Christopher Lawrence found this on his seat at Tokyo’s New National Theatre last week (Simon Boccanegra directed by Pierre Audi, set design by Anish Kapoor). You can imagine the confusion that ensued in the auditorium when the music started.
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Only among the English speakers.
The avant-garde bridging of musical genres: A simultaneous experience of SIMON BOCCANEGRA and “musical chairs.”
I believe they left a letter out of ‘sit’.
Isn’t this just a poorly translated “Latecomers will not be admitted [and thus cannot sit in their seats] until the interval”?
Same deal at the Musikverein. Nothing to see here.
That’s exactly what it means in Japanese. Well done! I wonder if this was really found “on the seat”. I imagine such notice to be on the ticket, program, or at the entrance.
Of course it is, but it is funny nevertheless ..
Compare that confusion with trying to follow the plot of the opera.
Just don’t drink the water …..
In the early 90’s I was in Hokkaido, drinking a Sapporo beer whose bottle label said, “Live beer for live people” …
Personally I adore mistranslated Japanese into English!
It’s one of the pleasures of visiting Japan. The mis-translations of things in ones hotel room provides gentle humor. The thing to remember is not to be too smug as an English-speaking person. Are you able to read, speak, and write in Japanese?
I enjoyed that in Japan, too, though it became inconvenient when shopping for clothes — there was a great vogue for jackets that “spoke.” I still remember the unappetising-sounding health drink Pocari Sweat!
Any time I’m in Japan my mood is regularly uplifted by announcements like this one on a hotel’s elevator’s door: ‘Because of repairs you will be unbearable’
Sounds like something Sam Goldwyn would say in English, with a heavy Polish accent: ” I want you to co-habitate together on the script”.
Yes. I’ve been working as a full-time Japanese-to-English technical translator for more than two decades. Thanks for asking.
It translates as something like:
If we start the show
I can’t take a seat.
The staff will guide you.
What it means to say was, if you’re not in your seat by the time when performance starts, please don’t try to search and go back to your seat. The staff will arrange another seat for you instead.(The purpose of this was to avoid disturbing other audiences)
Well…their English is considerably better than my Japanese.
A few years ago, I remember washing my hands in the Osaka airport men’s room, under a sign that said :
“Present hands and water will rhum”.
This translation made my head spin for days afterwards!