Lost in Translation, Enoshima, Japan

Lost in Translation, Enoshima, Japan, July 2009

I love t-shirts with English phrases worn by foreigners, walking reminders of the ineffectiveness of translations, how culture is lost in translation, and how remixing words, phrases and culture creates new touchpoints and reference points; for example, the phrase from the t-shirt above:

West Virginia 1969 Reductions
Though it is difficult work there is joy in making things for that

Eh?

I’m lost: how would you make sense of this t-shirt?

Related
Text on Shirts Worn by People waiting in the Customs Lines At JFK from Raul Gutierrez

Posted July 14th, 2009 in Photography. Tags: japan, photo, t-shirt, translation.

Hello, I'm Taylor Davidson.

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piyuri

This is a hot topic with it's own amusing website:
http://engrish.com/
http://www.yuricek.com Jeremy Yuricek

This is a hot topic with it’s own amusing website:rnhttp://engrish.com/rnrn
http://www.taylordavidson.com/writing/ Taylor Davidson

there was a comment noting that on facebook, the replicated post and
conversation behind the walled garden…
http://www.taylordavidson.com/writing/ Taylor Davidson

there was a comment noting that on facebook, the replicated post andrnconversation behind the walled garden…
http://www.ethelthefrog.com/?p=1497 Please Don’t Touch Yourself! | Ethel The Frog

[...] Lost in Translation, Enoshima, Japan (taylordavidson.com) convey_source = "English";convey_user = "wordpress"; SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Please Don’t Touch Yourself!", url: "http://www.ethelthefrog.com/?p=1497" }); Tags: Chinglish, Engrish [...]
http://www.taylordavidson.com/writing/2009/09/06/translate-culture-budapest-hungary/ Traveling Obscured, Budapest, Hungary | Taylor Davidson

[...] while our tools for translating language are getting better, our tools for translating culture are still quite [...]

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