Tattoos Lost In Translation

[@beek.4860]

Toilet Goblin made me make the most horrific cackling seagull noise I've ever heard. I would genuinely get that tattoo on purpose.

[@Oli_the_Alien]

Same! Fucking hilarious

[@okayimdone8290]

I would wear that tattoo with pride 😌

[@Matt_Rose]

If anyone gets that tattoo solely because of this video I will be equal parts impressed and horrified

[@beek.4860]

@@Matt_Rose You shouldn't have said that. I have never been more tempted to make a worse decision.

[@princessravendiamond4288]

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

[@edeasley144]

Got to be honest, the guy with the economic recession tattoo for sure got what he asked for.

[@beek.4860]

That tattoo artist knew what he was about. Probably still laughs about it

[@somebody8610]

He wanted his money 😈😈

[@AScoopOfNeo]

I mean I wouldn’t be mad. The guy did ask for bad words.

[@icey2417]

true

[@death_by_ranch1254]

Oh I'm the thousandth like💀

[@linklink3069]

Tattooing "foot" on your head is the highest form of comedy and that person should be rewarded.

[@埊]

yes, he should also get 2 tattos for foot saying 'head'

[@ChaosEnthusiast]

@@埊 "head 1" and "head 2"

[@linklink3069]

@@ChaosEnthusiast And just FALSE on the one arm and nothing on the other one.

[@ChaosEnthusiast]

@@linklink3069 yes lmao

[@Mi_Fa_Volare]

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?

[@ERROR_V1X-N]

“Illiterate Foreigner” is probably the most brutally honest and relevant tattoo I’ve ever seen.

[@serijas737]

Exactly my thoughts. It summarizes the whole "I want a chinese/japanese/korean etc. tattoo" and getting something they didn't want at all.

[@coffee-ouji]

it's so people can recognize them when they're on a trip

[@coffee-ouji]

like the signs they mark on cows

[@yojishinkawa378]

You heard him say "fish," right? 😂

[@incognitoman3656]

I think that had to be intentional

[@feduckil9238]

“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.

[@Calc_Ulator]

I could dig it

[@hazukichanx408]

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. =)

[@АмериканецвРоссии-и4б]

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 😀

[@АмериканецвРоссии-и4б]

@@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 😀

[@Disgruntled_Grunt]

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

[@--l-7660]

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'

[@johannsanchocuevas7854]

Well, they didn't lie

[@lovejj420]

They're not wrong

[@gremlin8635]

And that's why my client is an innocent man, your honour

[@theshadeow5103]

@@gremlin8635 better call Saul

[@sblumenstein6688]

Perfect.

[@nathangamble125]

I mean... "economic recession" is legitimately *really bad* so I think the tattoo artist did exactly what was asked of them.

[@Soken50]

This one is pure malicious compliance, I love it

[@rebeccahherdener2068]

I agree.🤣👏

[@FadkinsDiet]

"You come at me, you'll never financially recover from it!"

[@Boxfan-wf4hz]

Especially in China

[@ballsxan]

If people travelling to those countries wouldn't be dumb as heck, those artistis would be now like killing the hen that laided golden eggs.

[@jackeroni216]

You should do this again but for English tattoos in foreign countries. I heard about one that said "no pan, no gain"

[@belladonnaplumb9376]

As a pansexual I agree with that statement

[@b.g.4918]

@@belladonnaplumb9376 🤣

[@WatermelonEnthusiast9]

Sometimes your making food to gain nutrition, and you realize you dont have a pan Clearly in that situation, you have no pan, and so no gain

[@samuelamejia5007]

@@belladonnaplumb9376 Stop fucking my Pan

[@snowikitt1558]

I think I remember seeing one like that it instead it said “no pen no gain”

[@LoganProbablynot-ef1tw]

“Free Spirit” and “Dead Person with No Charge” reminds me of “Dirty Deeds Done Dirto Cheap” and “Filthy Acts at a Reasonable Price”

[@mariokarter13]

"She wanted 'Bad Ass' but she got 'Evil Butt'" That's literally what she asked for.

[@deoxribonucleicacid8746]

I mean yeah in looser translation it literally means the same thing.

[@greenpiersystem]

A few of these literally belong in r/TechnicallyCorrect.

[@rauntche]

魔尻

[@________________5392]

@@rauntche cool i totaly understand the symbols you just... said? Wait can you say symbols or do you... i don't even know anymore

[@SwampVVitch]

Actually kind of an upgrade? Bad is like kicking down a row of motorcycles, evil is... idk, kicking down a row of nun's motorcycles.

[@PaintingWinterMusic]

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".

[@PaintingWinterMusic]

Or "16" and "pomegranate". And shameless plug... I'm also hoping some of you might like the music that I make :)

[@teegan-rose]

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?

[@IamaPERSON]

@@PaintingWinterMusic I’d probably like it if you didn’t self promote

[@PaintingWinterMusic]

@@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?

[@teegan-rose]

@@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!

[@deadturret4049]

I mean, "dead person at no charge" is technically correct depending on you interpret "free spirit"

[@ballsxan]

Bet that freeing your spirit is like dying in China. This is the example where people from Occident makes assumptions about a remote culture.

[@ShineOnBenevolentSun]

🤣

[@nicholasvinen]

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"!

[@Karo-AUTTP-UTTD]

​@@nicholasvinen as a russian, I need this shit tatooed on me *right now*

[@haandotexe]

ok but getting "translator server error" tattooed on you is actually fucking hilarious

[@Mnnvint]

Like that sign that said "Nid wyf yn y swyddfa ar hyn o bryd. Anfonwch unrhyw waith i'w gyfieithu"

[@jacobthesomething]

"Estás usando este software de traducción de forma incorrecta. Por favor, consulta el manual."

[@dontbefatuousjeffrey2494]

@@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!

[@himssendol6512]

As a translator/ interpreter i often do get mental/brain “translator server error” moments, especially near the end of the day. 😁🤯

[@tidalwav3438]

@@jacobthesomething portal reference

[@R0m4nc3is4Pl4ce]

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)

[@danieloutzen9802]

@@dianaayt he said that it was most commonly Chinese AND Japanese AND Korean, not just Korean

[@rAwr_i_am_a_rat]

@@dianaayt I’m not sure, but I think they meant that Japanese, Chinese, and Korean are the most common languages, not just Korean.

[@exec_rigveda8299]

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.

[@somebody8610]

honestly though

[@icey2417]

yep

[@bwaindead5539]

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.

[@pengil3]

Translator server error

[@haniashah1311]

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.

[@desertdarlene]

That's my favorite because it's true!

[@e.l.studios455]

the outlaw becoming snitch after translation cant be a coincidence can it?

[@musicexams5258]

there was a guy who said he got "God-Almighty" tattooed on him, and it really said "stupid foreigner"

[@childofcascadia]

I worked with this white guy with a chinese tattoo. I asked him why he had that tattooed on him. He said it means "wise man". A Chinese coworker goes by while we were looking at his tattoo and I asked her to look at it. She goes whyd you tattoo that? He said it means wise man. Shes like no, its an herb. He got the word "sage" tattooed thinking it meant wise man, but the character was for the plant

[@chimpanzinc1790]

sage is sometimes used to refer to wise people

[@chrispek3912]

@@chimpanzinc1790 Yea the word sage in English refers to either the plant or wise people, however its different characters/words for sage plant and wise people in Chinese. Sage plant (鼠尾草). Wise people (圣人 / 聪明人 / 圣贤）

[@Cassxowary]

so it’s also ironic in this case hah

[@SarafinaSummers]

That's a very clever play on words, as sage means wise.

[@calvin7330]

@@SarafinaSummers Except in Chinese sage is called "mouse-tail grass"

[@Orukamachi]

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.

[@LavaSaver]

Actually genius move on that guy's part.

[@rivy-lurk-869]

Yeah, no kidding, Storm is way damn cooler ngl

[@---iv5gj]

嵐 means mountain mist in chinese, I struggle to comprehend how it became "storm" in japanese

[@LavaSaver]

@@---iv5gj That meaning makes an awful lot more sense, but I feel like this could be said of half of the characters in existence.

[@---iv5gj]

@@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.

[@oburci9596]

"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"

[@mr.x2567]

Translating that would probably make that guy look like a chubby chaser out of context lol

[@NiennaFan1]

Probably Google translate

[@TumblinWeeds]

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.

[@chesspiece4257]

@@TumblinWeedsyeah some of these stories seem to be intentionally making the translations worse than they are

[@oh_jjo]

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-)

[@cloverlovania]

that sounds great LMAO. imagine having to ask a tattooist to put "dumb whore" on your back

[@gravityshark991]

YOUR SISTER IS AN ICON

[@incognitoman3656]

What a legend

[@unslaadkrosis9435]

Your sister died for our sins

[@unsophisticatedclockwise1474]

ur sis is legendary

[@red8039]

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

[@FacebankMan]

I though it said live laugh crap

[@markomega8719]

So the tattoo means Live Laugh *AKIRA NISHIKIYAMA, TOJO CLAN NISHIKIYAMA FAMILY PATRIARCH*

[@yapflipthegrunt4687]

@@markomega8719 TEN YEARS

[@markomega8719]

@@yapflipthegrunt4687 Didn't expect someone to actually get the reference. I feel like Yakuza is slowly becoming the new JJBA.

[@roqui_]

​@@yapflipthegrunt4687 IN THE JOINT

[@ZenoDovahkiin]

Imagine you're trying to get a funny tatoo but the Chinese artist thinks you've made a mistake and wants to be nice to you so you think for years you're the funny man with your tatoo but it really means "patience and determination."

[@giftofthewild6665]

That's great 😂

[@aikotitilai3820]

That's actually wholesome

[@GippyHappy]

“I came in asking for Toilet Goblin and I got Strong Warrior instead 😢”

[@Liggliluff]

That's why you ensure you have the exact text in Chinese written down. Don't rely on the tattoo artist to do any translation.

[@JackofWhitechapel]

This kind of logic stops me from getting a lot of stupid comedic tattoos

[@captainpalegg2860]

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.”

[@ChaosEnthusiast]

the ultimate troll

[@catrinacoons390]

I'm just imagining a picture of Ursula from the Little Mermaid as a fairy and thank for that

[@ijustdocomments6777]

@@catrinacoons390 Her wingspan would have to be enormous.

[@catrinacoons390]

@@ijustdocomments6777 I mean, you have a point, but she could just be tiny like most fairies

[@aliceh5289]

@@catrinacoons390 no, make her into a giant cthulu monster

[@noelles.6834]

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.

[@six-winged-juni]

id do the same if i wasnt a wimp

[@beachvibez4214]

Omg sameeee

[@Serg_El_EspantaViejas]

Same, I want to get "知らない" sorrounded by something aesthetic someday, think it'd be funny.

[@supersmilyface1]

"Tomato criminal" would make for an amazing tattoo.

[@hammerheadsock641]

トマト犯罪者 ー tomato criminal

[@cathycat4989]

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.

[@reharm_reality]

I love that so much. It's rare that I feel a genuine flare of pride for a stranger.

[@dangitdoodles]

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

[@BlackBloodCombatClub]

Ladies and gentlemen, this is Combo Number 5

[@djmensil7303]

@@BlackBloodCombatClub Happy to know I’m not the only one who misread that the first time…

[@dianathomas2674]

@@BlackBloodCombatClub 😄

[@h24manu]

The absolute dad joke

[@mfaizsyahmi]

Should have had "2 #9s, a #9 large, a #6 w/extra dip, a #7, 2 #45s, one with cheese, and a large soda"

[@SymonSighs]

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".

[@yagomizuma2275]

what is that? Is that a matrix character?

[@HumanityAsCode]

Yago, you sweet summer child 😂

[@TheTrueBrawler]

$20 says the woman's husband secretly wants her to be a dominatrix for him.

[@gjkdshgkjshjkgdfg]

someone explain what a dominatrix is

[@awkwardpotato9839]

@@gjkdshgkjshjkgdfg A woman dominating their partner

[@A_Dog_Named_Vox]

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.

[@punchkitten874]

公 is also loosely used as the adjective "work", so 公牛 could be thought of "work cow", the cow used to do work

[@mechel10tredexLP]

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

[@beebis8775]

🤓

[@squineod710]

Same with “evil butt”

[@3u-n3ma_r1-c0]

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.

[@solereflection9284]

“Use other entrance” was actually pretty clever and probably intentional.

[@Vhargon]

😏

[@jonathangwilliams8405]

Yeah I’ve seen people with similar things in English. Once met a woman with a ‘no entry’ sign as a tramp stamp too.

[@MrBloodSacrifice]

@@Vhargondid you really have to?

[@thatoneyoutuberofohio]

put it under your mouth

[@elli_senfsaat]

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.

[@Pandie2828]

@Polar Barracuda if you do you should include Magikarp the Pokemon

[@coffee-ouji]

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

[@Josnaci0]

It's carpin time.

[@SariaSchala]

I love actual koi fish so...double koi!

[@applechoco483]

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...

[@aidenbagshaw5573]

“Illiterate foreigner” is absolutely perfect. If I’d just asked for random characters, and got that, I wouldn’t even be mad.

[@mikialovic5304]

I mean, he wouldn't be wrong though.

[@waldoman7]

@@mikialovic5304 yeah but he would be human trash

[@thechaoticthing4414]

lol

[@emptyset1312]

What baffles me is people who asked for their initials. Like, the ENTIRE CONCEPT here is that they have symbols that stand for words or ideas, not letters that correspond to phonetic sounds. Your initials are, like, the ONE thing that it makes ZERO sense to ask for! How can you fail to understand something on such a basic level?

[@fluffystuff500]

THAT'S WHAT I'M SAYING! It makes no sense! But I guess when you have no consideration for the mechanics of a language and just think it looks neat, that thought wouldn't really cross your mind...

[@shroomyk]

It's seems pretty consistent that the kind of person who would get a tattoo that isn't properly translated would be likely to get a tattoo that *cannot* be translated. Either way, they don't have to learn anything about the language and that's just fine for them.

[@awfuldynne]

@LastName Almaember I don't think Chinese has a syllabary. Bopomofo lets you construct syllables from parts like Korean, but I get the impression it's used for typing and as a pronunciation aid in books for semiliterate children, and not much else.

[@lanturn3239]

and like, in Japanese you could get Hiragana or Katakana for specific sounds but those still usually translate to more than one letter in English. there's no "T" there's "ta, te, to" etc. The only standalone consonant in Hiragana is "N," and Katakana is just different symbols for the same set of sounds as Hiragana. Initials are possibly the worst thing you could ask for because unless your initials are all the letter "N" or all vowels there is 100% chance it is not getting translated correctly.

[@dichu1826]

@@lanturn3239 That "N" is exclusively used for the end of a syllable, no it would still look weird to someone that knew the language.

[@joewalker643]

when i was about 10 my parents let me decorate my room however i wanted. i decided on wallpaper painted a sky blue. the wallpaper in question was textured and had two repeating Chinese characters because i though it would demonstrate how deep and spiritual i was (as a 10 year old white boy). we later had some Chinese foreign exchange students stay with us. one of them came into my room and was so confused. I asked him what was wrong without realizing and his response was "why do you have East City all over the walls"

[@novaseer]

at least it was something more explicable than, idk, "fish paste" or something

[@conlon4332]

At least it wasn't something rude.

[@CainXVII]

Tbf people do that with English too, just writing something stupid to make a pattern

[@mizhasthebiz]

Tokyo means "east capital" in Japanese if translated literally, the manufacturer might have meant that.

[@japanpanda2179]

@@mizhasthebiz That's possible, but the Chinese name for Tokyo uses the same characters as the Japanese name, so I'd be surprised if any Chinese kid didn't immediately recognize the name of Tokyo.

[@tsulait]

I'm pretty sure there was a story where someone had 変態外人 (read as hentai gaijin in Japanese) tattooed on them and they think it means lover of Asian beauty. It means foreign pervert. As someone who can speak Japanese fluently, that made me absolutely lose it from laughing so much.

[@DianaWanMa]

Well "lover of Asian beauty" sounds creepy as fuck too

[@tsulait]

@@DianaWanMa yea it sure is

[@Xnoob545]

If I was a Japanese tattoo artist id do that too

[@lilacmoon6]

Oh, so he got exactly what he asked for?

[@yukisoba8888]

the tattoo artist is based

[@imjohnstone3707]

"live, laugh, carp" actually sounds like a good alternative to "live, laugh, love" for country boys

[@carlosdasilva2409]

At least the "r" was after "a" and not before it

[@rachaelh8026]

!!!

[@jamesohlman7700]

The mistranslation also kind of makes sense, koi is both the Japanese carp and a Japanese word for love.

[@rachele3334]

Since I despise the “live, laugh, live” craze, I would probably do something like this on purpose.

[@Swagpion]

@@carlosdasilva2409 I read it as live life crap.

[@zhumin3557]

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.

[@runeanonymous9760]

scat man

[@yuki97kira]

...kinky..i guess?

[@samiraperi467]

@@runeanonymous9760 Skibidibi

[@angsern8455]

妖 can also just mean monster, so toilet monster

[@nicholaslienandjaja1815]

@@angsern8455 Ghoulies?

[@aimeekatz]

"Wanted: loyalty. Got: noodles." Tale as old as time

[@lukef3284]

I see this as an absolute win.

[@LucreciaCrescentIsBestGirl]

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.’

[@KasumiRINA]

Artist was Lisbeth Salander.

[@mothballcharles]

Based

[@jumpvelocity3953]

deserved

[@Xnoob545]

hentai gaijin

[@kamiyama-chairdesklamp]

Artist took their civic duty to protect their neighbour seriously ❤❤❤

[@1-7-1lh8]

Imagine being some Chinese guy who travels to America for once and the first thing that you experience is people showing you their tattoo and tell you their meaning. They be like: ,,it means good vibes only,, But in reality it means ,,Crazhy Hamburgre,,

[@Spongyboi897]

Or "CLOTHES! One"

[@1-7-1lh8]

@@Spongyboi897 or: HEAD for cheese

[@埊]

@@1-7-1lh8 or: Shower head with slippers only

[@rbxless]

@@埊 or toilet goblin

[@1-7-1lh8]

@@埊 or towel in son butt

[@charissabihl1731]

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 😂😂😂

[@octosquid48]

I feel like it's mostly the third one with the second one closely following

[@thecrepeofdeath]

​@@octosquid48I have a feeling I know which one "cheap shit" was...

[@yurenchu]

There is also a fourth category: the (Japanese or Chinese) tattoo artist misheard the client's request (such as "College" instead of "Courage").

[@ksquid1457]

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 😂

[@minecraftcommandnerd1280]

​@@yurenchu Especially when there is no differenciation between r and l in japanese

[@hogmandracula1211]

Circa 1945 in Australia my grandmother was on a train with her friend (both in their early 20s) who had embroidered Chinese characters on her blouse, a Chinese bloke across from her couldn't stop laughing and informed her it meant "mother of nine"

[@XxXsoapXxX]

I feel like people don't realize there's words that don't have exact translations from one language to the other. Also the fact that some languages straight up don't have that word.

[@viljamtheninja]

This is what happens when you can only speak one language and for some reason decide to get a tattoo in a different language.

[@echothefreak9396]

True, like did that one person really think “badass” was a word that everyone had in their language?

[@maow-tty-archive]

It's pretty typical for English to just borrow words from other languages. "delicatessen" (shortened to "deli") is German's "Delikatessen" English also uses a lot of Latin phrases, i.e. i.e. ;)

[@LilyWong64]

Yeah like pro tip, Chinese doesn't have "letters", you can't get your name spelled out letter by letter in Chinese. Although you can get the typical characters used to make the sounds of foreign names, but I have no idea why you'd want that tattooed on you since it has no deep meaning whatsoever and is just like writing JOHN on your chest

[@Mr-Bean.]

@@LilyWong64 I am now getting John tattooed across my chest

[@bonkeroooo]

As a Chinese person myself, I would personally love to get a tattoo and tell everybody like "oh this means peace" but in reality it's just the character for cheese

[@Liggliluff]

酪 means curdled milk, creme, cheese, fruit juice, koumiss (fermented milk recipe) Pronounced /lɑʊ̯/ and is a combination of 酉 and 各 (just visually, it isn't a compound of those meanings) 乾酪 is specifically cheese, pronounced /kän.lɑʊ̯/, first character here is a combination of 倝 and 乙 (again visually, not by meaning)

[@KasumiRINA]

@@Liggliluff does cottage cheese belong to first or second category? Because in russian they have separate word for it, "tvorog" but in Ukrainian we call it "syr", which is a word for cheese in both languages, and it is interesting for me if other languages have a special word reserved for cottage cheese. Oh, we call koumiss just kumys. It doesn't get translated, people know what it is because of Central Asian disapora (people from -stans moved all over USSR as your ancestors got sent to the middle of nowhere away from their birth place). It's also funny how oil, butter and grease are all "maslo" in russian but have unique words in human languages.

[@insomniac_at5461]

Cheese is peace, because cheese is amazing

[@Syuvinya]

@@KasumiRINA It's literally just called 茅屋奶酪, cottage cheese

[@llamasugar5478]

@@KasumiRINA 🔥

[@violainetuuu5984]

The character 菜( vegetables) also means "suck at something" in oral chinese, like when we say "你好菜啊( literally you are so vegetables)", we mean to say " you’re so weak". And combined with those fierce looking eyes in the tattoo, it’s even funnier lol

[@jort93z]

in English sometimes severely disabled people are called vegetables(derogatory).

[@pixxL_]

@@jort93z wait fr??

[@catrinacoons390]

@@pixxL_ Yep, it's like saying retard, super derogatory, often referred to people who don't have full mental and movement use.

[@khunt5336]

@@pixxL_ yes. Not to be confused with the phrase "couch potato," which means someone who sits around all day like a sack of potatoes. My mother regularly confuses these phrases and says that a family member was a "couch potato" after he had a stroke...

[@theunderstatement6842]

@@pixxL_ yeah, being alive but unconscious of your surrounding is called being in a "vegetative state" and people who are in this state are called vegetables

[@allfunandgames1976]

"what you got there mate, is chronic hepatitis" had me rolling

[@japanpanda2179]

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.

[@MysteriumArcanum]

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.

[@ninjabluefyre3815]

For steamed hams.

[@Liamguy999]

That sounds like the story from @dangitdoodles in this comment section

[@stirpiano]

Legend

[@Charles-sg9zu]

豬肉餃😂

[@cursedstarflight]

I was just eating one and im dead

[@Pikestnt]

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

[@mikamifan62]

Underrated comment funny

[@outeast999]

Now that's a tattoo I'd want

[@marga8732]

They just described me

[@annominous826]

"ELECTRIC BRAIN (FRAGILE)." (Yes, computer in Chinese is electric brain.)

[@Pikestnt]

If memory serves, it was something like “Bingung Kacau” in anglicised Indonesian

[@TheInfiniteSheldon]

"I once believed there was only one way to write 'Gullible White Boy', but then I met a tattoo artist who had written it a thousand different ways." My Chinese friend's mom, when she saw me admiring some tattoos on a Google image search.

[@3rdalbum]

And did you believe her?

[@Candlemancer]

​@@3rdalbum did you understand the joke?

[@The-S-H3lf-Eater]

Moral of the story: learn Japanese or Chinese before getting something that will be permanently stuck to you. Also favorite jam? I mean the consumable.

[@Plethorality]

Obviously they did. ​@@Candlemancer

[@regularly_priced]

@@3rdalbum it’s a joke

[@needsmoreboosters4264]

If anyone's wondering about the "Live, Laugh, Carp" one, both 恋 and 鯉 are pronounced "koi" (こい).

[@GhostyGhost001]

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. 😂

[@echo_is_probably_sleeping]

Lol that's hilarious!

[@angelbiscuits]

I’ve definitely heard this exact story on the internet but ok 😳

[@Jesty.r]

@@angelbiscuits yeah this is the internet and you heard it here

[@WxIxLxLxIxAxMxS]

But have y'all *tried* the special fried rice number seven? Best dish ever! 10/10. Would totally tattoo that order on my arm.

[@ItzzOffical]

@@angelbiscuits or maybe; same story, same person, different user

[@teragram38crows49]

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.

[@Kalani_Saiko]

🤭

[@aliciam6145]

I am going to call penguins business geese from now on thank you

[@OneDotLeader]

(this is in traditional chinese) 企 = corporate/enterprise 鵝 = goose 企鵝 = penguin

[@1224chrisng]

@@OneDotLeader doesn't that mean Standing Goose?

[@lycorines]

@@1224chrisng It means penguin, the 企 means business and 起 means up? (I don’t know much) Both are pronounced qǐ

[@niranwashere1087]

My uncle is Japanese and a tattooist, a lot of his clients are none Japanese people who don’t know Japanese. When he asks what they want they’ll usually just say “ just write something that looks cool” So he always writes the weirdest funniest most immature shit🤣 I remember seeing him tattoo “I like tiny bananas” across this cheerfully looking, yet Completely oblivious Korean boy💀😂 But in my uncles defence, he basically gave him permission to write anything that looked cool

[@RazorBlade651]

小さいバナナが大好き It does kinda look cool, the 小 part looks like a banana mid-peel

[@ravioliburritochampion1610]

Chad uncle

[@TheAmbush101]

@@RazorBlade651 not even like; that poor Korean boy loves his tiny bananas. Had to a dick joke, honestly, but I love it.

[@YeetusTheFetus]

This Korean boy should meet the guy who had “tiny chicken” (ahem) tattooed on him

[@unwantedenterprise5467]

@@YeetusTheFetus Nah man I think you should get that tattooed on ya, would make ya look cool

[@Baku_bro]

I now unironically want a tattoo saying “Beep beep lettuce” In English.

[@zoid_on_youtube]

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

[@jocelynecupcake]

At least your dad loves you to think it's your name translated, even if it isn't. It's the thought that counts

[@achoo3001]

at least it was your name and not some bullshit like "warrior"

[@drizeanbustee]

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.

[@sbp4215]

aww that's really sweet.

[@b3nt079]

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.

[@fibsh546]

Having the word 'madman' tattooed on you in Japanese would've been legitimately badass if he had done it on purpose

[@bonnie6153]

Agreed

[@cmyk8964]

What, 狂人?

[@LavaSaver]

@@cmyk8964 Yes, seeing it typed out makes it that much funnier though considering it more means 'mentally deranged person'.

[@bonnie6153]

@@cmyk8964 yes

[@obiwanchernobyl658]

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”.

[@purplecircle1614]

That's a win in my book

[@jocelynecupcake]

LOL More of a win than a fail tho

[@frogfish1567]

Did it say 成龍？

[@justarandomuser5793]

Honestly that's more of a win than a loss

[@WxIxLxLxIxAxMxS]

Did you tell everyone that Jackie Chan was your grandma? 😆

[@BenSwaf]

0:59 Yes, very straightforward.

[@14ryman]

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"...

[@ronelel2109]

屁股湯 😂😂😂

[@deoxribonucleicacid8746]

LMAO

[@HairyJuan]

狗暨煎蛋卷🥺

[@staringgasmask]

@@HairyJuan 腹瀉餛飩 😁

[@-alovelygaycat-]

These are beautiful 🤣

[@Cherryxarts]

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

[@theKobus]

At this point, more people probably get baka-gaijin on purpose as a meme. Still obnoxious.

[@viljamtheninja]

Bakagaijin as a meme is A LOT older than 2018.

[@hughmortyproductions8562]

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.

[@leek.3671]

@@hughmortyproductions8562 true 😂

[@WxIxLxLxIxAxMxS]

@@hughmortyproductions8562 I'd go with "self-aware foreigner".

[@razi_man]

"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.

[@IAmTheSkinThief]

That was the point of the "other entrance" tattoo.

[@SelectKiko]

You could have a tramp stamp of a tellytubby and people would still think naughty things

[@ЗвезделинаБожилова]

She def meant that

[@Blueturtle1]

Yeah “use other entrance” has to be what was intended. That’s funny af.

[@byattwurns1553]

I think she should've done her research... Or just tattoo a language she *does* understand.

[@Zakkleberg]

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

[@seawarshark6674]

"Love and Strawberries" sounds like a generic British love novel from the 60s Also: "Fast and foolish" sounds like a Chinese comedy action movie

[@KasumiRINA]

Fast and foolish should have been a spoof of Fast & Furious starring Sammo Hung.

[@nicholaslienandjaja1815]

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?)

[@dovesoap2076]

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

[@Feimicha]

Yo, I go to a Chinese Language help school on Sundays (During the typical school year) and we did that too, it was hilarious🤣

[@vsgfilmgroup]

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.

[@Jokoko2828]

I hope that one image with a chick wearing a hoodie that just has a bunch of F-bombs printed on it is real.

[@kaedotmoe]

Hello mayonaise is a perfectly reasonable sentence if its meant to be read by English speaking foreigners in the streets of japan

[@nicholaslienandjaja1815]

@@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.

[@insomniac_at5461]

I would unironically wear those

[@someaccount5200]

I've seen ones that said "shop lifting" on the shirt.

[@iputthebiinbipolar]

As a person who speaks Japanese, I saw a tattoo on a woman’s shoulder that said “I’m a potato” and NOT “I’m passionate”.

[@calcutt4]

Oh hi, how are you holding up? BECAUSE I'M A POTATO!

[@Unisyyn]

​@@calcutt4 2nd Portal reference I've seen in this comments section LOL (other was Wheatley's Spanish speech)

[@calcutt4]

@@Unisyyn lmao

[@stargazer31]

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

[@six-winged-juni]

ive heard of that too

[@mr.x2567]

XD

[@埊]

it was written 'gaijin biantai'?

[@okayimdone8290]

Oh my god that is so funny lmaoo 😂 good on that tattoo artist I hope they're doing well XD.

[@towelclipz]

Amazing

[@spirit5923]

I'd genuinely find "economic recession" and "beep beep lettuce" to be amazing tattoos.

[@michaelalex7782]

I have asian parents so they naturally made learn mandarin and it's HILARIOUS to see some of these tatoos in person

[@PouLS]

I thought Mandarin was not widely spoken in Asia outside of China, I never met an Indian or a Russian speaking Mandarin

[@smarf93]

@@PouLS Maybe this person is from China. China is in Asia

[@suneater_zeef050]

@@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

[@jamaluddinkhalifa8371]

@@smarf93 then why not just say he has Chinese parents?

[@LilyWong64]

@@PouLS I get your point about being specific about which part of Asia you're referring to (since Asia isn't a monolith). I'd cut this person some slack though - as East Asian people living outside Asia, we tend to refer to ourselves offhand as just "Asian" because (1) non-East-Asian people group us together as just the race "Asian" (2) we share _some_ cultural experiences (e.g., being made to learn our family's language) and bond over those things.

[@skentt]

0:18 these Chinese characters do not say small bbq. The one on the right is (qi), and means seven. The character for small is (xiao).

[@Apollo_Justice-is_fine]

At the timestamp you put it says 七 (7) 輪 (rings), just they didn’t use measure words so it’s grammatically incorrect

[@Theblindingofissac]

🤓

[@skentt]

@@Theblindingofissac very funny.

[@eleanorkeith2235]

@@Apollo_Justice-is_finebut it’s still not small bbq grill, it looks good to me tho, cause it was two words in English and its now two characters in Chinese

[@Apollo_Justice-is_fine]

@@eleanorkeith2235 it’s not good though it’s wrong. Also I was saying japanese not chinese ;-;

[@YasugoLiehu]

0:21 In fairness, 七輪 can mean both "seven rings" _and_ "earthen charcoal brazier" simultaneously (yes, seriously, though the latter interpretation would be strictly Japanese). Remember that when people "translate" these tattoos, sometimes they're telling the truth, other times they're bullshitting for a laugh, and sometimes differences between Japanese and Chinese lead to different meanings with the same character combinations.

[@1224chrisng]

closer to Seven Wheels, idk abt Japanese but that's what it means in Cantonese

[@Giraffinator]

From what I can tell, the kanji can mean ring (as in 指輪 a ring that goes on your finger) but as a counter word, it applies to wheels (and flowers)

[@rasberrymilk4753]

Well she intended for it to be japanese im pretty sure, and those kanji just happen to be read shirichirin instead of nana wa right? Idk lol

[@YasugoLiehu]

@@Giraffinator Right, but keep in mind that a "ring" is loosely defined as a circular band (specifically one that's mostly hollow in the middle), not strictly a finger ring. You are correct though; another word for bicycle in Japanese (aside from 自転車／Ji・Ten・Sha) would be 二輪車 (Ni・Rin・Sha＆| lit.; two wheel cart/car)

[@YasugoLiehu]

@@rasberrymilk4753 Shichi・Rin, yes. Qī・Lún in Mandarin.

[@achewy7700]

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

[@Matt_Rose]

Ahhhh good to know, thanks!

[@spencersonnefeld]

I'd have gone for 愛 anyway since 恋 is more specifically romantic.

[@sekai123]

love your profile picture

[@incognitoman3656]

It *is* easier to do that just because of how much English is just a mash of languages But, I mean CARP

[@LavaSaver]

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.

[@MizManFryingP]

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

[@waterunderthebridge7950]

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

[@RAJF24]

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”

[@wufongtanwufong5579]

Standing outside a tattoo shop in Australia looking at the pictures/examples of his work. And in the middle was a sign written in what i assumed was Chinese. After a few minutes i worked out that if you tilt your head to the side the sign was actually in English that said something along the lines of. "No i don't do Chinese characters as you just end up looking like a fucing dickhead" it was very cleverly done.

[@schoo9256]

Bloody brilliant

[@Brikiboi69]

Brilliant as hell.

[@SarafinaSummers]

My kinfolk have the best idgaf sense of humor.

[@insomniac_at5461]

Love that

[@moonhunter9993]

awesome

[@cinfdef]

1:05 Economic Recession is a pretty bad set of words you don't wanna hear that often

[@neuzie]

True

[@Larsen_illustrations]

Honestly that's on him for not specifying, or maybe he wanted something like that

[@xeveemon]

@@Larsen_illustrationsHe did say he wanted some bad words that were really bad and he got exactly what he asked for. It’s almost more of a case of Be Amazed than Matt Rose 🤣

[@PhoenixRedtail]

There’s an age old image of a tattoo in the Irish language. Surprisingly, a lot of foreigners seem to think “An bhfuil cead agam dul go dtí an leithreas” means “you will forever be in my heart”. It means “can I go to the toilet” That’s kind of on the Irish for making a meme of it and trolling the yanks, but dear god search up “an bhfuil cead agam tattoo” and you’ll see more than one person fell for this.

[@emmamccarthy5014]

my god im irish myself and thats so funny to me cause its the first irish phrase the teacher will nail into your skull. we werent a gaeltacht school by any standards but our teachers wouldn't let us use the restrooms, answer our questions, let us leave class(whether its break,lunch or end of school) ect. unless we used irish

[@PhoenixRedtail]

@@pomelo9518 lmao yeah i don’t know, we have 4 words for “thank you” (go raibh maith agat), 3 for “please” (le do thoil), and the for word “no” depends on context (like we have to say “there isn’t”, or “I wasn’t”, there’s no universal way to say “no” lol)

[@abba9265]

Some of these, while not what the person wanted, could very much still be cool tattoos

[@derrickcrowe3888]

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.

[@fictthecreator7083]

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"

[@hugohuang1518]

公 has multiple meanings. It can mean “public” but it means “male” too.

[@davidwalianto5309]

@@hugohuang1518 it also translate to grandfather but with double 公

[@Liggliluff]

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.

[@ShadowMoon878]

That's why it is best for foreigners to get tattoos in Kana instead of Kanji.

[@johannasweet1120]

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

[@Cassxowary]

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

[@dseray9494]

0:55 don't think that was lost in translation

[@sanrioenby3230]

Tbh, I would do that

[@MysteriumArcanum]

Yeah that one seemed too perfect to not be intentional

[@dseray9494]

@@sanrioenby3230 oh same

[@2nd2ightQueer]

Yeah I think that might’ve just been a prank

[@Lilitha11]

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.

[@Juzokinnie]

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."

[@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

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.

[@Liggliluff]

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.

[@richardsanchez5444]

It's funnier to read it the wrong way though

[@Smoah]

Probably the reason why Japan still uses kanji rather than hiragana

[@KasumiRINA]

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.

[@DistractedGlobeGuy]

The "Seven Rings" one is actually "The Seventh Ring", but that's a lot closer than OP's attempt.

[@Haar_Dragon]

"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.

[@namensklauer]

妛 means ugly, 蚩 means fool. these two kind of look like "DIE"

[@brighthades5968]

1 reply Replies:

[@WxIxLxLxIxAxMxS]

"Die" is (feminine) "the" in German, and is pronounced "dee". idk if this helps or not~

[@brighthades5968]

@S WxIxLxLxIxAxMxS Yes

[@Haar_Dragon]

@@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!

[@lawresk]

As a translator who's regretful of life choices, I'd gladly got myself "Translator error" tatoo

[@tacohead8543]

Holy crap the toilet goblin one killed me 💀 My stomach hurts from laughing. Thanks for making my horrible day better, Mr. Matt Rose.

[@Matt_Rose]

Pleased to be of assistance Taco, hope you're feeling better

[@waterunderthebridge7950]

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

[@tacohead8543]

@@waterunderthebridge7950 just as good

[@sherumayu]

@@waterunderthebridge7950 Could it possibly be… toilet ghost? If so we’ve got Hanako on our hands again

[@waterunderthebridge7950]

@@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

[@cloudymew]

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.

[@foxlover11]

I'd rather get 'cat smuggling'

[@moonhunter9993]

cat smuggling is better for sure...

[@amandapanda5087]

​@@moonhunter9993Yeah

[@topkek996]

"illitirate foreign" and "toilet goblin" are peak tourist tattoos I would see someone taking on purpose for laughs

[@nicholaslienandjaja1815]

Toilet goblin = Ghoulies

[@oldbatwit5102]

I have seen photos of 'Translator Server Error' but not as a tattoo. It was a big printed sign above a shop and was meant to be the name or nature of the business but.... you know.

[@zacharytaylor190]

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."

[@SlyHikari03]

Yup.

[@pspspspspspspspspspspspspspss]

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

[@ZenoDovahkiin]

Expecting a pun to just literally translate into a completely different language is one of tge biggest tells somebody only speaks one language.

[@luciesimpson6437]

​@@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.

[@jarnotrulli849]

Sheer pain writing from left to right in Arabic

[@MollyHJohns]

@@jarnotrulli849 that's how left-handed people feel about normal left to right writings.

[@pspspspspspspspspspspspspspss]

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💀💀

[@Kettvnen]

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

[@2cv693]

and in chinese 野菜 (ye caai) means cabbage

[@chloehsieh2007]

And 菜can also be translated into : “Noob” sometimes so…

[@Kleo_37]

@@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)

[@interbeamproductions]

@@Kleo_37he means mandarin/taiwanese

[@Kleo_37]

@@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

[@joshhaworth2155]

Considering the location, I think the woman with "use other entrance" tattooed on her lower back knew what she was doing.

[@QuinnJustice-wh3yo]

For sure

[@Metetto]

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)

[@埊]

im want iskender with estra meat or fries now[food]

[@ScientistCat]

I think I saw that, they also translated “mixed Iskender” to “Alexander confused”

[@rachele3334]

I love the Chinese menu that says “chicken rude and unreasonable“ instead of “jerk chicken”

[@yuki97kira]

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

[@mysingingmonstersfan1023]

0:46 Technically correct though

[@Torstis]

Yeah

[@Verybadatnames]

True

[@lukiwei9468]

That’s like saying giving someone 3 grilled cheese slices when they want a grilled cheese sandwich is technically correct

[@UraniumLeaf]

Verified

[@Cramboing]

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.

[@bluethunder_]

do you like apple

[@lucheng1945]

….Misspelled?? You can’t misspell kanji. It’s either written correctly or unreadable gibberish.

[@chri-k]

@@lucheng1945 “misspelled” is defined as “incorrectly written”

[@oishibaking]

@@lucheng1945 one stroke more or one stroke less 己(self)已(already)巳(midnight)

[@kittykitties4220]

We didn't need the story about your Japanese teacher in order to get the point that you're not the best at Kanji.

[@miroslavzima8856]

I ran out of oxygen becuse hysterical laugh. Thank you for brightening my day!

[@sabotower1792]

The chronic hepatitis tattoo had me rolling with laughter, so damn funny

[@incognitoman3656]

Surprised there was even symbols for chronic skin disease Reminds me of little alchemy

[@waterunderthebridge7950]

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

[@helenetrstrup4817]

And what can we learn from that? Don't get a tattoo in a language you can't read. And most importantly, don't get a tattoo in a language your tattoo artist can't read either. If I were to get something I'd want a homonym that can be read and mean a wierd variety of things. Like you can with "ultraviolet rays" and "street fighting" in Japanese.

[@cmyk8964]

紫外線 means “ultraviolet rays” 市街戦 means “street fight” Both are pronounced _shigaisen_

[@LavaSaver]

@@cmyk8964 I mean, you could totally still get it in hiragana or katakana and leave judgement up to the reader

[@trashAndNoStar]

I accompanied my friend to book a tattoo appointment. Upon seeing the design (Sanskrit symbols), the tattoo artist asked my friend if he knew the language, and if not, to "make sure it means what you think it means" before getting it tattooed for good. The tattoo artist does that to everyone getting foreign language tattoos 😁.

[@basementdwellercosplay]

I once had a teacher who had a tattoo in mandarin on his arm, we asked what it said and he just said,"I don't know, I don't speak Mandarin" He was 100% serious

[@geraldsacks2699]

There was a story going around in 2015 about a guy in an Arkansas Walmart who had a Hebrew word tattooed on his arm. When someone asked him what it meant, he said "strength." It actually said matzoh, which (quipped the interlocutor) was appropriate for a tasteless cracker.

[@nicholaslienandjaja1815]

Might as well have a tattoo that says, "Matzo balls" (would you also want a "gefilte fish" tattoo as well?)