I was compiling a shopping list for the BFF who offered to shop for meeeee in Tokyo. Wheeeee! So I wrote out items wanted, tagged accompanying photos and their descriptions in both English and Japanese. Then the BFF has a point of reference lah. It's the least I can do to enable a smooth interpretation and fulfillment of my 'demands'. Hahahah. She speaks passable Japanese, but I'm not sure she reads it fully, and I can't assume the sales people would understand English fully either.
There's this tube of Shu Uemura BB cream which I use (and like very much). I never knew its full name (I'm assuming the brand has a few types of BB creams), or the name and number of its shade. It was bought at the shop in Tokyo where the I simply picked the most coherent shade of all tubes that were tested on my neck. Sure, there was an English portion in the front that states it as 'shu uemura stage performer BB perfecto', but it doesn't tell me the shade or hue.
When I saw the shade's name and color, I started laughing. Why would people still bother to learn Japanese then?! Just make sure we know our katakana and hiragana damn well, and slang every English word will do. You'd more or less hit an accurate contemporary pronunciation of sorts. Like 'シーフード', 'seafoo-do'. Although the 'f' syllable isn't very pronounced in Japanese, and 'v' isn't used at all, 'シーフード' is used everywhere from shops’ signs to menus. I personally prefer to use '海の幸' to refer to seafood. Everyone else who understands Chinese can guess at the kanji, which won’t be far from its actual meaning in Japanese.
So this tube of BB cream. The tube states 'BBパーフェクター', which literally reads 'BB perfecto'. Okaaaaay. Then its hue of 'サンド' is literally pronounced as 'sando'- sand. The brand categorized this color as 'sand'. 🤣
Addendum: Case in point, this is done even in parliament. The new Justice Minister used 'kurarifai' for 'clarify'; I DIED. (H/T to J for the tweet.)
There's this tube of Shu Uemura BB cream which I use (and like very much). I never knew its full name (I'm assuming the brand has a few types of BB creams), or the name and number of its shade. It was bought at the shop in Tokyo where the I simply picked the most coherent shade of all tubes that were tested on my neck. Sure, there was an English portion in the front that states it as 'shu uemura stage performer BB perfecto', but it doesn't tell me the shade or hue.
When I saw the shade's name and color, I started laughing. Why would people still bother to learn Japanese then?! Just make sure we know our katakana and hiragana damn well, and slang every English word will do. You'd more or less hit an accurate contemporary pronunciation of sorts. Like 'シーフード', 'seafoo-do'. Although the 'f' syllable isn't very pronounced in Japanese, and 'v' isn't used at all, 'シーフード' is used everywhere from shops’ signs to menus. I personally prefer to use '海の幸' to refer to seafood. Everyone else who understands Chinese can guess at the kanji, which won’t be far from its actual meaning in Japanese.
So this tube of BB cream. The tube states 'BBパーフェクター', which literally reads 'BB perfecto'. Okaaaaay. Then its hue of 'サンド' is literally pronounced as 'sando'- sand. The brand categorized this color as 'sand'. 🤣
Addendum: Case in point, this is done even in parliament. The new Justice Minister used 'kurarifai' for 'clarify'; I DIED. (H/T to J for the tweet.)
2 comments:
Me and the Baker-at-Home have a running joke where I only refer to SK-II as SK-Eleven. Hmmm... sounds funnier in person.
To be honest, when I first heard of the brand, it was in print and I thought, SK Eleven?!! Hahahaha.
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