Awkward English in Korean signs, menus, and ads—Survey Results

• A quick breakdown of the survey respondents
• How often have you noticed awkward English in Korean signs, menus, and ads?
• How much does seeing awkward English in Korean signs, menus, and ads bother you?
• When you’ve noticed awkward English in Korean signs, menus, and ads you:
• How much do you think awkward English in Korean signs, menus, and ads affects the image of a business?
• How acceptable do you feel awkward English in Korean signs, menus, and ads is?
• What word best describes your opinion of a business displaying awkward English in Korean signs, menus, and ads?
• Do you think awkward English in Korean signs, menus, and ads is acceptable? 
• Why do you think most businesses don’t use a professional English-speaking copywriter or proofreader?
• What does this all mean?

I conducted an informal survey on awkward English in Korean signs, menus, and ads several months ago. It’s taken me far too long to review the responses, but I’ve finally found the time. Please join me as we review the data and uncover what people think about awkward English in Korean signs, menus, and ads.

A quick breakdown of the survey respondents

It was essential to try to find respondents from various backgrounds. The survey’s first question asked if the respondent was a native English speaker, a native Korean speaker, or a multi-language speaker. In total, 131 people took part in the survey. Here’s a breakdown of languages for the survey respondents.

• 55% native English speakers
• 27.5% native Korean speakers
• 5.3% Other
• 4.6% Bilingual (English/Other)
• 4.6% Bilingual (2 or more languages other than English)
• 3.1% Bilingual (Korean/English)

We can see that 59.5% of the respondents are English speakers (mono/bilingual). A total of 30.5% are Korean speakers (mono/bilingual), and 9.9% are neither English nor Korean speakers.

The next question was, “Do you live in Korea?” Here’s the breakdown of responses:

• Yes—69.5%
• Not currently—25.2%
• No—3.8%
• Never—1.5%

Only 5.3 % of respondents either don’t or have never lived in Korea. Thus, almost 95% of respondents have experienced awkward English in Korea firsthand.

When discussing the results of this survey, I will group the results in one of the following ways:

• All respondents
• English-speaking respondents
• Korean-speaking respondents

Only 13 respondents answered “Bilingual (languages other than English)“ or “Other.” This accounts for less than 10% of survey takers. Of course, I’ve included these responses in the overall results. But I felt there weren’t enough of these respondents to comment on their answers as a group in most cases. Bilingual Korean/English speakers have been combined with Korean speakers. Likewise, bilingual English/Other have been combined with English speakers.

Now, on to the results!

How often have you noticed awkward English in Korean signs, menus, and ads?

The next question asked was how aware people were of awkward English in Korean signs, menus, and ads. Unsurprisingly, only 1.5% said they’d never noticed any such errors. It’s safe to conclude that this phenomenon exists and is noticed.

As expected, more English speakers noticed these errors than Korean and non-English speakers. Over 78% of English speakers reported noticing these errors “often” or “a lot”. On the other hand, only 60% of Koreans noticed them “sometimes.” Only 11% of all respondents claimed they “never” or “rarely” see such errors. Contrast that with 89% of respondents who claim to have noticed them at least “sometimes”. This indicates that regardless of native language, people spot awkward English in Korean signs, menus, and ads with some regularity.

How much does seeing awkward English in Korean signs, menus, and ads bother you?

I was eager to learn the answer to this question. It’s no surprise that these mistakes bother me a lot. I post about them daily and went through the effort of conducting this survey!

While only 3.1% of respondents agreed with me, 20% felt these issues bothered them either “a fair bit” or “really”. Again, unsurprisingly, 72.5% of Koreans were only bothered “a little” or “not at all”. Contrast this with 52.6% of English speakers who were bothered “somewhat” or “a fair bit” or reported it “really bothers me”.

Naturally, native English speakers spot or notice these mistakes more often. Less than 30% of Korean speakers were “somewhat”, “a fair bit”, or “really bothered” by these errors. This would indicate these errors are not a significant concern for most Korean speakers. These errors don’t seem to bother Korean speakers despite noticing them.

Most people don’t seem to be as bothered by these mistakes as I am. Yet 78% of all respondents reported being bothered by these errors to some degree. But being bothered by and having opinions on what these mistakes say about a business is a different matter—as we’ll see shortly.

When you’ve noticed awkward English in Korean signs, menus, and ads, you:

Next, I asked about reactions when people notice awkward English in Korean signs, menus, and ads. Personally, I tend to sigh and wonder how such an error could’ve occurred. I do admit to sometimes getting a chuckle out of them, too!

The results were split equally (34%) between those who “laughed” and those who “appreciated the attempt”. The numbers are slightly higher for English speakers than for Korean speakers.

• Laugh—English (35.9%), Korean (27.5%)
• Appreciate the attempt—English (35.9%), Korean (32.5%)

Interestingly, 22.5% of Korean-speaking respondents chose, “Grateful (can’t read)”. I assume they were grateful the business owner had made an attempt for customers who can’t read Korean. 

It was also interesting that 46.2% of non-English/Korean speakers laughed at these errors. Despite English not being their native language or being fluent in the language, they found these mistakes funny. Interestingly, positive and negative reactions were split almost evenly. Negative reactions (laugh/sigh) were 46.6%, and positive reactions (appreciate attempt, grateful) were 45%. Meanwhile, 8.4% of people simply ignore them.

How much do you think awkward English in Korean signs, menus, and ads affects the image of a business?

As an English copywriter and proofreader, I was greatly interested in this question. There is evidence suggesting mistakes, typos, and awkward translations affect a business’ image. It would appear that the survey respondents agree with this belief. 

Only 8.4% of respondents felt these mistakes don’t affect a business’ image at all. Conversely, 66.4% felt that these mistakes affect a business’ image “somewhat”, “a fair bit”, or “a great deal”. English speakers felt more strongly about this at 68.3%, with Korean speakers agreeing with this 61.1%.

How acceptable do you feel awkward English in Korean signs, menus, and ads is?

These responses surprised me a bit. Not the general trends, but more so when digging deeper into the breakdown of responses. Only 8.4% felt the current quality of English in signs, menus and advertisements in Korea is “acceptable.” While 43.5% feel the quality “should improve”, 48.1% think it “needs” to improve.

Combining those who feel the quality “should” improve with those who feel it “needs to improve” reaches a whopping 91.6%. But the numbers from Korean respondents were the most interesting. Only 1 Korean-speaking respondent felt the quality was acceptable. An overwhelming 70% felt it needs to improve. Contrast this with 53.9% of English speakers who felt the quality “should” improve versus only 37.2% who felt it “needs” to improve. 

Furthermore, 97.5% of Korean speakers feel the quality “should/needs” to improve, compared to only 91% of English speakers.

I’ve lived in Korea for more than a quarter of a century. Based on my experience, I believe these errors may embarrass Korean speakers somewhat . This may be the case because these errors portray Korea in a negative light. This is perhaps more important than them affecting a business’ image.

What word best describes your opinion of a business displaying awkward English in Korean signs, menus, and ads?

Only 15.3% of respondents had no opinion about how awkward English makes them feel about a business. A majority of respondents (52.7%) thought it was unprofessional. Looking at the data closer, this breaks down to 61.1% of Korean speakers and 48.8% of English speakers. The 2nd most given answer, lazy, was a distant 17.6%, just above “no opinion”.

Do you think awkward English in Korean signs, menus, and ads is acceptable? 

Most respondents (55%) felt awkward English in Korean signs, menus, and ads is unacceptable. Conversely, 33.6% felt it’s acceptable because English isn’t an official language or that it’s up to each business. Only 11.5% of respondents were unsure.

The number of Korean speakers who felt it was unacceptable (55%) is similar to English speakers (59%). The numbers are almost identical for those who think they’re acceptable. While 32.5% of Korean speakers feel it’s acceptable, 32% of English speakers agree.

Why do you think most businesses don’t use a professional English-speaking copywriter or proofreader?

Respondents could select all the reasons they felt applied from the following list:

• Apathy or laziness—they simply don’t care
• They don’t think it’s important—some English is better than no English
• People don’t know who to contact to ask for help
• Korean business owners worry about the language barrier when communicating with an English speaker
• Cost—it’s too expensive to hire a professional

Almost a third of respondents thought businesses felt proper/accurate English wasn’t important. Only 8% attributed it to the language barrier. The other three provided reasons were divided almost equally. “Apathy/laziness” accounted for 19.9%, as did “don’t know who to ask for help”, and “cost” came in at 21.2%. Interestingly, only 1 Korean speaker felt the “language barrier” was a reason. But combining “apathy/laziness” and “feeling it’s not important” accounts for over 50% of respondents’ opinions.

What does this all mean?

This post has become longer than I intended, and I’ve only reported on the results. The final question of this survey asked respondents to share their opinions on the topic of awkward English in signs, menus, and ads in Korea.

Unfortunately, those comments and my analysis will have to wait until my next post.

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