Chinese characters and Japanese kanji are certainly aesthetically impressive. They’ve got an air of mystery about them. And they seem to imply hidden meanings and profound wisdom. But we all know that the Universe likes irony and has a wicked sense of humor. If you try to get a tattoo in a language you don’t know, you’re practically begging for trouble. And we’ve got the evidence.
We’re featuring a whole bunch of entertaining stories from the r/AskReddit online community about people who know Chinese or Japanese sharing the dumbest things they’ve seen tattooed. Scroll down for the most hilarious exotic tattoo fail stories and definitive proof that: a) you’ve got to do at least some basic research before getting inked; and b) don’t be obnoxious when dealing with your tattoo artist. Otherwise, you might end up with the character for ‘fish’ instead of something badass like ‘poison.’ Or ‘illiterate foreigner’ which (we’re not gonna lie) is so bad it’s good.
Have you ever seen any foreign language ink fails with your own two eyes, dear Pandas? Maybe you’ve got a tattoo that you regret getting? We can’t wait to hear what you have to say, so make sure to drop on by the comment section. Oh, and if you loved this list and haven’t had enough, we’ve got you covered—check out Bored Panda’s earlier article about idiotic kanji tattoos right here.
Bored Panda got in touch with David McKinlay, the owner of the Archangel 1608 Tattoo Studio in Glasgow, for a chat about tattoos in foreign languages. Scroll down for our exclusive interview with him.
#21
I knew a guy who thought he was getting Honor while in the Navy. He was preparing to transfer out to Japan and wanted something to draw Japanese females' attention. Turns out that one of the guys at the shop had a 17 year old sister he had played for sex, so they gave him the symbol for Yaoi.
Edit for those not in the know: Yaoi means gay.
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168points
#22
A girl I knew thought she was smart and had tattooed pussy destroyer in Japanese onto her arm in kanji.
This is hard to do because English slang doesn’t really translate well. She was so proud when she put it into google translate that it said cat destroyer. She picked the kanji for a destroyer class battleship not a person who destroys ...
Me and my SO having lovingly named her cat battleship.
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162points
#23
My friend got a tattoo that said "veni vidi vici" in chinese, well so he thought. The tattoo acutally said "three small dishes"
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160points
#24
Not sure if it’s already mentioned. I’ve seen a woman has the character “雞” tattooed on her arm. It’s translated to chicken, literally. But in Cantonese we often refer to prostitutes as “chicken”...
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145points
#25
I was on the subway in NYC and there was a guy who clearly lifted a lot. He was wearing a sleeveless shirt and on his jacked arms in chinese were the words “牛肉麵” or “Beef noodle soup” for everyone to see. Man looked ready to get the rest of his favorite restaurant’s menu tattooed on his body.
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137points
#26
I saw somebody who probably doesnt understand japanese flexing with his japanese tattoo. It is translated to english, surprise surprise, *a giant failure*.
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132points
#27
He thought it said “Love my grandson”. It translated to something like “I love fat boys”. I think it was a google translate failure of epic proportions
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123points
#28
Ariane Grande tattooed the words “Barbecue Grill” on her hand.
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118points
#29
"Storm drain" on a guy who wanted "The way of water" like Bruce Lee always talked about.
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113points