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One of the great things about the world we live in is the rich and diverse variety of languages that you can find across the globe. The only problem is that, as you can see from these pictures, sometimes these languages don't quite translate, turning into Engrish, Spanglish or Chinglish along the way.
In homage to hilariously bad translations and funny slogans, Bored Panda has compiled this list of t-shirt design from East Asia that don't quite say what they should ("Texas state it's a triangle OMG so hipster triangle," for example). Some of them don't say anything at all (well, not unless "temmby woroing terrislylastly" means anything to anyone?). But while all of them may have failed as far as translation is concerned, they have all definitely succeeded in making us laugh. Hard.
Seen any funny t-shirt translations that we might have missed? Then add to them to the list below and don't forget to vote for your favorite!
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
I'm A Kindergarten Teacher In China And One Of My Students Was Rocking This Shirt Today
#2
I Saw This Girl In Tokyo
#3
While At The Golden Pavilion In Kyoto, I Saw This Man With Quite Possibly The Greatest Shirt In Japan
#4
Teaching English In Korea. Best Shirt Ever? Yup!
#5
My Chinese Friend Doesn't Understand English. This Is Her Favourite Top
#6
This Little Guy
#7
Inspirational T-Shirt In Asia
#8
Gangsta Granny
#9
My Brother Teaches English In Vietnam. I Don't Think This Young Student Or His Parents understood What His T-Shirt Meant
#10
I Deliver Food To Seniors Who Live In Homes As A Side Job. This Woman's Shirt Made My Day
#11
Matching Sweaters For Your Favorite And Second Favorite Child
#12
My Buddy Is Teaching Young Kids In Taiwan. This Is His Student
#13
Haters Gonna Hate And Ain'ters Gonna Ain't
#14
Got A New Shirt, It Means 'Tranquility' In English
#15
Japan And Its Impossible Standards
#16
Oops
#17
Funny English-Language Slogans On T-Shirts Is Nothing New In Asia, But This One Really Stood Out To Me
#19
You Don't Want To Mess With This Lady
#20
Another Awesome Japanese Shirt Found In Their "American" Store
#21
Think Less
#22
The Shirts In Korea Are The Best. There Are 1000s Of Them
#23
Uh, No Thanks, Chinese Kid
#24
My Wife Photographed This Woman In Beijing Last Week. Better Not Wear That Shirt When You Travel, Lady
Shauday Smith 8 years ago
covering all the bases right there.... and in such friendly font with a heart and dots....
#25
Found This Shirt In China. All Hail Chairman Obamao
#26
I Can Feel The Love Tonight
#27
I Saw This Guy In South Korea And Asked If He Knew What His Shirt Said, He Didn't Speak English
#28
I Have Gas
#29
Here's One Funny T-Shirt From Japan
#30
Hot
#31
My Favourite Find While I Was In Asia
#32
Lovely Combination
#34
Please Don't Drop Your Bomb
#35
Future Man
#36
I Found This In Beijing
#37
I Teach In South Korea. Today An Entire Class Showed Up To School Wearing These Shirts
#38
Korean Shirt
#39
Dear Friend
#40
And The Winner Of The "Best Shirt In China" Award Is...
#41
This Shirt Is Shirt
#42
Everybody Must Get Stoned
#43
Ahh Yes... Nonsense Clothing In Japan You Say
#44
Precise Dwarf Bravery
#45
Oh Chinese T-Shirt, Truer Words Were Never Spoken
#46
T-Shirts In Japan
#47
I Love Casio
#48
Emm... No
#49
The Best T-Shirt To Wear While Travelling The World
#50
Dubai's Entry In The Best Failed English T-Shirt
#51
Gotta Love The T-Shirt
#52
Touch Me Now
#53
English Writing On Clothes In Asia
#54
I Am In Tokyo, And Found This In A Shopping Mall
#55
Pshh. It Doesn't Make You Better Than Me
#56
Truer Words Were Never Spoken
#58
Bad English T-Shirt In Korea
#59
I've Heard Women Like Bad Boys, But This Is Ridiculous
#62
English Teacher Went To Japanese Clothing Stores And Got Slightly Confused
#63
Found This Shirt In Japan. I Think They Just Stuck Together Random Words
#64
This Boy And His T-shirt
#65
Don't Have A Box New
#66
My Wife Found This T-Shirt In A Seoul, Korea Market
Becky Vineyard 8 years ago
Massachubatts is lovely this time of year, but not as lovely as it was in the 17th century.
#67
Middle Aged Japanese Women Eating Sushi
Nuno Oliveira 8 years ago
"I didn't really feel like celebrating your birthday at this restaurant so I picked my most passive-aggressive shirt"
#68
There's Just So Much Going On In This Photo, But The Sweater That The Guys Wearing Tops It Off!
Final score:
18points
#69
Creepy T-Shirt For Baby
#70
Sniffing Glue Won't Keep Families Together
#71
It's Only Baby Burn
#73
My Brother Lives In South Korea. He Bought Me This Shirt
SuperGluglu Aroulette 8 years ago
Dudious : the adjective form for "dude". Thank you South Korea for improving my vocabulary everyday :D
#74
Funny T-Shirt
Trufin Razvan 8 years ago
This works with: https://www.boredpanda.com/i-can-feel-the-love-tonight/
#75
Saw This Asian Tourist At The Airport. She Didn't Choose The Thug Life
#76
Hmm...
#77
Japanese English
#78
Internet Arguments, Now In Shirt Form
#79
Found Of Walks
#81
Found This T-Shirt In China
#82
T-Shirt Found In South Korea
#83
Thanks For Sharing That, Aqua Lover.
Final score:
13points
#84
Good Morning & Good Bye
#85
Spotted In Thailand.
Final score:
12points
#86
Language Barrier
#87
Wise Words
#88
Swim With A What Now? Found In Hangzhou, China.
Final score:
11points
#89
My Friend Modeling My Favorite English T-Shirt Sold In Japan
#91
I Want Beard Your Sexy
#92
My Buddy Snapped This Pic While Teaching In Busan.
Final score:
9points
#95
Sound Philosophy In Fuzhou, China
Final score:
8points
#96
Don't Cry Say Fuck You And Smile ... Paris
Final score:
8points
Csipai Betti 8 years ago
An original Paris quote... She really likes to use the apostrophe randomly. So stylish!
#98
Different Version Of The Movie From What I Remember...
Final score:
7points
#100
Who Gives This Kind Of Hairpin To A Little Girl?!?
Final score:
5points
#101
A Shit Jumper (pull Over) From Japan.
Final score:
5points
#102
Makes Sense
#103
Strange Asian T-Shirt
#104
Found In A High End Store In Tokyo.
Final score:
4points
#106
Still Need More?
Final score:
3points
#107
At Least He's Honest.
Final score:
3points
#108
#129 I Don't Need Sex...
Final score:
3points
#109
Water On The Thirstry Soil
#111
A T-shirt From Japan
Final score:
2points
#113
Seems This Dwarf Bravery Is A Thing..
Final score:
2points
#114
Richland Bombers
#115
The Back Of An Unusual United Way(?) Sweatshirt I Purchased From A Thrift Shop In Tokyo.
Final score:
1point
#116
At A Train Station In Osaka. There Were About Five Of These Young Women With Matching Outfits.
Final score:
1point
#118
This Girl In My English Class In Central China Obviously Has Her Priorities Straight.
Final score:
1point
#119
This Is A Boy Who Knows What He Wants. Found In An English Class In Central China.
Final score:
1point
#121
One Of My Fifth Graders In Ulsan, South Korea~!
Final score:
1point
#124
Supermarket Café In Harbin, Heilongjiang Province.
Final score:
1point
#125
Local Man In Bali Loves What..?!
Final score:
1point
#127
Sound Philosophy In Fuzhou, China
Final score:
0points
#128
He Learned Young
Final score:
0points
Cursty Kistner 8 years ago
what should I think? as it says swank, not wank. The kid is holding his arm over the "s"
#129
I Spotted This One In Moscow
Final score:
0points
#130
Or The Letter N?
Final score:
0points
Vicki Doggurl 2 years ago
Maybe they just want you to remember all you frieds. Fried egg, fried chicken, fried shrimp. All the frieds!
#131
Overly Attached Girlfriend Called.. (tokyo)
Final score:
0points
Ariana Gravely 2 years ago
What’s wrong with this shirt? I get that it’s not exactly grammatically correct, but it’s close enough! Also, about the title, maybe it’s for a wife or fiancé or a husband or groom. You never know
#132
Hmm, So Warm.. (japan)
Final score:
0points
#133
I Got This Shirt In Tokushima Japan
Final score:
0points
#134
Whilst Working On English Camp In Thailand.
Final score:
0points
Add New Image
What do you think ?
Sander Rijpstra 8 years ago
I think Asian countries have the same lists, but then with western people wearing shirts with stupid characters in an Asian language.
Irene Blumkin 8 years ago
My son came home with a baseball hat his friend gave him for his birthday. It had Chinese letters across it. I asked a Chinese friend to read it and she got hysterical. It said "hat."
.gas. 8 years ago
I seem to remember a post here where tourists got tattoos overseas, and just went by what they were told, without any personal research. The artists were inking them with swear words and stuff!
Pemberton 8 years ago
Considering the price of tattoos and removing one, I hesitate to tell them their tattoos have something wrong... they'd be happier without knowing the true meaning, maybe.
Load More Replies... 
Kraneia The Dancing Dryad 1 year ago
There's a name for this: Engrish. For more foreign goodness, head over to Engrish.com 😆
Jodie Gordon 7 years ago
Personal favourites I would pay good money for... ''Good things come to those who hustle'' and ''I don't need life, I'm high on drugs!''
Glynis Lailann 8 years ago
Most of this clothing is made in Asia. These items are more often than not factory rejects or unpopular items that could not be exported. I once bought a Garfield T-shirt from a street vendor in Hong Kong that said 'Gadfield'. above the picture of the famous cat.
Birgit Rappold 8 years ago
Hahaha! I've been living in Asia for the past 10 years and you get so numb to those shirts. Great to see them in a list like thatToo funny!
shamrocksocks 8 years ago
Kind of like Westerners get random Japanese/Chinese characters as tattoos.
Sandra Chervenak 5 months ago
Love these! Also, I'm disturbed that so many of the raunchiest shirts come in children's sizes...?
Jodie Gordon 7 years ago
Personal favourites I would pay good money for: ''Good things come to those who hustle'' and ''I don't need life, I'm high on drugs!''
Cath Julius 7 years ago
Love it! When I was teaching in Hong Kong I saw a man wearing a t-shirt that said "I am a masturbator". I asked my fellow teachers about it and they said he probably had no idea what it meant.
Spenser Roberts 8 years ago
Amazes me how many of the comments miss the point - that these people cannot read English any more than we can read their languages. Saw a lot of comments judging these people for their "opinions".
Leo Sek 8 years ago
I think most of those in these pictures, or at least those who purchased the clothes in the first place, know what these English mean. There are quite some people who like to print words like "whore' 'f**k' and all those stupid stuff on clothes, in English or local language, as some sort of fun, whether you find it funny or not. They know exactly what the words mean. English proficiency, at least in reading and writing, is much better in Asian countries than the proficiency in any Asian language is in English speaking countries.
Pemberton 8 years ago
Google Superdry. It's a company selling weird Japanese T-shirts, such as "membershipcard-ish" or "horse carriage for business". 極度乾燥（しなさい） is their logo.
Load More Replies...
Birgit Rappold 8 years ago
Nope. You would be surprised what tees people wear.
Load More Replies... Sander Rijpstra 8 years ago
I think Asian countries have the same lists, but then with western people wearing shirts with stupid characters in an Asian language.
Irene Blumkin 8 years ago
My son came home with a baseball hat his friend gave him for his birthday. It had Chinese letters across it. I asked a Chinese friend to read it and she got hysterical. It said "hat."
.gas. 8 years ago
I seem to remember a post here where tourists got tattoos overseas, and just went by what they were told, without any personal research. The artists were inking them with swear words and stuff!
Pemberton 8 years ago
Considering the price of tattoos and removing one, I hesitate to tell them their tattoos have something wrong... they'd be happier without knowing the true meaning, maybe.
Load More Replies... Kraneia The Dancing Dryad 1 year ago
There's a name for this: Engrish. For more foreign goodness, head over to Engrish.com 😆
Jodie Gordon 7 years ago
Personal favourites I would pay good money for... ''Good things come to those who hustle'' and ''I don't need life, I'm high on drugs!''
Glynis Lailann 8 years ago
Most of this clothing is made in Asia. These items are more often than not factory rejects or unpopular items that could not be exported. I once bought a Garfield T-shirt from a street vendor in Hong Kong that said 'Gadfield'. above the picture of the famous cat.
Birgit Rappold 8 years ago
Hahaha! I've been living in Asia for the past 10 years and you get so numb to those shirts. Great to see them in a list like thatToo funny!
shamrocksocks 8 years ago
Kind of like Westerners get random Japanese/Chinese characters as tattoos.
Sandra Chervenak 5 months ago
Love these! Also, I'm disturbed that so many of the raunchiest shirts come in children's sizes...?
Jodie Gordon 7 years ago
Personal favourites I would pay good money for: ''Good things come to those who hustle'' and ''I don't need life, I'm high on drugs!''
Cath Julius 7 years ago
Love it! When I was teaching in Hong Kong I saw a man wearing a t-shirt that said "I am a masturbator". I asked my fellow teachers about it and they said he probably had no idea what it meant.
Spenser Roberts 8 years ago
Amazes me how many of the comments miss the point - that these people cannot read English any more than we can read their languages. Saw a lot of comments judging these people for their "opinions".
Leo Sek 8 years ago
I think most of those in these pictures, or at least those who purchased the clothes in the first place, know what these English mean. There are quite some people who like to print words like "whore' 'f**k' and all those stupid stuff on clothes, in English or local language, as some sort of fun, whether you find it funny or not. They know exactly what the words mean. English proficiency, at least in reading and writing, is much better in Asian countries than the proficiency in any Asian language is in English speaking countries.
Pemberton 8 years ago
Google Superdry. It's a company selling weird Japanese T-shirts, such as "membershipcard-ish" or "horse carriage for business". 極度乾燥（しなさい） is their logo.
Load More Replies... Birgit Rappold 8 years ago
Nope. You would be surprised what tees people wear.
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