One of the other divisions here at JP sought to introduce a new product to their customers. Their current line consisted of something called "NAS-Type" and something called "NAI-Type", so they wanted to call the new product "NAD-Type".
Can you forsee any problems with this product name?
The Americans in the office had a couple interventive meetings to keep the Japanese from going to market under that name. Then the Japanese in our office had to explain the situation to the bigwigs in Japan, which they did with this mysterious letter (movabletype only displays the engrish portions):
> 八重畑殿
>
> 大日本の新カバーテープご紹介有難うございます。
>
> いきなりでなんですが、"NAD"という名前は変えた方がいいかもしれませんw)。
> NAD/NADSというのは、こちらのスラングで如何わしいものを意味します。
> （Oh, She got pissed, and, kicked my nads!!!などが例です）
>
> さて名前はさておき本題ですが、現在NAIを納入している客先及び新規客先w)
> ですが、添付ファイルを参照願います。 AVXは、AH-Typeを現在、オファーしており、彼らからの返答待ちです。
> 価格レベルを考えると大日本品は無理でしょう。
>
> ERIC経由で掘り起こしてみる価値はあるかと思いますので大日本には一応、
> ノミネートしておいてください。
>
> Masahiko Sato
> Electronics Division Manager
> Japan Pulp & Paper(USA)Corporation
This makes me really wish I could read Japanese.
Posted by: abe at September 11, 2003 05:46 PMWhere's Matt Krueger when you need him?
Posted by: gosey at September 12, 2003 08:39 AMOk, I'm new to this whole Japanese thing and so I while I can read hiragana, katakana and some kanji, normal business communications are still quite the mystery to me, so I'll do the best I can.
By the way you can get Japanese language font packs installed in your browser which is how I'm able to read the Japanese above, it's not an issue with Moveable Type. =)
> 八重畑殿
The first kanji means the number 8. The rest of it is a mystery to me. I'm actually buying a kanji dictionary tonight, so I'll try to take a better crack at this during the weekend. =)
> 大日本の新カバーテープご紹介有難うございます。
"Dai nihon no atara-chikara (my reading is probably wrong there but the concept communicated is the same) BA-TE-PU go-kanji I don't know-u gozimasu."
Big Japan's New Power "Ba-te-pu" some verb I don't know but said very politely. The "Ba-te-pu" is some foreign word, maybe English, but has been mangled into Japanglish.
> いきなりでなんですが、"NAD"という名前は変えた方がいいかもしれませんw)。
"Ikinari de nan desu ga, "NAD" toiu namae wa something-eta gata ga ii kamoshiremasen."
From what little I can get, what I THINK this says is basically. "Saying the name "NAD" maybe good but..." (I think they are being polite and political here)
> NAD/NADSというのは、こちらのスラングで如何わしいものを意味します。
"NAD/NADS to iu nowa, kochira no SORANGU de something nani washiimonowo something-shimasu"
Ok, SORANGU is the Japanglish way of saying "slang", and so this sentence I think means. "Saying NAD/NADS is slang... and then a bunch of stuff I don't understand."
> （Oh, She got pissed, and, kicked my nads!!!などが例です）
This pretty obviously is they're giving an English example of how the name could be used in an undesired manner
> さて名前はさておき本題ですが、現在NAIを納入している客先及び新規客先w)
Sate namae wa sateoki [a character meaning "book" or "origin" and then another I don't know] desu ga, [more kanji I don't know] NAI wo [unknown kanji] hai shiteiru [unknown kanji] [kanji meaning "early" or "beginning" often said "sen"] [unknown kanji] bi [kanji meaning "new"] [three kanji I don't know].
Guessing once again I think they are saying that the origin of the name is fine, but... the new name isn't. Or something like that.
> ですが、添付ファイルを参照願います。 AVXは、AH-Typeを現在、オファーしており、彼らからの返答待ちです。
Desu ga, [two unknown kanji] FUaIRU wo [3 unknown kanji] imasu. AVX wa, AH-Type wo [2 unknown kanji] OFUa- shiteori, [unknown kanji] ra kara no [two unknown kanji] [kanji meaning "time" or "hour" chi desu.
Hrm... well FUaIRU sounds like the english word "FILE" not sure what "OFA" could mean. But the best I can get out of this is sentence structure. Basically it reads "but, (something) FILE (direct object) (something) exists. Speaking of AVX, AH-Type (direct object) (something), OFAA (something), (something) from (something) is.
> 価格レベルを考えると大日本品は無理でしょう。
[2 unknown kanji] REBURU wo (unknown kanji) eru to dai nihon (kanji meaning "goods") wa (2 kanji I recognize but don't remember) desyou.
Um, REBURU I think is the Japanglish version of "rebel". This might be saying something about associating the goods of the company with a bad concept.
> ERIC経由で掘り起こしてみる価値はあるかと思いますので大日本には一応、ノミネートしておいてください。
ERIC (2 unknown kanji) de (unkown kanji) ri okoshite miru (2 unknown kanji) wa aru ka to omoimasu no de dai nihon ni wa ichi (unknown kanji), NOMINE-TO shite oite kudasai.
"By means of something ERIC, one can realize [there is a combination of the verbs "to wake up" and "to see" which I'm guessing means "realize"] that something is possessed, I think [they really said "I think" here, that's not me!] Speaking of Big Japan, one someting NOMINE-TO do let us know please."
I'm not sure what NOMINE-TO is but again it's some mangled foreign word. That last phrase could mean, "please come" but there's this phrase I know called "oshiete kudasai" which means "please let me know" and I'm guessing this is just another form of that.
I could be WAY off and I'll see if I can figure out any of these kanji if I can find a good kanji dictionary tonight. But that's the best I could do. My Japanese is seriously more at like a 1st or 2nd grade level so I obviously still have a long way to go.
Posted by: mkrueger at September 12, 2003 09:45 AMOoo.. I bet NOMINE-TO is Japanglish for "nominate"... they want to "nominate" a new name. You know come up with ideas or something.
Posted by: mkrueger at September 12, 2003 09:50 AMwow, that's more than I ever expected to get from this post. at work, my computer is not equipped to display japanese characters, so i just got the email with all the rectangles then that line about "...she kicked my nads". i just thought it was funny to see that sentence in official business correspondence.
but thanks for the translation...that took some effort.
Well if you ever get others you want me to take a crack at, I obviously need the practice. =)
Posted by: mkrueger at September 12, 2003 11:37 AMwow, you are a bad, bad ass.
Posted by: gosey at September 12, 2003 12:39 PMwe had some weird political stuff between some of the japanese here in the office who absolutely despised each other. when one of the guys left, the other guy wrote in japanese in his going away card so none of us could understand it. they really hated each other. i'll have to see if i can find it.
Posted by: abe at September 12, 2003 01:07 PM