How English Is The Japanese Language?

I've been noticing this for a while, so I thought I'd ask about it.

One of the nice things about subbed animes, is getting the flavor of the Japanese language, without actually knowing Japanese. To my ear, Japanese is a lyrical language with a pleasant cadence.

But I'll be watching an anime or live action anime adaptation, and suddenly the actors start adding English words and phrases to their dialog. We'll hear Japanese, some English, more Japanese, more English, etc.

In English, very little foreign language words and phrases are added.

Is this the normal way Japanese is spoken nowadays? Or is it something being done by the younger generation? Or is English being added mainly for animes and the entertainment industry?

Thanks in advance, for your input! :)

In Japan it is often considered stylish to use English words. You will often see lots of English in fashion magazines and such. It can easily make it seem more youthful or whatever they are going for.

It is very much a younger generation thing. I believe that the younger kids have begun using a lot more English because they believe that it is cool. :8

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Originally Posted by Leggy

In English, very little foreign language words and phrases are added.

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This is not really true. Probably a quarter of our words come from other languages. Also, depending on where you live you might use phrases from other languages so naturally that you don't even notice it. Latin is quite popular, and where I am French gets thrown in every now and then (and some German, but that is more of a family thing).

@FinalPyre; Ironically, English is very much a composite language. Most English words can be traced to other languages. That's not exactly what I refer to, though it's a valid point. Other than Latin, we seldom see words and phrases from other languages just tossed in for effect.

I agree that there are regional dialogs where specific words and phrases in other languages are added.

Kind of a shame Esperanto never caught on. ;)

Hmm maybe it is moreso in my area. French phrases are actually thrown in quite a bit for fun/flair. I thought in other areas it would be complemented by other near languages (Spanish in the U.S. and others in Europe), but perhaps this is not the case.

Apparently it was interesting for my sister who moved to the U.S. to clue in that they didn't use, or even understand many of the common French phrases she liked to use. :)

- yes, Japanese like to use English since it sounds cool to Japanese ear, that also include latin, spanish, french (you see them alot in japanese cars)
- mainly used in everyday conversation by the younger generation
- does not only limited to generation however, old men use them alot too, due to the sheer amount of imported English words in everyday life and work as well.
- i reckon this all begin with all those hollywood movies and america culture influences


you know what's funny? they use English alot yet they convert them into furigana and try to pronounce their way.
:donow:

and lol, to foreigner, such as my self, Japanese is what sounds nice to my ear :runhappy:

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Originally Posted by bbseno

- yes, Japanese like to use English since it sounds cool to Japanese ear

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I'd agree to that theory too. I would say that maybe they would like to show off to their friends by using English language in their vocabulary.

They'd be showing off like:
A : Dude, I heard you can speak German.
B : Ja, richtig. Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch.
A : DUDE.....AWESOME......
B : Yeah, praise me more cuz I know German. And that makes me better than you. Ufufufufufu. :giveme:

Maybe kinda like that. And yes, basically, that is me, trying to show off. :menft:

Hello, Leggy

The followings are my opinion, and it should be correct. (in various meanings).

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Originally Posted by Leggy

But I'll be watching an anime or live action anime adaptation, and suddenly the actors start adding English words and phrases to their dialog. We'll hear Japanese, some English, more Japanese, more English, etc.

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It is strange. Some young people, or even not young, sometimes use "English phrases" in the special situations. But these phrases are usually very easy ones. For instance "Good luck" or "Have a nice day". They use these phrases as English phrases.

But these usages are very special.

In general, it is very strange that in Japanese anime etc. English phrases or words or conversation appear. In the original anime and so, the conversations and scripts are ALL JAPANESE. In Japanese, there are many borrowed words and expressions. such as "maid", "hero", "spiral beam", "sailor moon" etc. And rarely, characters use and pronounce English words or phrases in almost same pronunciations in English. Because producers of anime think they are "cool". But many or most Japanese people cannot hear and understand this kind of language. So these are rather exceptions. A kind of "sound effects".

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Originally Posted by Leggy

Is this the normal way Japanese is spoken nowadays? Or is it something being done by the younger generation? Or is English being added mainly for animes and the entertainment industry?

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It is mere a temporarily phenomena. Always observed in the history of Japanese language.

The pronunciation in English and that in Japanese are so, so, greatly different, so Englsih language cannot be included in Japanese language. When they are included in Japanese, their pronunciations are largely changed. And they are "Japanese words or phrases derived from English. Thus "Let's go" is "Rettsu gou" in Japanese. Or, "have a nice day" is "habu a naisu dei".

"Anna" ia a female name. In Japanese, it is written "Anna". You may think they are same. But they have totally different sounds. Japanese "Anna" is "An na", on the other hand, English "Anna" sounds "ana (hole, 穴)" for most Japanese ears. (There are other many examples). The sounds of English and German are almost same. Or, English and German are almost same language. For me, French and English are very similar language. They are all languages in the West Indo-European language family. Japanese is the language in the Japanese language family.

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If so many English phrases are added, it was changed by English entertainment industry or so.

I have not enough time now. I will explain if you want more.


mrd

Japan isn't the only country affected by this.

My parents watch a lot of Korean TV shows, and they throw in English phrases all the time. As for the music industry, it's incredible how many songs just throw in some English words to make it sound nice - most don't even make sense.

I'd venture to say this is a worldwide phenomenon that has been taking place slowly throughout recent years because of America's influence as a powerhouse.

@mildis; Thanks for your input!

I'm not sure anime scripts are all in Japanese. Listening to the actors themselves speak, while reading the subs, it's the voice actors who are using English in their dialogs. Since I seriously doubt the voice actors are ad-libbing, it's reasonable to think the English is in the script.

As to being a temporary phenomenon, we can go back 20 years to animes like Sailor Moon (big Sailor Moon fan! :) ) where they insert English into their speech. 20 years and still being done, in anime, at least, that doesn't sound very temporary.

Thanks again, for your comments. Though I don't speak Japanese, and have never been to Japan, I find it an interesting country! :)

@Tenshi; That's a fascinating observation!

It can easily make it seem more youthful or whatever they are going for.

I think it's more common in (some) Asian countries. This tendency to think of English as "cool".

I was watching a stream the other day and some K-pop was shown, if you were to sing in your language for half a dozen verses then randomly throw in "farring in rove, I promisu yuuu" like the singer did in other parts of the world you'd be laughed at...

Don't take the "Engrish" transcription as offensive, just as people with languages completely unrelated to English have a difficult time with its pronunciation, they'd also have a good laugh at an English speaker trying to emulate the sounds of their language, I'm sure.

What I don't get is all this fascination with English that they toss in these "wasei eigo" [is that the expression?] sentences out of nowhere in their music, for example, lol. Maybe it's not just American influence, but the fact that English is so distinct from their root vocabulary, so it's more "exotic", unlike in places where Romance or Germanic languages are spoken.

Did you know Italian and Spanish is thought to be a romantic language to learn? Well in my part of the world, people enjoy a variety of language and well... my thoughts about Japanese using English is a bit mixed. Sometimes I find it pretty funny since I hear people that migrated and learned the English language sounds like that. Other times, I find them speaking English at a level where I would agree that is pretty understand and relatively easy to understand.

A good example I would like to use is 'Dead End by Faylan.' The only mistake for someone using English as a second language in there is the pronunciation of 'live.' Due to the context of the sentence in the lyrics, it should the other pronunciation of live than live. 'Live as in living' rather than live as in 'there is live concert going.' It's just a small glaring mistake but otherwise it's fairly correct.

Powerhouse influences are always going to make certain countries want to deal their goods through them. For this age, its definitely good to know American English or British English.