このリースを作った人は英語の使い方に注意した方が良い。

I found this wreath on a door the other day. It says:

× Country Home, Sweat Heart
○ Country Home, Sweet Heart

• sweat (noun) 汗◆【類】perspiration (definition from Eijiro on the Web)
• sweet (adj) 思いやりのある (definition from Eijiro on the Web)

If your heart is sweating, you had better see a doctor.

If your heart is sweet, I'd like to meet you! Why don't you come visit one of my classes?

I suppose this person is fantasizing, but an office in Tokyo is about as far from a country home as you can get.

• fantasize (definition from Eijiro on the Web)
  【自動】空想｛くうそう｝［夢想｛むそう｝］する［にふける］
  【他動】～を夢に描く
• country home 田舎の家 (definition from Eijiro on the Web)
• Both countries are about as far away as you can get from each other. 両国はもうこれ以上遠くなりようがないほど離れている。(example from Eijiro on the Web)

I'm waiting for all of you sweethearts in my city office.

• sweetheart 親切な人 (example from Eijiro on the Web)

この会社は英語の使い方に注意した方が良い。

Everybody should be careful about spelling. In this modern world, with spell-checking provided for free on the web, there really aren't excuses for spelling mistakes.

Take this one for example:

× Our confectionary is famous for turts with pure natural ingredient, Camembert.
◯ Our confectionery is famous for tarts with pure natural Camembert.

The funny thing is that "turts" looks and sounds very close to "turds".

● turd 【名】〈卑〉（一塊の）糞、くそ、くそ野郎、げす (definition from Eijiro on the Web)

Some might ask "why can't we say 'a pure natural ingredient, Camembert'?"

The reason is that if you say that, it sounds a bit like the only pure natural ingredient is the Camembert. That means the other ingredients are artificial and impure. That's no good for a food product.

If you are purely and naturally bad at spelling, use a spell checker! It's easy!

私は日本語の使い方に注意した方が良い。(part 4) スペルミスについて

Someone kindly pointed out to me that the headline of my last blog post had a spelling mistake.

• spelling mistake スペルミス
• ×  レソトラン
• ◯　レストラン

Spelling correctly is tough in any language. English spelling is particularly tricky since spelling sometimes seems not to match pronunciation.

• pronunciation 発音

Fortunately, when typing Japanese, the input method will check it. Unfortunately, I just directly converted hiragana into katakana without letting the input method check it. That was my mistake.

Anyway, I am always grateful when someone shows me where I've gone wrong.

While I am talking about recent feedback, someone else said that I hadn't posted any pictures of what I have been cooking.　

• × Here are two currys that I made the other day: chick pea curry and spinach curry.　
• ◯ Here are two curries that I made the other day: chick pea curry and spinach curry.

It's a common mistake to forget to change "y" to "ies" when making a plural noun.

この店は英語の使い方に注意した方が良い。スペルミスしないで。

I was out walking around on the holiday. Hot, wasn't it?

× I passed a suits shop. <- don't use a plural noun as an adjective
◯ I passed a suit shop.

It's no wonder this shop needs to advertise suits. Who wants to buy a suit when it's 35 degrees outside?

However, this shop needs help. Not only does their graphic design leave a LOT to be desired, it's spelled wrong!

× Laday's suit (wrong spelling, shouldn't be singular)
◯ Ladies' suits (so-so?)
◯ Women's suits (better, maybe)

• leave ~ to be desired どこか物足りない、不十分な点がある◆【直訳】何か望まれるものを残している The results left a lot to be desired. : あまり望ましくない結果が出た。(definition from Eijiro on the Web)

I wrote about apostrophes a few months ago. Now's a good time to review:

http://upgradeenglish.blogspot.com/2010/03/part-1.html

× You won't catch me wearing a suits in this weather. <-「suits」は日本語英語
◯ You won't catch me wearing a suit in this weather.

In fact, you'd be lucky to catch me in a suit in any weather. Take care in the heat!

「マクロビ」とは...＋スペルに注意しましょう

You probably know that I'm a vegetarian. Because of that, eating out in Tokyo is hard. Everywhere, dishes usually contain at least bonita soup base, if not bits of ham, soup stock made from chicken, or something else.

• bonita soup base = だし
•  soup stock 出汁 だし (from jmdict)

One type of place that I can often find something to eat at is macrobiotic restaurants.

Eijiro on the Web says this:

• macrobiotic
  
  
  【形】
  

  1. マクロビオティックの、長寿食｛ちょうじゅ しょく｝の、健康食｛けんこう しょく｝の、 自然食｛しぜんしょく｝の
  2. 長寿｛ちょう じゅ｝の、長命｛ちょうめい｝の、寿命｛じゅ みょう｝を延ばす
• macrobiotic diet
  
  
  長寿食｛ちょうじゅ しょく｝

There's more on macrobiotic diets here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrobiotic

It's a shame that this restaurant in Tokyo made the effort to make this English brochure, but then didn't check the spelling in the headline well enough.

× What is macrobiotic cookign?
◯ What is macrobiotic cooking?

A simple spell-checker would have caught this mistake. Don't do the same thing in your writing!

「サラダ」は英語じゃない

I don't know why it is that when going to Ebisu I can find lots of English mistakes. Take a look at this photo:

Sarada&Vegetabele

Here are the comments from your picky native English-speaking friend. The most common mistake here is "sarada". Neither "sarada" nor "salada" is English. It's supposed to be "salad". Notice that the English doesn't end with ダ, but ends with "d". Be careful when pronouncing this word!

• サラダ (n) salad

Also, on the menu, if there are several kinds of salads, you should use a plural noun, not a singular one.

After that, if you're going to put English on a sign, at least use a spell-check! It's so easy! "Vegetabele" should be "vegetable".

Finally, there's the issue of spaces. If you are going to use "&", which is called an ampersand, you need a space on either side of it.

• アンド (n) ampersand sign; and; (P);

Here's what the sign should have said:

Salads & Vegetables

You know, one of my favorite vegetarian restaurants has a lot of English mistakes on its menu. Still, I didn't try this restaurant; I went down the street to an Italian restaurant I usually eat at. I had olives, a salad, gorgonzola risotto, and tomato, basil, and mozarella gnocchi. It was delicious!

I hope you all had a nice weekend.

It's not just Japanese who make spelling mistakes.

The dictionary suggests the spelling "azalea". This is the correct spelling. However, while I was looking for it, I found 1,170,000 cases of "azalia", 53,300 cases of "azelea", and 72,400 cases of "azelia". I wish English had more consistent spelling rules. I'm sure you do, too.

Is this the right Japanese?

躑躅 (つつじ) (n) azalea;

They're beautiful, aren't they?