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| Negaiido |
 Posted: Nov 03, 2007 10:08 am |
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上塩タン焼680円
Joined: 23 Oct 2007
Posts: 321
Location: The Netherlands
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Hey,
Every time i hear some english in japanese songs i kinda think its a waste.
I just love the japanese language and i know japanese think its cool to say something english.
What do you think of some english in japanese songs? |
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| mangomalte |
| Posted: Nov 03, 2007 9:38 pm |
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ポケット
Joined: 10 Oct 2006
Posts: 2248
Location: Sweden
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i've grown accostumed to it, so i don't really have any problem with it now. but i thought it was a bit silly in the beginning and when my friends hears songs they wonder why they sing in english at some places. i kinda agree that it's a bit of a waste, but at the same time it feels a bit strange not to have english in japanese songs now that i'm so used to it. 
it annoys me if they pronounce it very wrong or if it's wrong grammatically, though. i prefer to hear what's being sung and i prefer it being right. i can listen to japanese people that can pull off singing english songs too (even if it's not perfect). |
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| sljinu |
| Posted: Nov 03, 2007 10:34 pm |
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ユメクイ
Joined: 02 Aug 2007
Posts: 1184
Location: Australia
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^ Hmm I guess I agree. I think it's funny if they sing it in some sort of wild song (for example Otsuka Ai's Happy Days or that type of song anyway...even though I don't prefer to listen to it) but I can't stand it if it's some beautiful ballad and suddenly you hear weird/bad english. BoA's Meri Kuri is an example of that. At the end she's like "Make a wish upon your kiss" but while it may not exactly be gramatically incorrect, I just think it sounds really weird and I hate it.
Personally, I prefer it if I know the artist can speak fluent english beforehand (eg Utada Hikaru, melody. etc) so I'm kinda reassured they know what they are saying. When they combine a lot of english with Japanese (ie M-Flo) and it actually works (well Verbal studied in Boston anyway) then I think it sounds really cool |
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| october |
| Posted: Nov 03, 2007 11:06 pm |
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大好きだよ。
Joined: 08 Oct 2007
Posts: 266
Location: America
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^ Ito Yuna speaks English fluently too, but in her song "I'm Free" she says stuff like "baby go way" and "fly me to the sun with good sound". Maybe because she doesn't write her own lyrics, but I still think it's weird for an English-fluent to speak broken English.
Japanese has English-loaned words too, so sometimes the English they're using is sort of still a Japanese word in Japan, sort of like "CHANSU". I like broken English and other English in Japanese songs, I think it's cute in most instances. What would be really annoying is if they had English songs inserting random Japanese everywhere. I hate that a lot ><. But you're right in that if the song was a beautiful ballad that suddenly had a line of broken English, I might be bothered a little. I don't know if Kuu uses broken English in something of "COME WITH ME", but the Engrish below that says, "May this Summer brings you the happiest memory ever..." always makes me laugh. |
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| sljinu |
| Posted: Nov 04, 2007 3:31 am |
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ユメクイ
Joined: 02 Aug 2007
Posts: 1184
Location: Australia
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^ Woah, they have english songs with Japanese inserted??? Now, THAT I've gotta hear 
Apprently Clazziquai is a Canadian-based Korean band...I listened to some of their songs but before I got bored of them, I thought some of their songs were pretty funny. I mean, they are supposed to speak perfect english but they also used random english like "let’s get dance now, movin’ in a right time" or "my memory of you are hanging on a tree". You can find it on the Channel-Ai blog.
But I guess all Asian countries think english sounds cool. Except maybe North Korea That's their target market so if they use bad english, I don't think the artist would really care so long as it fits the rhythm and pleases their listeners. Most Asians wouldn't understand a word anwyay |
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| october |
| Posted: Nov 04, 2007 4:32 am |
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大好きだよ。
Joined: 08 Oct 2007
Posts: 266
Location: America
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"let’s get dance now, movin’ in a right time" ? LOL.
I hear a lot of Engrish in a lot of songs, so I'm a little bummed that I can't cite any right now.
Hamasaki's song "Are You Wake Up?" title always confuses me, but I think that's an actual English song too. lol. In one of L'arc's songs where Hyde says "My wasted dream", I heard "Now, where's the tree?", but that was my fault, I guess. If you haven't heard "shouri no BIG WAVE!!!" there's a lot of random Engrish there too. I guess they're just fillers, most of the time they sound nice. Especially since most Japanese words are so long, it's easier to fit more in a line using an English word.
I think English mixed with another language sounds very cool, except if maybe 1 word is different language, other 20 words are English -- that's weird, mostly annoying. But I mean sort of like most Tagalog. I see Pinoys who type in Tagalog, and there's lots of English in it sometimes too. Here in SoCal, some people also speak Spanglish. |
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| Negaiido |
| Posted: Nov 04, 2007 10:26 am |
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上塩タン焼680円
Joined: 23 Oct 2007
Posts: 321
Location: The Netherlands
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 I have never heard english songs with japanese in it and maybe i do like that more then japanese with english.
But sometimes i do like japanese with english when it really adds to the song but not when its just a half japanese sentance with the other half english. |
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| mangomalte |
| Posted: Nov 04, 2007 4:34 pm |
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ポケット
Joined: 10 Oct 2006
Posts: 2248
Location: Sweden
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the only english song with japanese in it that comes to my mind right now is Easy Breezy ("Konnichiwa, Sayonara - 'Twas nice of you to stop by"), but since it's Utada it doesn't feel that much out of place.
@october: yeah, i've noticed that with Yuna Ito too... it really disturbs me, because i know that she's aware that she's singing wrong, can't she have a talk with whoever wrote the lyrics?  i know i've heard a couple more things but i can't remember them at the moment.
and on Urban Mermaid i cringe a bit everytime she sings "mermaid" since she emphasizes "maid" instead of "mer", and even if it's due to the melody it still disturbs me.
i've been listening to BONNIE PINK a lot recently, and she's got many songs in mostly english. she pulls it of pretty good, but stuff like "Even if I am smaller than lemon, Even if I am nothing like a darkness" and "I just want expressing myself" sounds a bit weird. |
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| hiro |
| Posted: Nov 04, 2007 7:08 pm |
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ネコに風船
Joined: 10 Oct 2007
Posts: 502
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i think that a few english words in japanese songs are fine.
it's actually kinda fun when i recognize an english and can understand and sign along without looking it up.
but japanese songs that are completely or almost completely in english usually annoy me unless it's a native english speaker like hikaru utada
i enjoy listening to hikki's songs in both english and japanese since both are really natural for her.
(same applies to wang leehom, since he's a cpop star and native english speaker) |
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| mangomalte |
| Posted: Nov 04, 2007 7:39 pm |
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ポケット
Joined: 10 Oct 2006
Posts: 2248
Location: Sweden
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| ^ i dare you to listen through Yum!Yum!ORANGE's first album, Orange Street 33! XD it's all in english, and that gal is most certainly not a native english speaker. |
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| hiro |
| Posted: Nov 04, 2007 8:19 pm |
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ネコに風船
Joined: 10 Oct 2007
Posts: 502
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mangomalte wrote: ^ i dare you to listen through Yum!Yum!ORANGE's first album, Orange Street 33! XD it's all in english, and that gal is most certainly not a native english speaker. well, i won't. the only all-english japanese song that i like by someone other than hikki is tonight, tonight, tonight by the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beat_Crusaders]beat crusaders[/b]. the english annoys me, but the music is really catchy rock, so i listen to it occasionally. |
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| october |
| Posted: Nov 04, 2007 8:31 pm |
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大好きだよ。
Joined: 08 Oct 2007
Posts: 266
Location: America
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mangomalte wrote: the only english song with japanese in it that comes to my mind right now is Easy Breezy ("Konnichiwa, Sayonara - 'Twas nice of you to stop by"), but since it's Utada it doesn't feel that much out of place.
I really hate the doumo arigatou Mr.Roboto song too. 
And I know! I think unless she'd get fired or something (which I doubt) she should talk to whoever wrote the lyrics.
Northern19 has a lot, lot of English songs. The frontman has good English imo, and some of the songs are so fast that I don't really know everything that he's saying anyway, even if it's good English. If you haven't heard Goto Maki's cover of "Hips Don't Lie", please do. I thought her English was bad, but then I heard her Spanish too... |
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| MaiLuv |
| Posted: Nov 04, 2007 9:35 pm |
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さくらんぼ
Joined: 04 Nov 2007
Posts: 34
Location: In Meh Chair.
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Newbie here. -wavewave-
I personally don't mind English in Japanese songs.
As long as it's not a lot. o:
Like, how someone mentioned above, in Ai Otsuka's 'Happy Days', or if it's bits of words or phrases like Utada Hikaru's 'Beautiful World' and 'Kiss and Cry'. |
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| Negaiido |
| Posted: Nov 06, 2007 1:35 am |
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上塩タン焼680円
Joined: 23 Oct 2007
Posts: 321
Location: The Netherlands
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Rie Fu also sings a lot English and i really don't like it, thats why i prefer her Japanese songs  |
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| Sonny |
| Posted: Nov 14, 2007 3:46 am |
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Happy Days
Joined: 13 Nov 2007
Posts: 91
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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| I think english in Japanese songs are pretty cool, especially the song: Birthday Song in Love Cook. I like the Japanese accent! |
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