if someone got a tattoo that was wrong....

[TattooUndo]

...Would you tell them?

My friend has just come round to proudly show off her new tattoo - it's a sentimental one with content in a different language. It is wrong. Very, very wrong. To correct it would mean part of it has to be lasered away and redone.

I saw it, had my strong suspicions was wrong, so checked with a friend who is more fluent and she confirmed it is utter gibberish...

Would I be unreasonable not to tell her? I don't want to tell her. She would be gutted.

No. What would be the point?

I'd leave it to someone who speaks the language more fluently to tell her, a cruel multilingual stranger is sure to point it out at some point soon if it's visible...

I don’t know, I’d feel bad telling them knowing it would upset them, but also I don’t think I could just say nothing. This is why you don’t get tattoos in other languages!

I suppose it depends on how wrong it is?

Does it say something offensive?

I'd like to know if I was in the same position

"Considering she was stupid enough to get a tattoo in the first place,"

🙄

I’d probably keep quiet seeing as it’s already been done, let her enjoy it for as longh as possible.

Valuable lesson in not getting tattoos in a language you don’t understand though!

I know someone who had
"In loving memory of are angel" after the birth of her stillborn daughter. I wasn't going to be the one to tell her, the artist should be sacked.

As long as it isn’t offensive or mocking, I’d probably leave it. If I thought the tattooist had deliberately taken the piss then I’d tell her.
I’m guessing something like Chinese characters that doesn’t really make sense but are supposed to say something meaningful? Plenty of people walk around with incorrectly spelled or apostrophes tattoos in English, which is worse I think.
Incidentally, I’m fond of shop names or t-shirts written in English in non- English speaking countries that don’t get it quite right.
There is a a slightly faded, wannabe upmarket hair and beauty salon in Olhao, Portugal, unironically named “Stay Classy”.

My idiot BIL got a tattoo in German that was very poorly translated. Mystery surrounds why he did this, he is not German and has no connection to the country whatsoever. The quote is from Shakespeare so no logic to it there either.

The really daft thing about it is that I am half German and speak it well so he could've asked me to translate if he was that desperate to do this. Instead he just bollocked it up and he's stuck with it.

No one has ever told him what it really means afaik.

(I did post about this a few years ago in case anyone is wondering why they think they've heard about this before!)

It's not offensive, just completely wrong. All the words are there but the tenses/cases make the whole thing a soup of random word vomit.

Say, for example, that she wanted the phrase 'I always use sharp scissors to cut hair' it's come out as always i will being the scissors sharp hair to use cut.

Obviously the real tattoo says nothing about haircuts but hopefully it gives an insight on how the words make zero sense

Channeling their inner Yoda?

Valuable lesson in not getting tattoos in a language you don’t understand though!

I've never understood this either. Very bizarre! I love tattoos and have one in Spanish (my second language) but would dream of getting one in a language I didn't understand simply to be fashionable! Very odd...

""I’m fond of shop names or t-shirts written in English in non- English speaking countries that don’t get it quite right.""

My ex had a t-shirt that he loved, with Chinese writing on.
The owner of the local chippy explained that it was the washing instructions for cotton. It looked good though.

I like the mistakes made when reading Chinese Ebay Shop stuff.

OP, don't tell her, there's no point.