Language

[Rattlenbang]

Anyone but me find it strange that although our vans are JDL, they are plastered all over with labels written in English using the Roman alphabet? What's up with that? The model name, switch labels, dash labels, non are in Japanese. There are a few stickers here and there, but everything else is built with English labels. Vehicles intended for export I can understand that, but for domestic use? Seems very strange to me.

[Mr. Flibble]

English is considered "cool" in Japan. So I would guess that from a marketing perspective you want English on those parts.

[yojimbo]

Odd coincidence, read my thoughts here!

http://www.mdocuk.co.uk/forums/viewtopi ... highlight=

[djelica]

Hijack. Did you see this from freddread123 on the UK link:

"Aftre having some very together guys ,, Pro's"" in fact do a massive componant count and a massive calculation of costs and labour involved, and to cut there much involved paperwork to a minimum, they have come up with a showroom cost for a short w/b super exceed , of £60,000 keeping all as it is and not skimping on anything like thinner steel here and there , and trust me they mesured everything they could , seems to me when we moan about a 17 / 18 year old truck thats been to the moon and back , about the front pulley , or header tank , or squeeky brakes, or seal gone in the pump " and we only paid a grand for it , then spending upto " £20,000 , seems ok " and not a waste, ((so they tell me )) cant imagine what all these deli's would look like with that spent on em " BUT apparently its worth it for the vehicle you want , and love as we can no longer get a new one even if we had the money " so they advise dont sell ,, never give up ,, get it done at any cost -, as the next vehicle secondhand you buy " starts all over again ,, alt--brakes--water pump , bushes --seals--etc etc ,, these guys are econimists. ((spelling)) lol" and maybe they have a point , can easily relate to getting all or most of these things for every damn car iv bought " if i had spent all this on the first one and kept it " I would have a V8 7 ltre brand new looking ford Anglia, that did 200 miles per gallon " (( 4x4 ))) of course"" , so lads stick with what you have , fix it,, pay for it,, " fill it up ,, when it breaks , moan" but --get it done never give up , in the end you can only win buy having a very new ((mechanicaly)) Delica,, have fun and enjoy " the beast of the road , The official Landrover Recovery Vehicle " Lol ""

£60,000 is about $94,000 CDN. Makes doing repairs that much easier if I believe that.

Darren

[Rattlenbang]

Thinking about it, I suspect that as vehicle manufacturers source their components from third party producers, parts cost are kept down by buying part "X" that is sold around the world and produced in tremendous volume. Like English-labeled switches. No doubt they could custom order switches with Japanese writing on them but the cost would be far higher - along with all the other labelled components. Presumably Western markets would be the largest in the world for automotive components, and this corresponds to both highest ownership of vehicles and the greatest use of English. So the majority of components produced would have English on them, and therefore these would also be the cheapest to source.

That might account for generic components, but specialized parts like seat covers with Super Exceed stitched into them would be custom, and they still used English. I wonder if it might be a kind of internalized racism where English is perceived somehow to be superior. It wouldn't be the first example; I've always thought it odd that the characters in a lot of anime and manga aren't drawn with Asian physical characteristics.

[Shaun Van Ramen]

Have you ever been to Japan? It is very common to use English, especially with names. So there is no surprise to see it on vehicles. Just try not to understand some of it or the spelling of it cause it won't make sense to an EFL (English First Language) speaker.

[Rattlenbang]

Never been, but it seems as strange if we put Japanese writing on our vehicles.

[nxski]

Never been, but it seems as strange if we put Japanese writing on our vehicles.

Look at the tattoo's many people get and it doesn't seem so strange...

[Shaun Van Ramen]

Yes But Canadians are not so intrigued byt the Japanese language as the Japanese are of English.
And speaking of tattoos - My wife practices and teaches Japanese Shodo (Calligraphy) and as a results sees a lot of wrong kanji (the characters that most people use in tattoos). With over 7,000 kanji characters it can be very easy to pick the wrong one or combination due to the subtleness of the meanings sometimes.

The same goes with Japanese use of English - just type in japenglish in Google and look at images - too much fun.
https://www.google.ca/search?q=japangli ... B590%3B590

[Rattlenbang]

Well, obviously it's a cultural thing but it's one thing for advertisers to use English to seem hip and attract attention, but for an auto manufacturer to actually write it on upholstery? Auto manufacturers aren't known for their audacity. it's one thing for the very odd western individual to get a Japanese tattoo, but I would be willing to bet a lot that GM would never sew the same thing on one of their 4X4s Maybe Japanese use English far more than I know. Perhaps the culture there really is a mix of the two languages, so much so that car manufacturers can do it without being noticed or draw complaints.

The Japanese-English hybrids are funny some times. Even Super Exceed is a silly combination that one wouldn't see used by a native English speaker.

[Yokohama]

English language is taught in Japanese schools, so most Japanese people understand at least some English.