Ah, Engrish. There’s a whole world of funny translations out there to laugh at.
Cyworld, the massive Korean based virtual world, is shutting down its U.S. site, which draws all of 112,000 monthly visitors according to Comscore. And while the shutdown is sort of sad, the message they sent to users more than makes up for it. The translation is bad. Not Matrix DVD cover in Korean bad, but bad.
Yes, I know Americans and others butcher other languages in reverse all the time. But that doesn’t mean I can’t laugh a little at this, too.
CyWorld first launched in the U.S. in 2006, and we estimate that they are the twelfth most valuable social network in the world overall. Email is below. Thanks for the tip, David.
Subject: Cyworld shuts down US cyworld service
Thank you to all members with Cyworld.
Due to Cyworld shuts down US service, US Cyworld will no longer be able to service.
We sincerely apologize for shutting down the service with unavoidable reason.
Before US cyworld close the service, you will continue to access to US cyworld contents but not
purchase items. Also, you will not use your acorns.
If you have unused acorns, you will be given a full refund for paid acorns only.
Refunds and data backup service is in progress, using the acorn will no longer be able to purchase for miniroom items, skins, etc.
@ Schedule for closing US Cyworld service
Due to Data Back-up and closing service issues, the service will be unavailable.
* Shop service will be unavailable since Nov 03, 2009
o Club service, Profile photo/data upload serivce will be unavailable since Nov 23, 2009
Oh, OK…. glad we could clear that up. Thanks Cyworld!
I wonder what is the motive behind this? Exclusivity to their own nation?
“You will not use your acorns.”
Mike, Americans do not butcher other languages, because we don’t even TRY to translate
Couldn’t they find a single native english speaker for such an important message?
this wasn’t an important message, it was a message about using pretend acorns used to buy bling for your Minihompy.
Today’s pretend acorns are tomorrow’s pretend mighty oaks.
#lbl that. Http://littlebo...koflearning.com
+1
yeah i read that and was like “don’t tell me whether or not to use my acorns!” That jedi shit doesn’t work on me.
it’s not just jedi shit. it’s kung fu double shit. and quite frankly acorn bullshit.
hey, easy on the swearing, ok?
i understand adam’s pain. I’d be upset about not being able to use my acorns too.
Also easy on the translation of the email, which program did you use? Or did you use an actual Korean fluent in English to translate?
err, the email was sent in english. to U.S. users of the service.
it wouldn’t really be that funny if i was making fun of a translation of a communication sent in korean.
Though I’m sure they used something like google translate to translate it.
lol
Like Like just couldn’t make Cyworld hot.
All your base are belong to us?
I am thrilled that the “Profile photo/data upload serivce will be unavailable since Nov 23, 2009.”
I need that serivce until at least November 21, 1984.
12th most valuable social site quits the US game for free? you’d think a 100,000 monthly visitors would be worth something. apparently not.
Finally, they never respond to my emails. I was wondering when they would shut down.
All your acorns are belong to us!
Sad
If by sad you mean hilarious then yes.
I work for Cyworld Korea. I really don’t know what to say. Well, I think I should at least be happy about the fact that you all had a good laugh, which is supposedly good for your health
they clearly just wrote it in Korean and sent it through an online translator like Excite or Google Translate. They all suck and they all give up weird shit like this.
Dave Chung. Is that Chinese or Korean? Why dump on your own people – i mean apparently you must be Korean since you are(were) a Cyworld user. Ok maybe its the fact that you could only get into USC or maybe its the fact that you call yourself a blogger (i read it and wish i could wipe my ass with it frankly), but hey thats OK. Angst on your own brethern, rage on the model minority who I think are smarter than you – but do yourself a favor and make your 15 mins of fame something worthy of my time to read than a weak, leaked Cyworld user email that makes fun of yourself. And a sidenote – you probably have never been to Korea yet, but Cyworld is the #1 social networking service in Korea and predates Facebook by a decade. Why don’t you blog about them acorns from a white boy.
If Michael thinks CyWorld’s bad english is the main reason behind their failure, he’s missing the big picture. Despite the fact Cyworld predates Facebook by a decade, their launch in the US was way too late. It was during the time when Facebook and MySpace were battling for the dominance of the social networking market. Even Google wasn’t able to compete in the market.
On a side note, if you want to laugh at something, you gotta, at least, have the facts straight.
The following link takes you to the official Matrix III DVD cover in Korean. It looks different from the bootleg copy “found in China” Michael had a link to, doesn’t it?
http://movie.na...amp;iw=&ih=
“If Michael thinks CyWorld’s bad english is the main reason behind their failure, he’s missing the big picture.”
Who said that? I have no idea who did what and why. I just love the email.
i like my version of the korean matrix dvd better.
As a Korean, while I have no excuse about the notice (it’s been fixed on the website), I really do appreciate your sharing the right Matrix DVD cover! The one in the original post looks like a pirated copy distributed in China. (No offence to Chinese people. Shame on people who distribute pirated copies!)
I agree that the belated launch in the US market was one of the many reasons that Cyworld failed in the US.
Personally(!), I don’t think localization matters that much, especially so these days. With the improvement of communications technology, people from around the globe seems to have come to share somewhat similar tastes in a lot of things including web services.
Translate Server Error
http://craphoun...servererror.jpg
This reminds me:
http://image.al...74164463472.jpg
“I want to go home” in Korean used to be translated as “I want to work” in Google. Intentional mistake?
Koreans often do not want to use native foreigners to translate in English, despite the results. They prefer to rely on their own foreign language colleges graduates.
I’ve read somewhere that they did the same mistake during 2002 World Cup: all signs were translated in English by a local crew without mother-tongue revisions, ending in poor, funny translations in most cases.
that is too bad. I think I logined in like 3 years ago. a person can only be in only in so many social sites!
did they use google translator for this notice?