KOREAN TOURISM ORGANIZATION AND THE WAR ON ‘ENGRISH’

William Law - Dec 12, 2011
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The Korean way is magnificent. Latest initiative of the Korean Tourist Organization calls out to all with a camera at hand. The task is simple: photograph any dodgy – and hilarious - English translation; winners will be rewarded.

The Korean Tourism Organization (KTO) has chosen a rather creative approach to discovering and tracing what one might even call ‘traditional’ examples of ‘Engrish’. Misspelled English translations and other ‘fails’ mainly on T-shirts and other popular souvenirs remain a fantastic source of endless jokes and the KTO encourages anyone with a camera at hand to capture such examples and share them. After all, there never seem to be enough opportunities in South Korea.

The official Visit Korea website requires basic registration before allowing its visitors to upload the incriminating snapshot or even snapshots. There is in fact an ongoing contest, which finishes on 14th December, when the most ridiculous yet amusing photo will be selected. The incentive for all to enter is a final gift card with a value of $45.

There are rules, naturally. The pictures cannot depict examples of street signs, menus or guidebooks. These are in fact under ‘official’ responsibility and thus will not be accepted into the contest.

Literally anyone is welcome to take part and hopefully, within a few weeks the world will have hundreds more jokes to cry over.

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