Japanese Are Sold on Skewed English : Language: Need Up Gel and Super Winky condoms are just a few examples of quirky product names and slogans that entice consumers.
Ever rinse your teeth with Mouth Jazz? Read an issue of Big Tomorrow, or the Lettuce Club? Curl up with a Life Delicious blanket?
In Japan, lots of people do--thanks to legions of advertising executives who concoct slogans in eye-catching, often goofy English.
The resulting linguistic creations invoke enticing, if somewhat bizarre, imagery--like Meltykiss chocolates--or appetite-killers like Pocari Sweat soft drinks.
There is no end to the Japanese fascination with mangled, mind-bending English.
Part of the reason is cachet. English lends an air of sophistication and worldliness, even if the words make little sense to a native speaker. Jackets and T-shirts with random English phrases are a common sight.
Another factor is that most Japanese understand English words, thanks to six years of classes at school, but few speak it colloquially.
As a result, many English words find their way into everyday Japanese, but often with new meanings. Anything “pink” is lewd, an apartment becomes a “mansion,” and a book of maps is a “mapple.”
Some visitors to Japan may scoff at what they see as chronic linguistic blunders, but others have come to appreciate the uniquely Japanese version of English as a kind of found poetry.
“The connotations and emotional impact of Japanized words have little to do with their original English meanings,” says George Fields, founder of ASI Market Research Japan.
“But communicating without recourse to the literal is a consummate Japanese art,” Fields wrote in an introduction to “Japanese Jive,” a collection of Japanized English product names.
While some product names may befuddle--such as Creap coffee creamer--others perform their task with dispatch and pizazz. How about an extra-strong styling mousse called Need Up Gel? Or Mouth Jazz mouthwash, or a candied multivitamin called Vitamin Party?
And what better way to describe the mission of a cosmetics company than Kanebo has done: “For Beautiful Human Life”?
Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank, one of the largest in the world, calls itself the Heart Bank in ads. And a regional bank, apparently aiming for a colorful, happy image, has changed its official name from Sanyo Sogo Bank to Tomato Bank.
American companies regularly consult Japanese advertising firms to tailor their English catch phrases to Japanese tastes. The result is hugely successful slogans, including “I Feel Coke” and Winston cigarettes’ “Big Relax.”
Occasionally, a Japanese-made English product word will make it back to the United States, such as the Walkman. Others, like a hair spray called Volume Up Water or Super Winky condoms--well, don’t hold your breath.
At top agencies such as Leo Burnett-Kyodo Co., Japanese employees write most of the English slogans, because they often have a better grasp of what kind of English their countrymen want to hear.
“You have to understand how English words are being used as a creative device rather than for their pure communication value,” said Leo Burnett’s president, Bill Smith.
“What they do is put English words in a Japanese syntax. They’re thinking Japanese but speaking English. To them it makes perfect sense.”