I saw this video on my feed courtesy of my good friend Sam and wanted to take a quick stab at correcting the English.
Who: Naoyuki Oi, World Pool Masters player
What: The video includes an interview with Sky Sports presenter Tony Wrighton. The first part of the interview is right after Naoyuki seals his place for the final 8.
Quick Fixes:
Tony: We thought you won it a couple of racks before you did win it.
Naoyuki: Hmm, my name is Naoyuki Oi. 1) Today very lucky. 2) Congratulations me! Yay!
- Today I was very lucky. // I was very lucky today.
- I just want to take a second to congratulate myself. // I just want to say congratulations… to me!
Naoyuki: 1) English a little. No problem. 2) Only so.
- I only know a little bit of English. // I only speak a little bit of English.
- I’m assuming in Japanese, he’s thinking 「だけだから。。。」– and in that case, he’s cut off his modifier. The “only” belongs with the first part. “So” should be a filler phrase (i.e. um, uh…)
Tony: So you had that shot to win it, and then you kind of re-created it for the crowd afterwards. When that shot didn’t go in, did you think ‘I might’ve blown it here’?
Naoyuki: Uhh… I have a pen. I have apple. Oh ee, apple pen! 1)その漢字.
- I’d probably translate the Japanese to something like “Just like that.” or “That’s that!” At first, this seems like a non-sequitur reference to the Pen Pineapple Apple Pen song; however, you have to remember the context. This is pool. The whole point is to sink the balls in the hole. Alluding to jamming the pen in apple is actually a GREAT metaphor.
Did you find this fix interesting? Any other viral Engrish mistakes you’d like to see fixed?
The Conversation Coach 