a suffix for public and a noun for cow slapped together, not ox, not to mention that a translator would just output オックス. You can look up 'jotoba' or 'jisho' for dictionaries with more comprehensive definitions of words than a translator would give you.
@@LavaSaver I was curious what the translator would output, not the actual meaning of the characters. I know how garbage machine translation is
@@MandMs05 I'm just saying that there's not much point to it, since it's not the language it's written in. You're free to do whatever you want with translators.
ah i assumed they’d somehow messed up and gotten 动. but like how could you mess that one up just get 福 it’s everywhere during chinese new year 🧧 TT
I had a roommate who had the words "Fried Rice" on his shoulder. and he and when he found out he was overjoyed because that was even better then what he thought he got
awww thats actually wholesome xD
Fried rice is delicious after all
What did he think he got
Apparently he got blackout drunk and he woke up with it. So he really thought I could have been anything
Hey I don't live with him anymore but I did call him he said that tattoo was supposed to say fight fair or something
The Latin phrase, 'Sit dolor amit' translates as 'let the pain be lost', while the one-letter difference of 'Sit dolor amir' means 'let it be a pain in the ass'. This one difference could make for a hell of a tattoo lost in translation.
Please for the love of God, don't get "Dolor sit amit" tattooed. Neither "amit" nor "amir" are words in Latin. "Let the pain be lost" would be either "Dolor amittatur" or "Sit dolor amissus".
"Dolor sit amet" is a part of a commonly used placeholder text in graphic design ("lorem ipsum dolor sit amet..."), which is intentionally NONSENSE LATIN. Most of the words just look Latin without meaning anything. Please don't get "Dolor sit amit" tattooed on you, it makes you look like an unfinished webpage.
@@easternlights3155 yep ^
Apparently in Urdu (and perhaps Farsi), the word for "angel" and "prostitute" are waaaaay too similar
@@easternlights3155profile picture checks out
@@easternlights3155Unless you are a nerd who likes the filler text
I'm half-Japanese, and while I'm not the best at kanji (My Japanese teacher(s) did a big oopsie and abandoned teaching kanji in favor of math and Japanese literacy, which is why there are only two students left there now), it's still hilarious to see weird Japanese tattoos on people. A lot of the time they're misspelled.
do you like apple
….Misspelled?? You can’t misspell kanji. It’s either written correctly or unreadable gibberish.
@@lucheng1945 “misspelled” is defined as “incorrectly written”
@@lucheng1945 one stroke more or one stroke less 己(self)已(already)巳(midnight)
We didn't need the story about your Japanese teacher in order to get the point that you're not the best at Kanji.
The chronic hepatitis tattoo had me rolling with laughter, so damn funny
Surprised there was even symbols for chronic skin disease
Reminds me of little alchemy
I feel like it was more interpretation on his side.
There’s real phrases for e.g. chronic skin disease tho and they consist of basically the same words chronic + skin + disease. The languages don’t actually have a unique character for every notion
i am 100% sure the ‘Beep Beep Lettuce’ dude *asked* for that specifically, i’ve heard that meme phrase back in like 2016 pretty frequently
also the fact that the burger king employees could read that lady’s lower back definitely implies, to me at least, that one was also intentional
I think the one with the woman at Burger King was intentional, too. I think I've seen or heard of other people getting a tattoo like that. It's also funny.
There was a guy at this party showing off his new tattoo that had Chinese characters that he claimed to mean something like "enlightened soul" or something corny like that. All the while I was wondering if the tattoo artist may have had a sense of humor and written "pretentious jerk" instead.
my stepdad was a tat artist for a while and one of his friends tattooed some kanji on his neck, I always ask him what it means and he goes 'idk probably penis or something stupid my friend did to make me look dumb' turns out, it actually meant poison. its like the reverse of these scenarios.
Plot twist:
The ink used was literal poison. The tattoo artist was actually a hitman.
@@WxIxLxLxIxAxMxS Or its just a deep understanding all these tattoos and the ink on his body actually is poison for the body
@@WxIxLxLxIxAxMxS Well he fucking failed I guess.
Kanji can carry different meanings in Japanese and Chinese. Kanji were originally Chinese characters that were introduced to Japan because they had no writing system at the time. I even watched a video of Japanese people trying to read Chinese and they can’t understand even though they know the Kanji because the meanings are different, and they don’t use kana.
I’m not entirely sure all of these tattoos are “wrong” we may just be translating them incorrectly. Translating between languages is always tricky, you can’t just take an English phrase and 1 to 1 put it in Japanese or Chinese. For example, Ariana’s tattoo does in fact say 7 rings, it just can also be read the other way.
Yes, it's like taking the Swedish word "fartkamera" and seeing the words 'fart' and 'camera' in it and thinking that's what it means, when it doesn't.
It's funnier to read it the wrong way though
Probably the reason why Japan still uses kanji rather than hiragana
I want to add that kanji have multiple readings in Japanese, usually at least two, and often more. Specifically, one is a traditional reading from Japan and another is their approximation of Chinese one, BUT in Japanese. There can be multiple regional ones borrowed AND a reading that's used for place and people names. It DOES depend on context, but doesn't have set rules for when each reading is used, people just get used to them.
i.e. 刀 (Chinese character for Tao/Dao) on its own will have kun'yomi reading of "katana", but 太刀 (big sword, Da-Dao) will be read as "tachi", Japanese Sword (日本刀) will be pronounced "nihonto". How do you know when 刀 is "katana," when it's "chi," and when it's "to"? You just memorize. It's like Hebrew or Arabic not having consonants, at some point you just get used to... guess... the unwritten part, but for kids and language learners there are fonts with extra script on top or bottom (furigana) that helps pronunciation (Hebrew has Nikkud).
The worst thing is that there's infinite amount of characters (as they get combined in all ways) but only that much sounds, so when transliterating names into Chinese you have to pick ones close to meaning, and in Japanese you just use kana. BUT personal Japanese names often do use Kanji so when people introduce themselves they often add explanation to which character is used in their case by meaning, i.e. Ana-as-in-hole.
The "Seven Rings" one is actually "The Seventh Ring", but that's a lot closer than OP's attempt.
My dad purposely got “to get drunk” tattooed in Chinese characters on his wrist, back when he was super drunk and a dumb 20 year old. He’s always wondered if it actually does say that.
I feel like there should be a subreddit for this... people asking fluent speakers if their tattoo actually means what they think.
@@funnyusername8635 there isn't one?!
@@dylersol I doubt it. There’s a subreddit for everything.
Upload a picture to imgur and put the link below I'm sure people will be happy to translate including myself
the character for drunk in chinese is 醉 if that helps
3:57 the 3 characters actually means " fugitive ". 躲藏 = hiding / running away. 犯 = ( person committed a crime ).
3:39 in Japanese, yasai (野菜, which literally means vegetables) is actually a slang for cannabis, but im not sure if the meaning would still be preserved if it's just 菜
and in chinese 野菜 (ye caai) means cabbage
And 菜can also be translated into :
“Noob” sometimes so…
@@2cv693 野菜 actually translates directly to wild vegetables, cabbage is 捲心菜 jǔan xīn cài or 椰菜 je4 coi3 in Cantonese (椰 which sounds similar to the ye you spelled out)
@@Kleo_37he means mandarin/taiwanese
@@interbeamproductions yeah 捲心菜 jǔan xīn cài is Mandarin Edit: if you’re referring to 野菜 yě cài would be the proper pinyin, but yeah I understood they were referring to Mandarin Chinese lol, man I forgot I made this comment
The clearly intentional trolling by these tattoo shops is next level
a little trolling, and they *know* which makes it all the better
The college/courage one was probably an honest mistake by a Japanese tattoo artist. Those words in an American accent sound very similar to a Japanese speaker with limited English knowledge.
badass isn't, because ass and butt are the same in Japanese, maybe the bad part was, or it was a dumb mistake.
@@Candlemancer that’s probably true, it happens. Can’t say the same for “illiterate foreigner” though hahahaha
@@nonamelegend_vapor That was just the artist telling the truth.
3:00 this one actually makes sense, there are actually no L sounds in Japanese, they just get substituted by R sounds. Because of this, it's very possible to wonder if the sound made was supposed to be an L or an R
I suppose some East Asian Tattoo artists would rather ink something completely wrong and sometimes offensice into a person's flesh than to go through the trouble of explaining that you _CAN'T DO_ 'initials' in a logographic writing system...
In Japanese you can, and in Korean you sorta can( it wouldn't be the natural spelling). They aren't pure logograms.
@@joaopedrocruz6432 In Japanese wouldn't you only be able to do initials if they're vowels or the letter n? I'll admit I'm not super familiar with Kanji, so I was basing my assumption on Hiragana and Katakana syllables. I was under the impression Kanji were all logographic.
@@lanturn3239 you can sort with katakana or hiragana for example using katakana ABC becomes エービーシー pronounced "Ēbīshī" it's the sound of English letters spelled out using Japanese pronunciation rules and katakana which is how they would usually tackle English acronyms anyways .
anybody who's worked customer service (especially if alcohol is involved) knows why...
@@shadowxxe I feel like that would look totally dumb though, not to mention that it would be incomprehensible until they explained it. You're right though, that would probably be the best way to do it.
I now aspire to get both "Beep Beep Lettuce" and "Live, Laugh, Carp" tattooed on myself. A stunning masterpiece of mistranslation
I'm Irish and I remember seeing a dude who got a tattoo in our language. he thought it said "there is only the night", in reality it said "there is only a naked man"
LMAO
That’s still fairly ominous to be honest
@boppi_cat damn guess I'm vanishing
I ran out of oxygen becuse hysterical laugh. Thank you for brightening my day!
4:52 I love the tone he took while reading this one, as if "xiao ji ji" was some kind of terminal disease and he got traumatized by its effect on someone he really liked.
oh no, *OH NO.*
It means, *SMALL PEANUS*
hey, for the guy who wanted weed and got vegetables on his back, the character for vegetables is actually slang online to sell marijuana illegally in Japan so it’s not completely wrong in a way.
So just like the word "weed"