Getting Ready for the Games (Feedback)

Thanks for all your comments. Apart from getting rid of some silly signs and menu translations, I would say that Tokyo is already pretty well prepared to deal with the influx of foreign visitors that the Olympic Games will bring.

As for the mistranslated signs, I have also seen a lot of very strange ones here in Japan. I think the problem is that businesses rely too much on translation software. Most Japanese people do not realise that this software often produces hilarious results, so they just write in the Japanese phrase and print whatever the software throws out.

I think this is a problem of awareness more than anything else. Actually, translation software is a big problem in Japanese universities too. Most students don’t understand how limited its capabilities are, and when they are asked to write a report in English, many of them just write it in Japanese and use software to translate it. Of course, any teacher can tell at a glance when this software has been used, but that doesn’t stop students using it.

Anyway, here is some feedback on your comments.

When I saw the picture of this week’s entry, I thought it seems an interest topic.
… I thought it seemed like an interesting topic.

When I joined a walking tour in Kyoto, I got to know an Australian mother and daughter.
Nice sentence.

the Olympic games will be held in Tokyo and most of the events were held in the very limited areas in the center of Tokyo, so I wonder if we really need to make changes on a large scale.
I think the Olympics will be a great chance to boost Japan’s tourism industry. I guess the government is hoping that a lot of people who come for the Games will take the time to visit other parts of the country while they are here.

so we got off the bus when we found the first subway station and took the subway finally!
so we ended up getting off the bus when we saw the first subway station and taking the subway!

I’m wondering how many restaurants offer special menus for vegetarians or people who can’t eat meat for religious reasons.
Nice sentence.

Although most eldery Korean don’t speak English but some eldery Korean speak Japanese and we were helped by them.
If you start a sentence with “although” or “even though,” you don’t need to add “but” later on. A lot of Japanese people make this mistake.

My recommendation is Taiwan if you go abroad with your mother next time!
Next time you go abroad with your mother, I recommend taking her to Taiwan!

I’m not really sure probably because I wasn’t that excited at Japan’s hosting the World Cup.
I was in Sapporo when England played Argentina there in the World Cup. Actually, I did some training and lectures for the police on how to deal with English football fans. (Because I was a policeman in Liverpool, I had to do football duty about once a month at either Everton or Liverpool’s grounds.) The stupidest thing I saw during the world cup was a Japanese policeman shouting at the English fans through a loudspeaker, “Do not walk in the road. Please get back on the pavement.” The problem was that he was speaking in Japanese, so no one had any idea what he was saying!

hotels are very exepensive in Tokyo.
Really? I would say they are quite cheap compared to London.

our government has been running the campaign to have more foreign visitors in these couple of years,
… more foreign visitors these last couple of years.

Clumsy person like me should join a package tour
Clumsy (I’m not sure this is the right word, though) people like me should join a package tour.

What do you think about incorrectly translated signs and menus?
“Lamb raisin” is my favourite ice cream!

A friend of mine told me that she always gets upset seeing the sign written in English beside the diaper changing bed in the women’s public toilets.
This is a good sentence, but “when she sees” might be more natural than “seeing.”

That’s all for today. I have to go to my house again later and make more difficult decisions. (Yesterday’s was about the difference in height between the garage floor and the workshop floor. I wanted to scream “I don’t know!”)

Have a great weekend, and I’ll be back with a new entry on Monday or Tuesday.